thenuge15

I was at the range the other day and it was about 75-80 degrees. A guy there said we shouldn't be leaving our guns in the cases in the sun because it can warp/burnout our barrels. Now I've heard of waiting between groups when its hot but not this.

Also he was saying he met a guy who loaded shotgun shells with poweder that wasn't suppose to be used in hot weather and he blew up his gun in 90 degree weather. Is this possible or do you think this guy had of made a super hot load with a lot of shot.

hotgunner21

personally I think he didnt know what he was talking about

deerslayer444

Sounds like he is full of B.S.

abnhunter

I've never heard of that, either. I think that joker had his head up his fourth point of contact.

driftrider

The part about the sun warping or "burning out" a barrel is 100% ignorant B.S. As the saying goes, "it's better to be thought of as a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt." Well, this guy opened his mouth. Even if you left a gun out in the heat of the Death Valley sun the barrel would probably never get hotter than about 175-200 degrees, and that's a liberal estimate. 200 degrees is nowhere near the melting point of either high carbon or stainless steel, and is lower than the temperatures the barrel can regularly reach by being fired repeatedly.

The second claim may have some merit. Most powders show some degree of velocity, and therefore pressure, variation with changes in temperature. If a load were worked up to maximum pressure in a given firearm when the temperature is 30 degrees and found to be safe, and then fired in 100 degree weather later on the load could produce dangerously high pressures. However, unlike your self-proclaimed "expert's" claim, it's not the powder that shouldn't have been used in hot weather, but rather the charge weight that was used. If his claim is true, the person who's gun blew up wasn't using the wrong powder necessarily, but rather simply too much of it.

Mike

Vapodog

Absolutely not true.....

thenuge15

Thanks, thats what I thought. Driftrider I think that he was loading the shells really hot in order to do that, but the guy said it was just the powder and I didn't think that was true. Thanks again for clearing that up.

eldeguello

The guy is nuts if he thinks the barrels are going to be damaged by heat in a guncase from nothing but sunlight-generated heat!

I have never heard of pressures rising so high with a normal load that a gun was burst due to overheating from the sun. However, it COULD JUST BE POSSIBLE WITH A SHOTGUN, with certain powders, if the charge was on or just over the ragged edge to begin with!

I once knew an accident prone turkey who blew up a nice over/under with an excessive reload he had prepared. He was using Red Dot in a progressive reloader, with a charge-bar set up to throw skeet loads. He looked into each case, and noted that some LOOKED LIKE they didn't have enough powder in them!! So, he took a pinch of powder out of the hopper, and sprinkled "a little more" into the "undercharged" hulls. Later on, he also added a few extra pellets of shot to the shot columns before crimping the rounds. We know this, because he told us what he had done after we took apart the remaining shells, and found excessive powder and shot weights in most of them! We knew the loading tool had not dispensed the excessive quantities, because it was working OK when it was checked out!

It's a good thing he was using a gun with a heavy/massive breech section. This is all that prevented him from losing his head. A 3" jagged piece of the blown barrel went through his forearm, then THROUGH THE HOOD OF HIS CAR, which he was standing beside when the gun went! A friend took him to the hospital, where he was prevented from bleeding to death.

shootr mcgavvin

I would say he probably had 1 or 2 to many beers the night before!!

Briman

Should have played along with the guy and asked him why he didn't leave the guns in the car with the car running with the A/C running to to make sure the guns don't get too hot