Cooking a Barrel
 

Last week after getting home from my second shoot with the re-claimed Knight Super DISC I decided to strip clean the barrel to get all the oils and residues out as I wanted to treat it with Dyna-Tek Bore Coat. I purchased this Super DISC knowing that the barrel was probably pitted, but believing it could be saved. I had already ran a JB bore treatment on the bore and installed a new crown. The shooting I did with the rifle earlier in the week convinced me this rifle was going to work well. The bullet I want to use in this rifle is a 40 x 230 grain Lehigh brass bullet. Because of its weight it is very long and requires a fast twist bore to stabilize the bullet.


This is the bullet I am talking about.





It doesn't look abnormally long here in the picture shown above, but when you insert it in a sabot it becomes very noticeable.





The Super DISC with its 1/20 twist rate is an excellent rifle to shoot this bullet.


Because everything was working out so well as I have stated above I decided I really wanted to treat the bore with Dyna-Tek. I actually even read the directions that came with the product.





After applying the Ceramic fluid in the bore the last part of the instructions was allow the bore to dry and then shoot approximately 6 shots through the bore to apply heat and pressure to the bore. Todays shoot was to get this task done.
I normally do not shoot BH but in reality this would be an excellent powder for this application... it burns hotter and longer than T7 - so it should really accomplish the task. I pre-measure out 120 grains of BH and dropped it into powder tubes. I loaded 10 tubes, thinking a couple of extra couldn't hurt. Equipped with this I really felt I could 'cook' the barrel with shot after shot with no or very little cooling time between shots.


I walked 6 birds out to 100 yards walked back loaded and began shooting. The first 6 shots went just as planned - 6 shattered birds. This set of pictures kind of shows the results of the shooting.





I still had 4 shots left and began searching the ground in the snow looking for additional targets. I found chunk of stubble sticking out of the snow at about 107 yards according to the range finder. Two of my remaining shots were shot at this target of opportunity with excellent results...


Then I looked for a more distant target - found a chunk of stubble way up the draw. Tried to range it from the bench but could not get the finder to get a reading over the snow - I moved the finder horizontally to a bare spot of earth and it returned a reading of 230 yards.


Loaded the rifle and sat down at the bench. The scope I am using is a rifle scope with a 600 yard ballistic reticule. There is a picture of the reticule in the next composite. I used the second mil-dot under the cross hair and held the dot right on the target. First shot was just right and under the target. Loaded up the final shot - used the same hold but moved the dot the left edge of the piece stubble, touched the shot off. It definitely came left and it was identical it printed right next to the first shot.


I walked out to get pictures and also to shoot a range back to the truck... It turns out I was about 5" low slightly right with the first shot and almost direct on with the second shot. Shot the range back to the truck (the small black dot in the picture) from the target - 240 yards. Over that open field the range really seems much farther but without trees or any thing to get a apparent size and distance of any thing.





Gotta go clean now...

Never used that stuff. But some impressive shooting there. Your crosshair is 100 yards?

I would like to see a 3 or 5 shot group at 100 yards with that barrel.

Dave a I use a Point Blank Range system to sight my rifle in. The first step is to shoot the load and projectile through a chronograph and that velocity. From I run the load on a ballistic calculator.


In my case I use a 6" PBR for a ML - knowing then that through the ranges my bullet will never be higher or lower than 3" through the given range.


So the ballistic sheet on the 40x230 would look like this





Showing you:
@ 25 yds the bullet is 0.47"
@ 50 yds up 1.91"
@ 75 yds up 2.176
@ 100 up 2.97"


Also the sheet shows that you can shoot this bullet from 0 to 204 yards and be within the 3" range. Also showing that @ 166 yrds. the bullet should be right at zero...


Al of this is just math so you really have to actually shoot the ranges and see where the bullet impacts. I found out the other day it was very close.


I will tell you after shooting today, especially the 240 yard shots - I did move the windage 2 clicks left and the elevation up 2 clicks.


I based these move on the shooting today. At 100 I was holding the xhair slightly under the bird and still hitting down in the bird. then at 240 I was and have been right on the last two tests.


I really should use a real target but it is so much more fun to shoot some thing that breaks.

The biggest reason I use the Ceramic compound is to seal the pits that are in the bore - plus it really does cut down on residue in the bore and hence it is easier to clean...


Sealing the bore really is my largest reason...

I hate shooting paper - but you are right - I need to do that...

Sabot Isn't this the same rifle you shot on your last post and was hitting a tad to the right then? If so, maybe you should give the scope a click or two to the left.
As for the dyna tek - what is the purpose of using it? Is it to fill in any minor bore deficiencies or to aid in reducing fouling or increase accuracy or all of the above?

You are correct - same rifle. After the 200+ yard shooting I did make a scope adjustment. Up 2 clicks and Left 2 clicks.


Correct again - all the above. The driving reason for me was to fill the pits with the ceramics - and to smooth the whole bore out. It does make it easier to clean!

At just under $45 that sounds like a good deal. How many bores do you think the kit can coat?
I presume it would work well with sidelocks also.

I have done 10 barrels so far and still have lots of material to go...


Sure it would work in side hammers also...


The big thing is to get every bit of oil and fouling out of the bore you can... I even go back to the boiling water rinse to insure I have the oils out of the metal pores of the bore.

Sabot, the absolute best thing I have found to assure absolutely NO oils are left is Brake Cleaner. Just make sure you don't get any on ANYTHING other than the steel. That stuff will really do a number on plastics and wood. Pretty darn cheap and much easier than most other degreasers and boiling methods. You can grab a can at pretty much any auto supply. It's what the stuff is designed for. Taking the oil off disc rotors before installation. Leaving the oil on will crystallize your pads.

Yes, I have tried it but unless you heat the barrel you will never empty the pores + the heated pores really helps the Dyna-Tek get into the pores in the bore.


And according to the MDS sheet there are petroleum additives in Brake Cleaner and that is what I am trying to get rid of...


Additionally the boiling water removes all plastic fouling without an effort at all. Just got to get the bore completely dry with air than while the barrel is very hot apply the Dyna-Tek.

??? There's no petroleum in Brake Cleaners. It's made to eliminate petroleum based products such as grease and brake fluid from disc rotors. I've used it several times for degreasing prep for bluing/browning barrels. Never used that dynatech stuff before so I have no knowledge about the heated pores accepting it better but I can tell you without a doubt there is absolutely no oil residue left after using brake clean.

Good product,just got to make sure it's not expired otherwise it's not working. I've removed it from all my ml'er bored and just use a good bore oil or grease.

This is from the MSDS


3. Composition/information on ingredients
Mixtures

Methanol 108-88-3 10 - 20
Toluene 67-64-1 5 - 15
Acetone 589-34-4 5 - 103-
Methylhexane 124-38-9 5 - 10
Carbon dioxide 142-82-5 5 - 10n-
Heptane 108-87-2 3 - 5
Methylcyclohexane 64742-49-0 3 - 5
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light 110-82-7 1 - 3Cyclohexane 100-41-4 < 0.

Technically, practically everything on this list is a "petroleum product".
Except carbon dioxide which is the propellant gas in the aerosol can.
Methanol,aka wood alcohol,aka denatured alcohol can be produced by the destructive distillation on wood but probably is produced by reactions that start with simple hydrocarbons. All the others can be recovered from crude oil not that would be the best way.
What they are is a mixture of low molecular weight compounds that have low boiling points and will evaporate quickly. As they wash across a surface they will dissolve heavier oils (& greases) and flush them away.
This too long already, but I could fill a couple of pages with info on polar/nonpolar solvents and the solvation process.

Try nonchlorinated brake cleaner instead. Its around 50% acetone/toluene and less than 3% naphtha.

Personally I have used Carb Cleaner more than Brake Cleaner swish out a bore. I think either product in the normal circumstance works well.

Looks like you got it "cooked" just right. The nice looking rifle sure does shoot well.

Hoping to run out this afternoon to do one more verification... I will shoot some more birds but I, at this point need to shoot a paper target @100 just to verify what I think I know

Plus since I will be shooting T7 it should tell me if my Dyna-Tek project really worked..

LOL...Yep, wanna test something for "clean", test with the nastiest powder made!!

yeah but before the dynetek, you still didnt get crud ring from what you've said in the past.