Another Barrel Cooling Thread But I had to, couldn't help myself...

Muddyboots said:

Been using heavy duty bait aerator to cool barrels for probably 20 years. It died last week. In Wally World picking up some camping stuff and right there was a battery powered mattress inflator. This thing moves a lot of air! 420 L/min is pretty good and a lot more than what my bait aerator could do. Works great! Just don't know how long the 6 C batteries will hold up. But if it keeps barrels cooled down its a win. They do have a 12V one too but I do not have access on range to truck. If batteries become problem I may look into a small dry cell 12V as alternative. Price? $12! Just add tygon and let it rip!
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Looks very similar to the one I

Looks like the one I got off Amazon. It holds 8 AA's which it has ran on all summer, (so far). I shortened the nozzle & found a small soda straw that fits perfectly. I do enjoy reading of everyone's innovations, (just good old American engineering).

Propane on a gun range. What could possibly go wrong?

Flexible soft freeze packs in the extra large size are like a 12"x12" blanket. Two of these will wrap the barrel with a couple large rubber bands or Velcro. Preferably o shoot 3 guns. One is being fired. One is chilling and the next one to be fired is resting without chill wraps to stabilize temp. Small ice chest with chill packs, then return to the freezer when day is done. I started this in 1980. Get the very soft chill large packs. This procedure also chills the stock material.

Brother Buckwheat said:

Just a thought, I was changing the propane tank on my forklift and had a slight leak at the O-ring at the connection. It was mighty cold at the leak.
I pay $2.00 a gallon for propane, beats the price of CO2.

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Boom!

Muddyboots said:

Been using heavy duty bait aerator to cool barrels for probably 20 years. It died last week. In Wally World picking up some camping stuff and right there was a battery powered mattress inflator. This thing moves a lot of air! 420 L/min is pretty good and a lot more than what my bait aerator could do. Works great! Just don't know how long the 6 C batteries will hold up. But if it keeps barrels cooled down its a win. They do have a 12V one too but I do not have access on range to truck. If batteries become problem I may look into a small dry cell 12V as alternative. Price? $12! Just add tygon and let it rip!
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If you get the 12v model you can buy a small quad battery for around 50.00. Just leave it on a trickle charger when not in use. Quad battery will run it for hours and pay for itself quickly instead of C cells...just me

eric nelson said:

Flexible soft freeze packs in the extra large size are like a 12"x12" blanket. Two of these will wrap the barrel with a couple large rubber bands or Velcro. Preferably o shoot 3 guns. One is being fired. One is chilling and the next one to be fired is resting without chill wraps to stabilize temp. Small ice chest with chill packs, then return to the freezer when day is done. I started this in 1980. Get the very soft chill large packs. This procedure also chills the stock material.

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Also for beverages?

lsneeden said:

Propane on a gun range. What could possibly go wrong?

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Unfortunately, you cannot fix stupid and about 2 years ago I found a 20# propane tank on the 200 yard bunker full of holes. Guess they were trying to replicate what they see in movies. That would be auto ejection from club if we could have identified who did this. Nobody owned up especially after the tirade of the range master and board.

Darwinism sometimes needs to be more effective.

Muddyboots said:

Been using heavy duty bait aerator to cool barrels for probably 20 years. It died last week. In Wally World picking up some camping stuff and right there was a battery powered mattress inflator. This thing moves a lot of air! 420 L/min is pretty good and a lot more than what my bait aerator could do. Works great! Just don't know how long the 6 C batteries will hold up. But if it keeps barrels cooled down its a win. They do have a 12V one too but I do not have access on range to truck. If batteries become problem I may look into a small dry cell 12V as alternative. Price? $12! Just add tygon and let it rip!
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I bought one of those two years ago. Went to Home depot and bought some clear flexible hose to connect to it, and it works great for cooling your barrel, but the battery life is short lived. Using Duracell batteries it will run about two hours total. That gets pretty expensive with the cost of batteries now days. I bought the twelve volt model, and I started taking my battery jump box to the range to connect it to, and it will run all day. I just recharge my jump box after each range trip.

I'm a Chamber CHiller devotee. I have one for small bores up to 25 calibers and one for larger chambers, my 338 LM. the smaller bores don't really heat up as I'm still chasing the mythical .ooo" group so I shoot 10 then allow the rifles to cool on their own. The LM is another story. That one will burn you after 10 rounds, hence; the need for a chiller. I also got a separate 12-volt power pack for emergencies, as I've aged, the memory has suffered a bit. I'm a long-time long-range varmint shooter so the time between shots was sometimes pretty long. Now I only "hunt" the mythical tiny group.

LVJ76 said:

Here in the AZ desert all there is is dust, and wind, so it could be an issue here.

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Consider an air filter on the inlet.

LVJ76 said:

Here in the AZ desert all there is is dust, and wind, so it could be an issue here.

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Pro2A said:

Consider an air filter on the inlet.

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USB Rechargeable inflator. Some tygon, old AR15 buffer spring inside a short stump of tygon on the inlet, covered with a scrap of old flannel shirt sewn into a tube.

The inlet dingus is great, as it reduces dust intake, but I also spray it down with water, so it works like a swamp cooler for even faster cooling and better dust removal.

This will take a "too hot to touch" barrel down to ambient or lower in 2-4 minutes depending on air/barrel temp differential. The long hose on the muzzle end also means it cools inside and outside, and down the barrel channel, which is much more efficient, since the surface area on the outside is several times greater than the bore.

One charge is good for about 15-20 minutes of use, so 5-10 cooling runs. Since it's USB rechargeable, I can stick it on my power bank to top up between strings for an extra cycle or two over a range session. It has a USB output too, so I can also run the LabRadar off of it in a pinch.

You do need to remember to take it off before the next string...

lsneeden said:

Propane on a gun range. What could possibly go wrong?

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Where's your sense of adventure? Sounds like a real, "Here, hold my beer, " moment!

Muddyboots said:

Been using heavy duty bait aerator to cool barrels for probably 20 years. It died last week. In Wally World picking up some camping stuff and right there was a battery powered mattress inflator. This thing moves a lot of air! 420 L/min is pretty good and a lot more than what my bait aerator could do. Works great! Just don't know how long the 6 C batteries will hold up. But if it keeps barrels cooled down its a win. They do have a 12V one too but I do not have access on range to truck. If batteries become problem I may look into a small dry cell 12V as alternative. Price? $12! Just add tygon and let it rip!
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Batteries go kind of quick! I have the same unit with a fitted hose to stick in the chamber and old small ice chest on the intake side with a hose, fill it with ice and cools the barrel a bit faster.