Litehiker
Well-Known Member
We have all read about carbon fiber wrapped barrels. Some of us have rifles with CF wrapped barrels. What's the big deal with CF wrapped barrels? Well done correctly carbon fiber/resin golf club shafts, XC ski racing poles, hiking poles, exotic supercar and F1 race car "tubs" all are hellishly stiff and very light weight. And as well, stiffness in a rifle barrel is highly important to minimize barrel vibrations as the bullet passes down them, thus thus enhancing accuracy. And thus CF wrapped barrels seemed a logical choice to do that and with minimum weight bing the benefit. Minimum weight is great for mountain rifles, not to mention sniper rifles for operators who have to haul their *** and their gear AND their rifle up thousands of feet into thin air at say, 11,000 feet or so - kinda like a mountain hunter.
BUT... CF wrapping of barrels is still more an art than a science. No one CF barrel maker has yet made barrels that are totally consistent in performance and durability.
FACTOIDS of CF wrapped barrels:
->Generally the steel core is a remarkably thin barrel of stainless steel for its greater longevity in an expensive barrel. That's OK by me. Turning down a "normal" barrel into a wispy core is how you lose all that pesky weight.
->There are only a few prominent makers of CF wrapped barrels (that most shooters trust).
*Proof Research-carbon fiber filaments are wrapped with a special machine that does an overlapping diagonal "Maypole" weave.
*Christensen Arms does a proprietary layup not involving diagonal weaving.
*Fierce Firearms lays up their CF strands, tape and mat in various directions including diagonal layup.
->The epoxy-type resin makeup (it may not be epoxy in all cases) is a proprietary secret as is the vacuum/autoclave process used to impregnate the CF layers. Both Christensen and Proof Research have great experience making carbon fiber parts for military aircraft so they have a reservoir of knowledge that other barrel makers likely do not. Still, both of these companies have had occasional problems with their CF barrels. The coefficient of liner expansion as barrels heat up differs between the metal core and the CF/resin wrap. And THAT can cause delimitation at worst.
In any case it has been demonstrated that a heavy metal barrel will shoot very well until its little heart (leade) has been shot out. Some CF barrels will do this too, but it's not always a given. Plus some will not hold a 1/2 MOA for more than 3 or 4 shots when the barrel heats up. What the heck?!
So we are still waiting for that perfect CF barrel that is perfectly consistent over its life, barrel after barrel after barrel. And it appears that the answer likely lies in a better resin, better layup process and maybe even a better knowledge of inner barrel profile-to-outer barrel profile ratios. Do you want pre-peg fibers or not? Should the pre-peg resin be the same as the final resin? Should the wrap layup be the same from chamber to muzzle threads? And does the final CF surface need to be smooth or fluted?
Get that coefficient of liner expansion difference between the steel core and the CF layup solved, the optimal layup pattern solved, and the "unknown unknowns" discovered and we may have the kind of barrels that are actually always worth the high CF price.
Eric B.
P.S. I put this post here to give it the most exposure but I realize it also belongs in the forum on "Rifles, Bullets, Barrels and Ballistics".
BUT... CF wrapping of barrels is still more an art than a science. No one CF barrel maker has yet made barrels that are totally consistent in performance and durability.
FACTOIDS of CF wrapped barrels:
->Generally the steel core is a remarkably thin barrel of stainless steel for its greater longevity in an expensive barrel. That's OK by me. Turning down a "normal" barrel into a wispy core is how you lose all that pesky weight.
->There are only a few prominent makers of CF wrapped barrels (that most shooters trust).
*Proof Research-carbon fiber filaments are wrapped with a special machine that does an overlapping diagonal "Maypole" weave.
*Christensen Arms does a proprietary layup not involving diagonal weaving.
*Fierce Firearms lays up their CF strands, tape and mat in various directions including diagonal layup.
->The epoxy-type resin makeup (it may not be epoxy in all cases) is a proprietary secret as is the vacuum/autoclave process used to impregnate the CF layers. Both Christensen and Proof Research have great experience making carbon fiber parts for military aircraft so they have a reservoir of knowledge that other barrel makers likely do not. Still, both of these companies have had occasional problems with their CF barrels. The coefficient of liner expansion as barrels heat up differs between the metal core and the CF/resin wrap. And THAT can cause delimitation at worst.
In any case it has been demonstrated that a heavy metal barrel will shoot very well until its little heart (leade) has been shot out. Some CF barrels will do this too, but it's not always a given. Plus some will not hold a 1/2 MOA for more than 3 or 4 shots when the barrel heats up. What the heck?!
So we are still waiting for that perfect CF barrel that is perfectly consistent over its life, barrel after barrel after barrel. And it appears that the answer likely lies in a better resin, better layup process and maybe even a better knowledge of inner barrel profile-to-outer barrel profile ratios. Do you want pre-peg fibers or not? Should the pre-peg resin be the same as the final resin? Should the wrap layup be the same from chamber to muzzle threads? And does the final CF surface need to be smooth or fluted?
Get that coefficient of liner expansion difference between the steel core and the CF layup solved, the optimal layup pattern solved, and the "unknown unknowns" discovered and we may have the kind of barrels that are actually always worth the high CF price.
Eric B.
P.S. I put this post here to give it the most exposure but I realize it also belongs in the forum on "Rifles, Bullets, Barrels and Ballistics".
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