While plinking, the wife sits behind me at the table keeping the mags full. Or alteratively, I keep the mags full for her. And we have a steady stream of lead perforating the paper down range. The barrel starts to heat up after a while. Easy to do withh 22lr because it's so cheap.
We generally stop when it gets too hot to touch and switch guns. I figure there is a point where the gun will get too hot and start to cause damage to itself. But what point is that? I figured if I can still touch it, it's not too hot. But after that, I can't tell. It's not cherry red, but would definitely blister my skin if I left my finger there too long.
Am I being too easy on the gun? Or am I already going past the "too hot'' point when it gets too hot to touch?
Then, I have to put this hot gun inside the case and trap all that heat inside. I hate having to close it up like that, but if I want to keep shooting, I don't have a choice. Rules of the range. One gun at a time. I aways expect to see melted padding stuck to it when I open it up later. Hasn't happened yet though.
What do you guys think?