Barrel tuners?

FrenchieBoy

Well-Known Member
I am (Just as I am sure that all of you are) always trying to find ways of improving the accuracy of my rifle so that I can get even more pleasure out of my shooting which is why I've just been watching the video below about Barrel Tuners.
I understand the concept of a barrel tuner but I have to wonder if the time and effort spent setting one up makes it a worthwhile piece of equipment to have on your rifle.
Does anyone use or have any experience of a barrel tuner and if so do you feel that they make much difference and are they worth trying?

 
It wont stop you pulling a shot or the quarry moving....however unless you mark the position of it then it could be useful to blame the rubber ring on your barrel if you miss...

As you know Pete rifles shoot different when they heat up so most of us rely on cold barrel kills.


For paper punching then it could well work as they have the time to fiddle with there RING lol....


Tim.243
 
It wont stop you pulling a shot or the quarry moving....however unless you mark the position of it then it could be useful to blame the rubber ring on your barrel if you miss...

As you know Pete rifles shoot different when they heat up so most of us rely on cold barrel kills.


For paper punching then it could well work as they have the time to fiddle with there RING lol....


Tim.243

Thanks for that Tim!
I am shortly getting a Steyr Mannlicher in .270 (Given to me as a gift) to set up and use for Deer (Park and Farm) Culling so I obviously want to try to get the best out of the Steyr, which is the main reason for asking.

As for fiddling with my ring - There's not usually much time to do that when park or farm culling!:rofl:
 
Thanks for that Tim!
I am shortly getting a Steyr Mannlicher in .270 (Given to me as a gift) to set up and use for Deer (Park and Farm) Culling so I obviously want to try to get the best out of the Steyr, which is the main reason for asking.

As for fiddling with my ring - There's not usually much time to do that when park or farm culling!:rofl:

No problem Pete.....

If you cant get close enough get a .243 lol

We don't take prisoner's in Essex...

They go straight to the chillier...




Tim.243
 
I used to use a .243 for Roe and Fallows but I changed to a .270 because the guy I do the culling for sometimes calls me out to help culling herds of Red Deer which are often at slightly longer ranges. I know that a .243 is capable of doing the job but I like the extra "knock down power" of the .270!
 
I am (Just as I am sure that all of you are) always trying to find ways of improving the accuracy of my rifle so that I can get even more pleasure out of my shooting which is why I've just been watching the video below about Barrel Tuners.
I understand the concept of a barrel tuner but I have to wonder if the time and effort spent setting one up makes it a worthwhile piece of equipment to have on your rifle.
Does anyone use or have any experience of a barrel tuner and if so do you feel that they make much difference and are they worth trying?



Barrel harmonics may be changed by damping out amplitude at antinode points but the effect might be less than you might think on accuracy. If your rifle is bedded well, the action is secure and your technique disciplined, then I can't really see what use one of these haemorrhoid rings will do towards a more humane first shot kill or towards punching better target scores. I've never seen any used on some of the ranges I use and most stalkers would laugh the idea off the end of the barrel, especially when the chances of dislodging one in the field from its "tuned" position is pretty high.
 
There are much neater examples around that are a screwfit muzzle sleeve flush with the barrel profile (not very practical with very light profile sporting barrels though). The idea of all tuners is to find the load with perfect internal ballistics - ie high velocity and tiny velocity spread - then 'tune' the barrel harmonics to produce a tiny group.

It's nothing new - Winchester / Browning had a combined tuner / brake called a BOSS (Ballistic Optimizing something System) donkeys years ago and I'm sure that wasn't a new idea then by any means. It was also available with a range use non-perforated tuner sleeve as the muzzle brake version with holes along it made a horrendous amount of noise and muzzle blast. The back end of the sleeve had index marks to calibrate the setting against a mark on the barrel. I had a Browning A-Bolt in 7-08 so fitted maybe 20 years ago. It was yet another thing to fiddle with and in the end I screwed it to the mid position and tuned the handloads to suit the barrel as per normal. I hated the noise and blast, but that was a Winchester / Browning 'refinement' not an essential part of the tuner concept. It was not a success and the BOSS soon disappeared from the A-Bolt and other models' listed features.

It has some range promise, but few F-Class or similar competitors have been convinced. Where it has really found a niche is rimfire benchrest where the rifle is tuned to the ammo and all top competitors use such a system. It should in theory have a similar attraction to TR shooters who either don't handload or use the NRA sourced 155gn match quality 308 Win previously from RWS, now GGG - but it either doesn't work, or more likely doesn't appeal as TR shooters are in the round a pretty conservative bunch.
 
There was an article on this by Jim Tyler in a recent air rifle magazine, it was vey informative. Now the FT guys aspire to a level of accuracy that most shooters only dream of so really would you need to go to such extremes. I would have thought that in 99% of situations most modern weapons with hand loads are more accurate than their owners. Its just another thing to worry about. If I do my bit all my C/f rifles are capable of excellent accuracy so in truth what are you worried about?

D
 
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