DiscoRacing
New member
Was shooting various calibers today when I come across the idea that my stainless seemed like it was cooling off quicker after sets than the blued.... anyone know if this is the case...or is the oposite??? !!!..
Anyone know if stainless cools faster than blued?
- Thread starter DiscoRacing
- Start date
Bear 45/70
Moderator
How can it be harder to get hot and then cool faster? Physics says you can't do both with the same material. If it is slow to heat, it will be just as slow to cool and vise-a-verse-a.
One reason it is harder to heat is it is losing heat faster than other metals... A cast iron skillet will stay hot longer than equal thickness stainless skillet. Copper heats faster than cast iron but usually isn't thick enuff for me to compare. I have done comparisons with cookware and have fairly extensive time in a stainless steel shop that also did some work with regular steel and aluminum. When tig welding stainless the "blue line" is much narrower than on steel. Proof positive that the heat doesn't extend as far out. Now if you got it as hot, maybe it would be a negligible difference in cooling but 25 rounds thru a blue barrel will result in a much hotter barrel than 25 thru a stainless one.
Brent
Brent
Shane Tuttle
Staff
I'm not sure of the metallurgy of the guns you're firing, but there's several guns out there these days that are stainless with a blued finish.
I wouldn't judge by the feel of the gun alone on the ability to dissipate heat quicker. For instance: An aircooled VW has its engine surrounded by "tin" plates. Two basic finishes are chrome and painted black. If you feel them while the engine is running, the chrome tins are cooler, while black ones are hotter. The reasoning is the black absorbs the heat and dissipates is more efficiently. Thus, my thinking is it's cooling faster.
The blued guns may have a small advantage, albiet negligible. But that's my take. I'm no metallurgist and it may be different with firearms.
I wouldn't judge by the feel of the gun alone on the ability to dissipate heat quicker. For instance: An aircooled VW has its engine surrounded by "tin" plates. Two basic finishes are chrome and painted black. If you feel them while the engine is running, the chrome tins are cooler, while black ones are hotter. The reasoning is the black absorbs the heat and dissipates is more efficiently. Thus, my thinking is it's cooling faster.
The blued guns may have a small advantage, albiet negligible. But that's my take. I'm no metallurgist and it may be different with firearms.
Do people have the specific heats of each type of metal?
I did some pre-lim digging and found Grade 316 Stainless containing Molybednum and other materials to have a specific heat of 500j/kg. (Which, if I'm correct means 500 joules to heat 1 kilogram of stainless 1 deg celsius).
I'd imagine comparing the two would answer this question?
I did some pre-lim digging and found Grade 316 Stainless containing Molybednum and other materials to have a specific heat of 500j/kg. (Which, if I'm correct means 500 joules to heat 1 kilogram of stainless 1 deg celsius).
I'd imagine comparing the two would answer this question?
Swampghost
New member
The thermal conductivity, 1 W/(mK) = 1 W/(moC) = 0.85984 kcal/(hr moC) = 0.5779 Btu/(ft hr oF) of stainless steel is approx. 16 and carbon steel, 46.
In essence S.S. will take longer to heat up and cool down.
I've spent 14+ yrs. as a machinist (AFL-CIO Journeyman's card, 4 yrs. CNC). I ripped this info from this site. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html
In essence S.S. will take longer to heat up and cool down.
I've spent 14+ yrs. as a machinist (AFL-CIO Journeyman's card, 4 yrs. CNC). I ripped this info from this site. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html
KC, I have no scientific data... Just hands on (literally) experience with Stainless, aluminum, steel and copper cookware and all but copper in metal working. I also know that the stainless formula we most often used required an un-godly amount of heat to polish it... We often had "pad fires" and if you couldn't smell the heat it wasn't polishing at all.
Brent
Brent
Due to swamps info I must rescind my original statement due to my own ignorance... Re worded I can only say that if you could get it as hot as steel it would require longer to cool but with equal rounds thru the barrel of either the stainless starts a cool down from a lower starting point.
Sorry for any confusion my inaccurate statement my words caused...
Brent
Sorry for any confusion my inaccurate statement my words caused...
Brent
Dfariswheel
New member
I remember in the early days of stainless guns, a number of reviewers noted that stainless pistols retained heat longer than carbon steel guns.
One reviewer, (Massad Ayoob??) noted that a new stainless S&W Model 66 was still warm while the blued S&W revolvers in his gun case were cooled off.
One reviewer, (Massad Ayoob??) noted that a new stainless S&W Model 66 was still warm while the blued S&W revolvers in his gun case were cooled off.
Inspector3711
New member
And as stated above... When heated to the same temp, stainless does take longer to cool. On the other hand, it takes more rounds to get stainless to that temp.
I thought I was the only one weird enough to wonder about this sort of thing.
Or maybe I'm the only one to actually try and test to find out.
A while back I took these two guns (Ruger Security Six models)
Twelve rounds of full-house .357 Magnum rounds were fired simultaneously through the guns and then both were laid side by side on a wooden bench.
Using an IR thermometer I checked and tracked the temperature at the junction of the barrel and frame.
The blued gun got hotter than the stainless gun and also cooled noticeably faster than the stainless gun though this could have been due to the extra barrel length of the blued gun giving it more "radiating" area or other factors I hadn't compensated for.
Or maybe I'm the only one to actually try and test to find out.
A while back I took these two guns (Ruger Security Six models)
Twelve rounds of full-house .357 Magnum rounds were fired simultaneously through the guns and then both were laid side by side on a wooden bench.
Using an IR thermometer I checked and tracked the temperature at the junction of the barrel and frame.
The blued gun got hotter than the stainless gun and also cooled noticeably faster than the stainless gun though this could have been due to the extra barrel length of the blued gun giving it more "radiating" area or other factors I hadn't compensated for.