Just wondering if leaving my rifle and scope in a hot car for a few days, in a soft case, would potentially damage anything...
Leaving rifle and scope in a hot car
- Thread starter like.2.fly
- Start date
Heat is bad on seals and can cause dangerous increase in pressure for PCP tanks.
The scope should not have a problem.. it's the gun I worry about.
The scope should not have a problem.. it's the gun I worry about.
Upvote 0
How hot? Over 100⁰ f outside ? I wouldn't do it if it was extremely hot. Rubber is tough it can tolerate some heat, like in an engine bay of a car the rubber hoses and belts usually last at least a decade before they start to deteriorate. Nitrile (Buna-N) safe operating temperature is -40°F to 250°F. Scba tanks are worn into burning buildings by firefighters, they can tolerate some heat and an increase in psi. If its just a few days you might be OK if you keep your windows cracked slightly so the car doesn't act like an oven. Now the gun itself is a different animal, it has at least 20-30 o rings possibly more and you aren't supposed to overfill the air pressure, leaving the gun inside a hot car for a prolonged period of time could definitely start to breakdown the seals and increase the pressure. If its just 2 days and you have no where else to store it, and its not too hot out, I wouldn't freak out over it, but I would definitely keep the windows cracked if possible and keep it out of direct sunlight. If its 80⁰ outside that's different than 110⁰. Its definitely going to vary depending on your particular situation.
I wouldn't keep my favorite pcp in the car but I have left a pcp in the car in the heat for more than 2 days. I took precautions and its not extremely hot where I live. I checked on it throughout the day and it was fine. Its up to you to stay safe and keep your equipment safe.
Be careful , and cautious
Upvote 0
Divide the new temperature by the old temperature in Kelvin, or whatever Fahrenheit's equivalent is, and multiply the old pressure by that.
P₁/T₁ = P₂/T₂
P₂ = P₁T₂/T₁
So leaving your gun in a hot car in the sun on a nice warm day...
(250 bar)(330K)/300K = 275 bar
P₁/T₁ = P₂/T₂
P₂ = P₁T₂/T₁
So leaving your gun in a hot car in the sun on a nice warm day...
(250 bar)(330K)/300K = 275 bar
Upvote 0
In Arizona you don't want to leave a gun with 3D printed accessories on it in a hot car, out in the sun, or in the bed of your truck very long till some bad things start to happen. (Thinking expensive scope wheel. 
)
Or so I've heard.......
)Or so I've heard.......
Upvote 0
If you are worried about an overpressure situation you could reduce the fill. If it's a 300 bar fill fill to 250, for instance. I would not want to shoot it if the pressure is above the gun's maximum but I doubt it would be permanently damaged. I overfilled my Prod once and it didn't shoot right until the pressure fell (from shooting in that case) but it wasn't harmed. My gun is out in the sun on the shooting bench right now. It is no more than 80 here today but I've left it there on hotter days.
Overall I don't think it's the best thing for the gun but the most I would expect to go wrong is an O-ring might decide to fail. Even that seems unlikely.
Overall I don't think it's the best thing for the gun but the most I would expect to go wrong is an O-ring might decide to fail. Even that seems unlikely.
Upvote 0
While I didn't leave a PCP rifle in my car, I did leave a few 3D printed magazines inside of an ammo box. They warped so bad that they were unusable after that.
Just a heads up.
mike
Just a heads up.
mike
Upvote 0
