I'm relatively new to AR-15 shooting.  Last week at the range I put about 300rds. through my Bushmaster Shorty.  I was not shooting rapidly.  The heat from the barrel was apparent through the handguards.  I was a little concerned.  

Question is, should I stop and let the barrel cool off after 'so many' rounds?  Is 300-400 rounds (not rapid) too much for one session?  It seems to me that a mil-spec rifle should be able to take quite a bit of shooting (even full auto) without damage.

All comments welcome.  

Arty-

 Your own comfort is the only criteria that should be of concern in terms of heat; that and the mirage effect through the sights when using a scope, but this has never been a problem with me, even with high magnifications, on an AR variant. A 300-400 round session should include at least two to three cleaning/lube sessions if you're just plinking away, and you won't be doing any harm letting the piece cool down now and again between mag loadings... see to the bolt and carrier, punch the bore, lube all parts, etc. Any damage that could be done would be cosmetic, i.e. turning the gas tube blue, burning off/discoloring the finish on the barrel, but in either case, at this time of year and through a semi-auto piece, that's not likely to happen.

 The most important consideration is to use a good quality name brand for your ammo needs, (NOT Wolf Brand!), and keep the moving parts clean and slippery. Do that, and you'll do fine. (And don't worry if you already have used any of the cheap blammo-ammo; just get rid of it and use something non-corrosive in a brass case.) You won't do any damage in terms of undoing any heat treatments, if that's what you're worried about...

 Best of luck,

You can shoot in semi as fast as you can pull the trigger for several hundred rounds and not do any damage to the barrel. Full auto is another story.

Follow this advice and you are more likely to wear your weapon out from cleaning it rather than firing it. This is just my opinion, of course. I usually clean my ARs every couple of thousand rounds are so. And my shooting sessions usually involve ripping through at least a few 30 rounders bump-style, generating substantial heat.

I put 240 rounds through my 11.5"/5.5" barrel the other day in a rather quick time frame.  The gas tube is now dark blue/purple and the hand guard is a little melted inside.  As for cleaning, I clean my rifle at least once a year.  This usually means about 2000+ rounds without even looking at it.  The last thousand through my Colt were of the Wolf variety.  I had only 2 misfires.  The only ammo I ever had problems with was some Malaysian crap about 6 years ago.

In order to change the properties of the metal in your barrel, it needs to start turning red, which I doubt you can do with a semi auto.

Were you breaking in the barrel?  The first time I shot my Bushmaster, I shot 300 rounds through it to polish out the chrome lining.  I did let it cool off for about 10 minutes after every 50 rounds.  This was mainly so I wouldn't accidently burn something with a searing hot barrel.

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I heard a story at the range once from a SKS finatic.  Someone was testing for barrel failure with the full-auto weapon. One guy kept empting 30 rounders while a man was along side to hand the next full mag. This supposidly continued for 20,000 rounds till the wood barrel shroud above the forearm started to smolder and caught fire.  

USNA91,

Even if Mr. SKS's story is true, it does not prove if the SKS barrel suffered any significant damage.  It only goes to show that the weapon can fire 20,000 rounds, full-auto, with no critical failures.

-Boom

That story sounds bogus.  Who would spend over $1000 on ammo just to test an SKS?  Besides, the wood would become hot enough to burn well before 20,000 rounds of sustained full-auto fire.  

That SKS story can't be true.  The barrel would fail, the gas tube would fail, the metal parts would expand enough to cause serious jamming, and we are supposed to believe this guy had a pile of over 600 loaded 30 round magazines to keep stuffing in?

From what I understand, the HBAR barrel was developed for sustained full auto fire (also to compensate for soldiers using their rifles as pry bars...but that's another story).

If you have an HBAR equipped rifle, then you shouldn't expect any problems with semi-auto fire.

I usually clean my rifle after a trip to the range.  I don't stop shooting to clean.  The rifle can handle 500 rounds this way with no problem.  It could probably operate flawlessly for at least double that amount.

Well, I don't know about an SKS firing 20,000 rounds, but there is this video taken at Knob Creek where someone shoots the s**t out of a ClassIII AK.  Don't know how many rounds they shot but the stocks sure are smoking!

[url]http://1919a4.com/gca/kcr-killtheak.mpg[/url]

BTW, Gulf Coast Armory has a bunch of cool vids listed on their site.
[url]http://www.gulfcoastarmory.com[/url]

gunman0,

I never bought much into the story either, just thought I share it.

Yea, I laughed and questioned the number of magazines also.  Mr. SKS's defense was that there were others reloading the empty mags. Also, this was supposidly done or funded by some sort of publication (magazine).

-Boom