cyro ing a barrel
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EddieHarren
Well-Known Member
What are your reasons for having a barrel frozen? Longevity, ease of cleaning, accuracy?
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
Nathan,
Lots of things out there to spend money on. Some help, some are a waste of time. Some years back I did a lengthy test on four barrels, three of which were cryo'ed by different facilities. I ran control groups (ten 10-rd groups through each, before and after treatment) every thousand rounds through out the entire lives of these barrels. The test was done "blind' and I didn't know which were done, and which was the untreated control barrel. I monitored these barrels with a bore scope, and noted cleaning effects as I did them, using the same protocol on each. Net result after over 17,000 rounds fired through all four, was that I couldn't have begun to have told you which was done, and which one wasn't. Absolutely no difference in accuracy (verified by the control testing), no difference in ease of cleaning, and no difference in barrel life; they all quit shooting right about the same point as I expected an untreated barrel to, and within a few hundred rounds of each other. That's the kind of difference we normally saw in identical barrels, so it was for all intents and purposes indistinguishable. I have no doubt that cryo treatment does affect a metals machinability; there's simply too many operations that use this as a standard part of their process to dismiss their results. However, for what a shooter needs from a completed barrel, there's nothing to it. Better to start with a barrel that never gets too stressed to begin with, something that any of the quality barrel makers will do their very best to deliver anyway.
Just my .02 worth, but I'd spend the $ elsewhere.
KT
Lots of things out there to spend money on. Some help, some are a waste of time. Some years back I did a lengthy test on four barrels, three of which were cryo'ed by different facilities. I ran control groups (ten 10-rd groups through each, before and after treatment) every thousand rounds through out the entire lives of these barrels. The test was done "blind' and I didn't know which were done, and which was the untreated control barrel. I monitored these barrels with a bore scope, and noted cleaning effects as I did them, using the same protocol on each. Net result after over 17,000 rounds fired through all four, was that I couldn't have begun to have told you which was done, and which one wasn't. Absolutely no difference in accuracy (verified by the control testing), no difference in ease of cleaning, and no difference in barrel life; they all quit shooting right about the same point as I expected an untreated barrel to, and within a few hundred rounds of each other. That's the kind of difference we normally saw in identical barrels, so it was for all intents and purposes indistinguishable. I have no doubt that cryo treatment does affect a metals machinability; there's simply too many operations that use this as a standard part of their process to dismiss their results. However, for what a shooter needs from a completed barrel, there's nothing to it. Better to start with a barrel that never gets too stressed to begin with, something that any of the quality barrel makers will do their very best to deliver anyway.
Just my .02 worth, but I'd spend the $ elsewhere.
KT
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Wow. Quite an extensive study and answer. Thanks for posting that information.
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I'd written it up as a two or three part article that appeared in Precision Shooting Magazine, but I don't recall exactly which issues it ran in. It was several years back, and I don't know if Dave keeps an index of such things. The title of the piece was "Meanwhile, 17,224 rounds later." To the best of my knowledge, it's the only complete test like this that has been done in regards to cryo treating barrels. As I said, I believe it works as advertised fro many applications, but making a barrel shoot/clean better, or last longer, just ain't one'a them.
Kevin Thomas
Berger Bullets
Kevin Thomas
Berger Bullets
davewilson
Well-Known Member
only shot 17000 rounds?
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
Well, 17,224 rds, to be exact!
Kevin
Kevin
Buffalobob
Well-Known Member
Did you kill anything or did it get away?
Kevin Thomas
Well-Known Member
Yup! Killed those four barrels deader than Rod Blogoiovich's political future.
KT
KT
I assume the test were done with custom barrels that were as stress free as the barrel maker could produce them. I'd like to see the test with a couple of stressed out factory barrels. Think you could whip that out and post the results tomorrow?
