Burning Out A 6.5 Barrel 

Something to note is that your temp readings were VERY off. A laser thermometer cannot read a reflective surface accurately. At 4:00 when you pour water on it, that is how water reacts when a surface is ~400f. Also, stainless steel turns brown at 480f. The light brown it was turning + the water instantly beading means that barrel was around 400 degrees LONG before you temped it at ~400. For more proof, look at how the temp jumped little by little every 100 rounds until you did the bacon. Once the bacon blacked the barrel the temp jumped 120f in 100 rounds. Getting hotter should mean more heat energy is released into the air (thermodynamics) so a sudden jump of 100+f simply can't happen. This doesn't really change the results or anything, but I wanted it pointed out for future tests.

That’s a lot of 6.5 ammunition that is still very difficult to find let alone to afford. With that said great test.

That was an awesome video. Now post the barrel to CGN "IBI Barrel, mint condition only brought out once, deal of the year!"

Attach a thermocouple to the barrel next time and get true readings. If you use a data logger and have a vibration sensor on it as well you could easily plot temp over time or temp vs number of shots fired.

Imagine being the neighbours and hearing that for a few hours you'd think they're just burning money

Just throwing my 2 cents (US)(HA HA) noticed consistency in the lower left quarter of your hot shot groups. Was wondering if the tripod mount could have shifted slightly. Now here's what I do: I educate people on how if they believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life! People are like computers; we all have a default mode. It is that we are all sinners, headed toward hell. GOD's Word declares, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God....Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.

Geez. Was wondering where all of the 6.5 ammo went! Love these videos though so worth it.

at +/- 7:30 mark you have comet tails on the last few shots you fired. Wild dispersion of the last few shots is from the lead coming out the nose of the bullet. You see it on the paper around the last bullet holes. Textbook example of the lead beginning to melt and being ejected out the nose as the bullet decelerates. Heat of the chamber and barrel, and friction of flight leading to the melting of the core. Best example I have seen of this.

There is no way it was 200°f and water was vaporizing on impact. Those ir sensors are not reliable on shiny stainless from my experience (15 years in commercial refrigeration) The reason you finally kick up temp was after you cooked the bacon and left a better surface for the gun to read. I would say that barrel was minimum 300 when you poured the water

No wonder I can't find any 6.5 ammo! Lol

once the carbon from the bacon stuck the barrel the optical thermometer started to read more accurately. they dont read bare stainless very well

So under just about worst case conditions the damage still leaves a barrel which is mostly fine for most users if you don't need maximum precision. I wonder what a nitrided barrel would look like under the same stress?

Try lapping it to see if the accuracy improves. Also, from a metallurgical point of view, steel typically starts running colors(or bluing) at around 400-450 degrees for a straw or light yellow. When you commented your barrel was turning 'brown', you were well above 400F by that point. Potentially closer to 500, or even above that. Steel bluing colors is, sadly, something a lot of firearms enthusiasts really don't do a lot of research or even reading into at all, but as with any precision tool it's incredibly important to understand even the more subtle aspects of when there's any kind of heating involved.

Even after 1000k rounds it shoots tighter than most people will shoot at.

you are why 6.5 is 50$ a box

Now we need a comparison series: How much longer does it take for fluted barrels to heat up? Does cold hammer forged handle the heat better? Would a lighter barrel with no flutes cool down quicker than a fluted heavy barrel? Would be an expensive series with 6.5CM lol.

Great job! The channel is going to skyrocket bc (1) the brand and (2) that hard work. One important test that has YET to be done is a carbon fiber barrel torture test. The debate hasn't yet been settled and it's been going on for years!

I remeber back when my best friend an I were so hyped we bought your first ever chassis for his 700. This was many moons ago. I look how far you guys have come now and I'm so proud. A Canadian company we can all be proud of.

I'm wondering if you did your load development again for that barrel, you might get it to group well again. I've had barrels wear and result in the same ammo producing a different barrel time. Tweaking my loads in those instances (reducing the charge to produce the same barrel time) brought the groups back in again.

Great Video, Well done Ryan. Thank You for using our Targets for the Video. Looks like our targets held up fairly well for 1000 rounds. Good Job 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Those are all your Black Friday magazine on table for 2022 😂. Love your products !

0:25 it's so beautiful I want to cry 🥺🥺🥺

Very interesting video.. I think this proves the opposite of what everyone thinks.. that barrels aren’t as fragile as everyone thinks they are.. so many guys at the range shoot 3 shots and then have to let it cool down for 20 minutes so they don’t “wreck” It

Kudos to you for spending the time and HUGE money to get that done for us. About $1,200 in ammo? Thank you!

@erik cortina is gunna have a fit about that barrel not being clean!.. and rightfully so, still looked like a lot of carbon in it to me. Great job putting that much effort into a test like that! I was definitely expecting to see more wear to the throat.

What a lucky Mo-Fo!!! That must of been an awesome day! Lots of trigger time , burning a barrel, and doing Science!!!! See kids this is what happens when you like school!!! Lol Another great video from the boys/Gals at MDT!!! 🍻😷👍

Great video, but you invalidated the findings when you started altering the barrel temp with the bacon and water. Then you messed with your scope adjustments when you went to the gun club. You don't need to re-zero to see how it groups unless you didn't zero it well initially. However, great video and results were well documented! I will keep up with your videos. Wish I could get a box or two of 6.5CM these days, LOL. Thanks.

Thank you for the disclaimer. Now I can watch this with eased mind.

Thank you MTD for doing this video! This was something I was always curious about but could never afford to do. Good job guys. P.S. I am a proud owner of MTD products. I love your stuff.

Wouldn’t the rapid quenching of the barrel by pouring water over it change the crystalline structure of the metal causing warping and make the overall performance worse? I’m no metallurgist but maybe that something to do with the overall change in moa compared to letting the barrel cool down on its own

Of course I hear the Mark Rober background music on this. Well done.

I am having trouble parsing the data. After the 100rds you shot an average of 0.960moa. But no moa data was given for the groups shot before and during the test? Even the group after 50rds was larger than 1moa. Was there an initial group shot right after zeroing, the one in the middle of the right target, what was its size? Based on your conclusion, do you think letting the barrel cool completely after the 50rds of rapid fire would bring the group size down from the 1.5ish moa shot while hot to the unknown initial group size? Additionally, what was the specs on the barrel? Button rifled and nitrided? Who made it?

That was fun.. Costly, but a really clever and worthy test.outside of adding bacon or water, that could or did cause a warpage by cooling on one side over the other, outside of that, the bacon cooking, all that did was make me hungry for some bacon, LOL... Thank for taking the time to rock & roll on this one..

Thanks for the video . I’m never going to be worried about ruining my barrel again

Next video burn 500 rounds and giveaway 500.

What barrel did y'all use for the testing?

From what i've seen stainless does a great job at getting rid of the barel's thermal energy.

🇦🇺😎👍Good video , great science , awesome

So this is why I can’t find any 6.5 creed ammo lol 😂😂 jk but this is crazy cool!

4:47: What Europeans think of how Americans cook.

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Did I miss the before and after group comparison? Also a .9 MOA group is still good. Might not be as useful for precision long range competition, but still good.

As a blade smith I cringed when you poured water on that barrel while it was hot. That alone can cause cracking. Nice test Thanks for sacrificing all that ammo for us.

Nice touch putting the metric readings as well as the imperial ones. Us non american gun enthousiasts always appreciate it, thanks guys !

Fully semi automatic bolt gun!

One thing, did the mirage off that barrel not obstruct your view at all on the target? I've had that happen w/ suppressors, or even hot barrels.. Hell even w/ cerakote.

Leaving a like purely out of concern for the cost of running 1,000 rounds of 6.5 through a gun just for a video.

Need to watch those edits... the government may try to ban your rapid fire weapon that's using high round clips 😂😂

Can we name that one "Sewie" for the bacon that was cooked on her?

Dang i wish i have that much 6.5 creedmoor ammo 😁

The amount of money 1000 rounds of 6.5 creed goes for today is in and of itself insane

Awesome! I wonder do you have the resources to run this test on a hammer-forged carbon steel barrel ? I am very curious.

All the reloaders are just fizzing at the thought of finding that brass lol

Ir thermometer says 226... steel turning yellow color happens around 600

I noticed the brake I’ve seen it a couple times before. I’m guessing the testing was related to the brake?

It's 'shot out' yet will still outshoot most factory guns in this condition.

Bacon and sulfur what a wonderful smell

I’d really love to see what would happen if you were to rechamber that barrel a quarter inch forward…

You know if you cut the star completely out of the target you win the giant purple teddy bear.

This is a great way to advertise the company. Keep it up. Happy with my MDT chassis 👍👍

Finally a video worth watching!! I still don’t think the barrel is junk some groups are sub MOA!

Quenching is a technical aproch a welder uses to move and square pipe during the welding process..... Kinda makes the results not worth much to me... Thanks for shooting.

He got the baconed barrel

mdt seriously need to develop a BRD (bacon retention device)

A lot of assumptions made at the end there. Assuming you'll have less fire cracking of letting it cool. What if it is the temp swing that induces cracking? This was just a tease, I think another video is in order :D

but what would a barrel look like after 1000 rounds but not letting it get hot. bet the groups still open up pretty significantly. maybe not as much as this

Rechamber a M60E6 or M240B for 6.5 then test your barrel, bolt action fire isn't going to heat it up enough to tell.

Due to emissivity of stainless, IR is a horrible technique to use. When the thermal said 190, you were mid 400s. By the end, probably 6-700*f minimum

Why didn’t he use an autoloader??? This mostly an issue only with automatic actions. Most manual actions are so limited by the capability of fire. You add a semi automatic it changed a lot. I think the rate of fire would cause much greater heat buildup.

I would be super curious to know if you lapp the barrel, clean the chamber heavy for carbon, and shoot another group what that does, then Set the chamber back about 0.2" and shoot another group. I run my self in circles online looking at barrel life, and answering those questions could prove / Dis prove a lot of people. (Example: 6CM is barrel burner, its burned at 1500 rounds) Well what is "Burned" the fact that you still ran an MOA ish group says that barrel is not really "burned" for normal use, Perhaps its burned for Match (PRS, Bench, R-Class, Etc...) accuracy. So I really wonder if either Lapping and / or setting the chamber back a bit will restore the barrels groupings.

I’m not sure how much this guy gets paid but I would have done it for free. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Really? Average of around 1 moa would be shot out?

That barrel was a lot hotter than the temp gun said. They don't work well on shiny surfaces.

All the heavy breathing......

I'm impressed the barrel survived so well. I've had a Sako finbear in .270win cause forewood smoking from radiant heat blasting away at a mob of pigs here in Australia. Stopped shooting to preserve the rifle. Only took about 14 rounds

Interesting notes about a laser thermometer and general thermodynamics of the test and measurement: - The laser has nothing to do with the temperature reading, and is actually super misleading. The thermometer samples an area in front of the IR lens (offset from the laser) in an expanding "cone" of coverage. This means the barrel is only a small part of the area being measured, and the reading (rough average of the area at that distance) will be much lower than barrel temperature. For the most accurate reading of a point, place the IR lens (not the laser!) as close to the surface as possible. But ideally, just use a thermocouple. - The color of a surface matters a lot, because this changes it's infrared emissivity. Shiny metallic surfaces have a very low emissivity, matte black surfaces have a very high emissivity. The increase in measured temperature from 400-1000 rounds is then probably not a result of an actual increase in barrel temperature (it's thermal mass is low, and it probably hit thermal equilibrium with your rate of fire balancing convection at a few hundred rounds), but a result in the dramatic change in emissivity (browning/blackening grease) of the barrel resulting in more radiated energy measured by the infrared thermometer. Actually I'd bet a lot that as the barrel darkened, it's temperature actually started decreasing again as radiative cooling joined convection as a substantial path for heat out of the barrel, and lowered the equilibrium temperature with your rate of fire and heat input.

Still looks better than a factory savage. 🤣

2 things... thermocouple and a lead sled would have been way more accurate. Some of those shots you 100% pulled. Looking down a scope for that long at white and orange with make your eyes do weird shit.

No Fair! Cooling the barrel down with bacon!

Noot noot 0:25 *lacrimosa plays*

Your IR thermometer's emissivity settings are messed up. Steel only turns those colours when it's hundreds of degrees.

I know it's a bit late to be thinking about it, but if you ever did another test like this it would be interesting to see if there is a velocity change each time you stopped to shoot a group and then after it was cleaned to see if the velocity had changed again or it had returned to a previous fps range. I am curious because I only personally know a couple people who have shot a barrel out and they've all said the velocity drops dramatically

Best gun content on youtube in aspect of editing and informativity! keep it up guys!

In this video we will destroy a barrel and see if it destroys it.. Thanks for watching!

You ppl crack me up. A group opening up a bit is considered burnt out lol. Some ppl need to get out and shoot more than paper 🤔

Can you do a repeat on your carbon fibre wrapped barrels pls? Thanks!

Oh so that's what they call american bacon

Surprised he didn’t notice that the barrel temps didn’t match the infrared readings readings. Your finger will not sizzle from a momentary touch of 200 degrees.

Bacon 🥓, bullets and barrels 😎😁 what a combo. That was a great video and really interesting to watch 🥰

At least he didn't use .243 win. I don't know what the deal is. Why aren't different companies competing for price anyway. Gotta be a Monopoly or something. Usually things get cheaper from economy of scale. $17 for rifle ammo is all I'll pay. Not paying $40 for sure. Maybe $23. Maybe not

While torture tests might be entertaining for some, I don't see any real-world relevance as I cannot imagine a situation where someone with a bolt-action rifle would need to shoot a precision rifle that fast for that many rounds. In the end, it seems to be just a waste of a perfectly good barrel and expensive ammo.

In using hornady press and tool, that what Ihave for now. I set up my die then ajust it with reeding shell Holder kit for correct bump. It done good for my shooting

The color change in The barrel to brown coloring is a visual proof of your changing the temper of the barrel. You have effectively changed them temper. When making knives straw yellow to brown is the desired coloring when coming from heat treat oven.

1. Those temp reading are way off 2. Pouring that little bit of water the first time would have added a stress zone just before shooting that group 3. Pouring all of that water at the end probably just tweaked that barrel and finished off any accuracy (or screwed the zero would be a better way to say it)

Such an awesome video, would love more of this!

I didn’t realize that was a question that needed a answer lol maybe it’s just me but if someone asked if running 1k rounds through a gun as fast as possible is bad for it the common sense answer at least to me is obviously yes.

Would like to see you make up a new load after all this. See if you could actually get groups tighter... Fun vid though...

🤣no way most of us can destroy a barrel by heat, can't afford rifle ammo and the recoil is too much after a while. I think the best I did was 550 round of 9mm in 90 minutes through pistols.

Dude, the concussion on your brain during this test…. No thanks. Fun to watch though. …..probably won’t hurt Ryan much. #winkwink

Wtf, I went all the way to shot show to see the premiere MDT Baconkote, and you didn't have it. When will this be available in a sporter barrel? I want to smell the bacon when I shoot the bacon. Kinda a whole 5 senses Martha Stewart hunting thing. =)