When working up a load, how many rounds do you shoot before you let the barrel cool down?

That came out a little dirty...giggity....ummm i usually let mine cool down after about 45 shots

I am talking about the a "RIFLE BARREL"......(That was kind of funny though)

ohh about 10

7-10

4 to 5 rounds. I'll shoot 4-5 rounds (normally 5), then let the barrel cool down to outside temp. This takes about 15-20 minutes to cool down. I normally test 2-3 rifles at a time, and rotate shooting them. If the rifle is a factory, unbedded rifle, and the hotter it gets, the more it can walk around on you. It also depends on the caliber (magnum or non-magnum), how fast you are pushing it, and how big the barrel is. The thinner the barrel, the less rounds you will get before it heats up and starts to walk on you. The thin pencil barrels are the worst for this, even on full custom rifles.

If you are just starting load work up, you can try 3 rounds at a time to see what the rifle likes. Once you find a sweet spot, you can load more and test further. Also, I test all my hunting guns at 200 yards, and long range guns at 300 yards. This way you can actually see the difference in group size better. Because what's the actual difference between a .5" and .6" group at 100 yards?

5

Shoot 5 at 500 yards. Record the data. Get on the 4 wheeler and drive out to the target, label powder charge on the target, record group size. Barrel is usually good to go by then. And I only top load, no rounds in the mag. That makes a bit more time go by from shot to shot. But I run fairly heavy barrels so I don't have to go quite as slow as Chad mentioned he has to with the thin hunting barrels.

I normally will shoot three rounds and then let it cool off to ambient temperature.

This is why I like to shoot in the winter/fall. My 300 wby will for all practicle purposes never cool if you shoot during the summer.

3 ~ 5 depending on ambient temp.

depends on caliber. barrel should be warm but not hot. my 7mag is hot to the touch after 3 rounds

another trick I like to do is the round robin trick (assuming same bullet and powder with just varying powder charges.

I put out X amount of targets and then rotate with the various powder charges.

load 1 gets 1 round to target 1
load 2 gets 1 round to target 2
etc..

Then I come back to load 1, target 1, 1 round
then load 2, 1 round to target 2

etc..
That helps with getting a better average as the bullet heats up.
With a light hunting barrel I usually run 3 shots to get a quick picture of what the gun likes for a charge.

Then start working around that accuracy node in smaller powder increments and I go up to 5 and then finally 10 round tests.

Sometimes I really enjoy load development..
Sometimes it feels like work

Like Chad said, pencil thin hunting barrels are a pain and I usually bring several guns to allow them to cool off..

I have the notion that the sun makes a difference too. The way the sun is now, my shooting spot gets sun for a few hours in the middle of the day. With the rifle sitting in it's spot, and without shooting it, the barrel will get very hot to touch. What seems even worse to me is that the sun doesn't heat it evenly, the heat is only coming from one side. It may really make no difference, but I don't shoot targets when the sun is shining down on the barrel like that...

A friend of mine told me a story of how he would keep a cooler full of ice water next to him while he was shooting. In the cooler was two towels soaking. After he'd shoot a string he would wrap the barrel with the cool towel, remove the towel and carry on shooting.

Yes. I have done the ice cold towel and wrapped the barrel with it. It works very well in the summer time.

One thing not mentioned is that some bbls go thru a different mfg
process than others..Some were stamped from a block of steel svl. bbls at a time and they bend/warp..The factorys have a man
that does nothing but bend them the oppisite way and back straight..all of which affects harmonics..I've found on my old 40X 300 Win made in 68, and on my newer TRG that they didn't and
do not heat up nor seem to change POI as much as the others..My
Rem 22-250 even w/a heavy bbl heats up some in hot wthr..So much
has to do with the bbl and way it was mfg'd. I also see a lot of shooters who shoot their weapons hot until they run out of ammo, rarely clean them, and when they do..don't do a good job..So I think much of this has to due with application as well as mfg..DD

I like the big magnums so I cool after every three shots and zero to a cold barrel. This is my cooler that I built in the '70's. It was a heater blower that I selected at a wrecking yard and has been rebuilt several times. The easy way is to buy the blower from Grainger.com, the number is provided.

Great idea!! What if you don't have electricity where you shoot!!?

12 volts. Just clamp to your vehicle battery. Polarity does make a difference but very easy to sort out. Stone cold barrel in about 4 minutes. If you have electricity then make one out of an electric leaf blower - that really blows (no pun intended).

That's really neat.

I used to see guys at the IMHSA meets do something similiar on a smaller scale using a fan and a large funnel.

There is this too it looks kinda interesting but seems like it would help with cooling.

http://www.jprifles.com/1.4.5_hs.php

the JP device works, I have ran one of a 3 gun (one of their uppers)

pee on it

Dirty the barrel with 10 shots. 50 if it's crome lined.

5 rounds, cool. 5 rounds...cool.