How long between shots?

[tpcollins]

I'm still working on a load/bullet combo for my Colt AR 16" barrel. I'd like to hit a yote the first shot with a cold barrel so I'm not even sure about taking fouling shots. If I'm trying which load gives me the best accuracy, how long should I wait between shots? Thanks.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Opened a can of worms, you have, young Padawan.

I hope to wait 5 minutes, but I never have time.

I usually shoot 3 with one minute intervals and then wait 5 before the next 3.

[DeadCenter]

Every gun is different, at least mine are some shoot the same place whether clean, fouled, hot, cold, some don't, but I would think about 5 minutes between shots might be a good wait if you want to ensure the same shot placement from a cold barrel.

[SL1]

If you are really thinking about precision shooting with a clean barrel, then you should probably clean the barrel between each shot of a group. That should make waiting between shots an irrelevant issue.

Of course, then your gun is essentially a single-shot.

Most people shoot fouling shoots before shooting for group, and then also shoot a fouling shot or two before they hunt. That way, the second shot is more likely to go where the first shot went.

As for how long to wait, why not test that in YOUR rifle with YOUR ammo by shooting about as fast as you can aim precisely at a series of bullseyes, so that you can see which rounds start to widen your group. Then, try shooting slower until the group does not open up at the same shot number.

Of course, your results will depend on ambient temperature, as well as your barrel weight, bedding job, load intensity, etc.

SL1

[jepp2]

I use the Dan Newberry's OCW method. It suggests you wait long enough between each shot for the barrel to cool.

I feel this will give you the best accuracy. Not talking about the barrel returning to ambient temperature, just talking about keeping the barrel temperature constant. It varies by rifle, but normally spacing my shots 2 minutes apart keep the barrel a nice constant just warm temperature.

If you fire off a large number of shots, the barrel temperature will reach a much higher maximum temperature during the firing, causing more stress on the barrel and thus change in expansion and pressure from contact.

Yea, I know the hotter it is, the faster it cools (heat transfer rate will be greater), the goal is similar barrel conditions.

[snuffy]

In the first place, if a gun won't shoot from a hot fouled barrel, it gets sold. I'm not going to fiddle with a finicky rifle that HAS to be clean and cold to shoot well.

Define cold! Middle of the winter here it could be -20 degrees. Then a barrel will be cold in 30 seconds. Back last week, it hit 98 degrees with high humidity. I doubt 20 minutes between shots would have resulted in a "COLD BARREL". A few minutes in the hot sun, a blurd barrel will be hot WITHOUT shooting.

Once you have a load established, leave the barrel alone. As long as you'll be shooting it again within a month. Modern ammo and reloads are NOT corrosive. If you're going to store the gun for like a year, then a cleaning and an oily patch will prevent the copper fouling from turning green.

[243winxb]

Take 2 targets to the range everytime you go. 1st shot of the day always goes on the left target. The rest on the right target shooting fast like hunting. See what you get. Clean barrel with Hopps #9 before shooting, patch dry.

[Unclenick]

I'd expand that to three targets to model one cold shot and two follow-ups. Fire three shots, one on each target and always in the same order. Then you clean. Determine the points of impact. If they are shifting as the barrel fouls and heats, you'll then know how much hold off to allow. If they don't shift, you got lucky and don't need to worry about cleaning every time or cooling a lot between shots. 5 minutes is the standard recommended cooling time if you do need to cool.

[mrawesome22]

5 minutes.

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