Thread: What's the Deal?

I am not sure I am following your reasoning Tussuck.
A thinner / lighter barrel will erode slower because although it heats up faster it also cools down faster… therefore the bore surface temperature would be lower when firing the next shot... I think this would only be the case after a certain amount of shots and a certain time frame.

I absolutely agree with you that both a heavy and a light barrel will see the same heat input. But I would have thought that heat transfers much faster through steel than it does from steel to air. My line of thinking is that the heat would average over the mass of the barrel faster than it would be dissipated from the outside surface to the air. This would mean that the heavier barrel will absorb that heat and remain cooler after a short time when compared to a lighter barrel.

This is how I interpret Greg’s observation above as well. His rifle chassis is sucking the heat out of the barrel faster than the heat would normally dissipate from the barrel outside surface.