A method for operating an apparatus for decelerating and temporarily accumulating a hot rolled long product. The product is deposited on a rotating drum in the form of a helix, and is simultaneously unwound from the drum to a receiving guide movable incrementally along a path parallel to the rotational axis of the drum. Immediately upon entry of the product front end into the receiving guide, the incremental movement of the receiving guide is preceded by an initial rapid shifting through a distance adequate to prevent subsequent product convolutions of the helix from buckling and overlapping.