Thread: Rule of Thumb!?

Stress in a barrel will cause it to move with heat, but this only occurs if a barrel hasn't been de-stressed after machining. A quick check is to hold the action and tap the barrel with a piece of steel, it should ring like a bell, a dull sound indicates stress in the material. Heat in the chamber causes higher pressures in the cartridge on firing and will produce 'stringing' as well as increasing erosion of the throat.