Rubber Wrapping a barrel?

[huntxtrm]

Might be a Dumb A## idea. But i'm thinking about wrapping the barrel of my hunting rifle with rubber, and see if it tightens up my groups. I was thinking of using rubber tape, a couple of wraps thick. Then going over it with RemWrap. I noticed limbsaver sells a barrel ring, that takes claims to tighten the group. So I figure, why not the whole barrel? The rifle is a 300rum Browning A bolt. No Boss on it, just an aftermarket muzzle brake. I was just going to use Rubber/self vulcanizing electrical tape. I'm an electrician, and we use it to make weather tight seals and such. Cheap, if it works. Any ideas on why it would work, or why it would not? lightbulb

 

[kimba]

can try and remove if not good - and prob will not be . You cannot make a crappy barrel shoot well. all barrels flex on shot - heavy ones very little light ones a ton. Key is to get them to flex the same way each time. Putting a condom on a barrel not likely to make any diff. I would not count on that limb saver doughnut as move it a hair and harmonics on barrel different. Good luck in any hunting as guaranteed to bump it and another thing to hang in rifle sheath. The idea is to get barrel flex the same each time, not eliminate it. A big, honkin weight on a pencil barrel will change harmonics, but more likely to shoot out barrel finding the sweet spot - if there is one.

I played the limb saver game with bows years ago and the reality is not much except the ones on the bow limbs made any difference in hell and that only for noise reduction. The ones on the string did work as well - for noise. The rest of the crap added to sight, quiver, barrel... was all gimmicks. Just my opinion - I could be wrong.

 

[FearNoWind]

The limbsaver barrel ring, and similar devices, are meant to change the harmonics of the barrel. Think of it this way. If you pick a guitar string you get a certain tone. If you put a restriction on the string at some point you change the sign wave which results in a change in tone. Not the best example, but I think it's close enough.
Wrapping the entire guitar string in rubber would not have the same effect.
That said, no amount of wrapping with any material, is going to improve a barrel that shoots poorly.

 

[Korhil78]

I bet it would take a long time for your barrel to cool back down.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

can try and remove if not good - and prob will not be . You cannot make a crappy barrel shoot well. all barrels flex on shot - heavy ones very little light ones a ton. Key is to get them to flex the same way each time. Putting a condom on a barrel not likely to make any diff. I would not count on that limb saver doughnut as move it a hair and harmonics on barrel different. Good luck in any hunting as guaranteed to bump it and another thing to hang in rifle sheath. The idea is to get barrel flex the same each time, not eliminate it. A big, honkin weight on a pencil barrel will change harmonics, but more likely to shoot out barrel finding the sweet spot - if there is one.

I played the limb saver game with bows years ago and the reality is not much except the ones on the bow limbs made any difference in hell and that only for noise reduction. The ones on the string did work as well - for noise. The rest of the crap added to sight, quiver, barrel... was all gimmicks. Just my opinion - I could be wrong.

the one thing I do like about limb saver dampeners on used rifles; I know which ones not to buy then.... I'm not fiddling with someone else's headache....

 

[Varmint Hunter]

As odd as it sounds, I met a guy at the range who filled his barrel channel with silicone, the same stuff you use to seal the tub or windows with. Kind of like full length barrel bedding in rubber.
He swore that his rifle shot measurably better. I'm guessing, however, that if that trick was a viable way to increase accuracy others would be using it. I think your electric tape idea falls into a similar category.
Give it a try; what have you got to loose, but I'd keep it to myself.

 

[huntxtrm]

I just started hand loading. And have been workin on a load for this rifle. I have it down to .75 MOA so far. Just halfway up the ladder. I think it will shoot well, I was just thinkin better, and cheap. May try it anyway, just for giggles. I figured the tape would actually help pull the heat from the barrel. Maybe not.

 

[J E Custom]

If a barrel bore is good but wont shoot well, It could be any number of things.

Start with bedding. This will never hurt and makes the system more consistent. If it is a light weight barrel, bed about 1" of the barrel at the same time. (This effectively shortens the barrel changing the Harmonics).

Another thing to try is after you do a full bed and test to see if it improved (And it did but not enough to suet you) take the barreled action out of the stock and where the tip pressure point
was/is, remove it and then place a small amount of bedding compound where it was and carefully place the barreled action back in the stock. (Don't press down on the barrel, just let the barrel mash it out after the action is torqued) this does not apply tip pressure but again dampens the barrel and changes the harmonics of the barrel. When it is cured you can trim it flush on the outside to look good.

You can add adjustable screws at the tip of the stock and trying different tensions change the effected harmonics.

Harmonics are very important when accuracy is desired. The lighter the barrel, the harder it is to tune the harmonics. almost everything we do to a rifle changes the harmonics. The heavier the barrel the less effects harmonics have on it.

Other ways to change the harmonics are, changing the bullet weight and load (Normally light weight barrels prefer lighter bullets) re crown the barrel until it improves (This shortens the barrel 1/16"
at a time and is amazingly effective at times on a premium barrels ) Stock materials can also effect the harmonics by not resonating the harmonics and in the case of the laminated stocks, actually dampening the harmonics because of the many different directions of the grain.

And still another way is to add a weight to the end of the barrel. this can be done by adding a larger muzzle brake, an adjustable weight (Like the BOSS) or just an adjustable weight with no ports.
Lots of competitors use this method where muzzle brakes are not aloud.

As you can tell I did not mention wrapping the barrel, mainly because I have not tried it, and as others have said I don't think it will do any good "BUT" that doesn't mean it wont work, so try it.

I hope this helps.

J E CUSTOM

 

[HARPERC]

I just started hand loading. And have been workin on a load for this rifle. I have it down to .75 MOA so far. Just halfway up the ladder. I think it will shoot well, I was just thinkin better, and cheap. May try it anyway, just for giggles. I figured the tape would actually help pull the heat from the barrel. Maybe not.

It's not shooting poorly now. It would seem as likely to hold heat in, as it would "pull it out". No idea myself.

If you wish to tinker a bit, put strips of that tape in the barrel channel at the fore end tip. Strips 1"-2" in length, start at light contact and add tape to find a sweet spot. If there is one, going past it will show up in the groups.

 

[LaHunter]

Rubber is not a good conductor of heat, it will insulate the barrel and slow the dissipation of heat from the barrel.
Another concern I would have is that you increase the risk of getting pitting corrosion, even with a stainless barrel. Yes, stainless will pit/corrode. That rubber wrap will trap any moisture, even from humidity, and increase the potential for pitting.
Just my .02 cents.

 

[lazylabs]

First shot in sub zero temps might be interesting.

 

[kimba]

damned bunch of enablers

 

[dsculley]

You might try adding tension to the barrel. The idea is to have a high spot at the end of the forearm that puts a small amount of pressure (8 - 10 lbs or so) against the barrel. This restricts the area from the action to the end of the forearm from moving so the only part of the barrel moving any degree from the harmonics of the shot is from the end of the forearm to the muzzle. Since less of the barrel is moving, barrel whip is reduced. One good way to try this is to loosen the action screws, then take a piece of old credit card material and place it in the end of the forearm between the barrel and the forearm. Re-tighten the action screws and then shoot some groups to see if they have improved. If this helps, you can bed the forearm to tension the barrel. There are several good tutorials on how to do this. Here is one method (Glass Bedding a Sporter Rifle).

Dennis

 

[huntxtrm]

You might try adding tension to the barrel. The idea is to have a high spot at the end of the forearm that puts a small amount of pressure (8 - 10 lbs or so) against the barrel. This restricts the area from the action to the end of the forearm from moving so the only part of the barrel moving any degree from the harmonics of the shot is from the end of the forearm to the muzzle. Since less of the barrel is moving, barrel whip is reduced. One good way to try this is to loosen the action screws, then take a piece of old credit card material and place it in the end of the forearm between the barrel and the forearm. Re-tighten the action screws and then shoot some groups to see if they have improved. If this helps, you can bed the forearm to tension the barrel. There are several good tutorials on how to do this. Here is one method (Glass Bedding a Sporter Rifle).

Dennis

I'm not a gunsmith by no means. But what is the Benefits of the free floating barrel, and bedding a barrel? Is that not the opposite of each? I think this Browny has a free floating barrel?