Crio-freezing rifle barrels
 

WOW just got my rifle back today from crio-freezing treatment. before i was shooting 2in-5in groups depending on how hot my barrel was....a dime covers 4 rounds at 100yds after shooting for an hour. I guess they freeze it down to -300deg F and raise it up to 300deg F over the span of 40 hours or something like that. ill tell ya guys if youre looking to make your rifle amazingly accurate and dont mind spending 90 bucks and not havin your gun for 2 weeks(ish) id say do it for sure... i didnt believe it would make that much of a difference but actually gettin it done made me a believer...well worth the time and money by far.

I remember reading on one of the top custom barrel makers website that they tested cryo-treated barrels and there is no difference between a properly stress relieved barrel using traditional methods, and cryo-treated barrels. Did you have any other work done on the rifle, like bedding, trigger job, free floating, etc...?

I just don't think that the cryo-treatment alone would take a rifle from 5" groups to 1/4" groups without other work... but I could be wrong.

Mike

Drift,

There isn't a difference, but the vast majority of barrels are not stress relieved.

Adirondack,

If I understand your post, you are shooting your barrel way too hot to begin with. If this is the case the accuracy you gained will be short lived.

Custom barrel makers do, for sure. Factory barrels? Probably not.

Mike

Kreiger uses cryo treatment on their barrels,so at least one barrel maker believes that it serves a purpose.

idk guys, i did lighten the trigger pull but not by much, i really do think it made a difference, and hell even if it didnt and it jsut makes me think it did, then i guess it still worked huh?

(insert deep south voice here) grampa said if youra buyin it's A pond and if youra selling it's A lake! It is your money and if feels better it'll shoot better.

If I'm not mistaken, Benelli offers cryo on many of their barrels, and they claim it not only improves patterns, but keeps them cleaner longer.

Hey thousands of people bought pet rocks...............

Could it be that we are discussing different things? Is it possible that one side says it doesn't make it any more accurate and the other says that it is more accurate in repeated shooting?

My dad is a metallurgist and claims that heat treating a barrel should show an improvement. For whatever that's worth.

Tom

.....Yep. I knew they did, and I agree 100% with you. My gunsmith recommends it, also.

So I just stick it in the freezer for a couple weeks??:biggrin:

Hey, if you are shooting tighter groups after dropping 90 bones on cryo freezing, then it worked. But I know from experience that shooting a gun till the barrel burns your hand is only gonna make your groups grow. Not to mention significantly shorten the life of your gun.

it doesnt quite get that hot but anyone whos ever shot a .22-250 knows that after about 5 rounds the barrels pretty toasty, and after 10 rounds it doesnt burn your hand but its not exactly comfortable. the crio freezing is supposed to prolong the life of a barrel which is another reason i had it done, because .22-250 barrels have one of the shortest life spans of any caliber.... now my friend who only bump fires his ar-15 and goes through 100rds in about 10 minutes....hes the one who should be worried about burnin his barrel out, i touched the barrel of that thing after 50rnds and it was like grabbin a metal stake thats been in a fire.

Unless his barrel is chrome lined, in which case it'll last 15-20000 rounds. FYI.

Mike

im gonna do that new thing otis has out the nano-ceramic once i can spend another 90 bucks on my gun, its supposed to be even better than chrome but i havent read up on it much so i couldnt really say it is or it isnt.