I was wondering if any of you have changed your rifle form a floating barrel to a bull barrel? If so did it improve your shot accuracy. I have mixed feelings of tunning the harmonics of a barrel. If you go to a bull barrel will that take the harmonic tunning out of the equation and leave you one step closer to tunning your pellet to perfection? I would like to hear your input on this. Thanks
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floating vs bull barrel
- Thread starter Richard300
- Start date
Depends on the rifle you're doing it on. You can have a non-floating bull barrel and it will help reduce harmonics with its thickness. Keep in mind, though, that there will be added weight and it will not entirely eliminate the harmonics.
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Harmonics are part of every barrel, bull or sporter, supported or floated. Your goal is consistency. It doesn't matter what kind of vibrations are going through the barrel, as long as it is controlled the same way with every shot. That said, tuning will usually indicate a specific barrel's optimum barrel characteristics. As with all the variables, you just have to test and see. With air rifles, we aren't dealing with extreme heat generation, so there is no need to assume that bigger is better, although you may shoot it better.
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I'm confused by the question. A bull barrel is a thick barrel which gives it the requisite stiffness that it does not need additional support, thus it will usually be "floated" (held only at the receiver). So for the most part, bull barrel = floated.
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Yes, a bull barrel in a cartridge rifle is usually a varmint or BR barrel, and often free floated. I've never seen the equivalent in an air rifle, and I took the OP's question to be generally asking about free floated vs supported. I've almost always had better results with free floated barrels in firearms, but they attach to the receiver in a much more robust manner than virtually all air rifles. And since the barrel support in air rifles is independent of stock contact, I think it is sometimes the better choice.
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Sorry. what I ment was a Floated standard thin barrel vs a floated bull Barrel. The thin barrel will have more vibration then the thicker bull barrel. Will there be any advantage to having one vs the other. Thanks
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What would you consider a "bull barrel" in an air rifle? I'm not aware of one. But assuming there is one, and given the relatively fragile barrel attachment designs in most air rifles, I'm not sure a heavy barrel offers any advantage. Barrel vibration is neither good nor bad. It's just one variable that tuning must address.
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The advantage will be less poi shift across a range of various projectiles (within a given size and weight range that is suitable to the barrel twist, bore, ect) and less poi shift across various power levels. The barrel will be easier to tune, and more forgiving. But a thin barrel that has lots of flex can still be very near just as accurate in my experience. I've had extremely good results with my 700mm fx superlight barrel which is just a thin liner floated on 3 small spastic rings with rubber on the outer edge riding in a thin aluminum shroud. Granted, it did not shoot as well with any moderator I used, even tiny ones. It (a 22 cal barrel) would stack 36gr slugs at 100 yards just under 1/2 moa. I'm sure maybe a bull barrel could do slightly better, and this might be magnified at longer ranges. But that just isn't my cup of tea. I converted that barrel (still have the parts) over to 500mm and prefer shooting much lighter slugs at higher speeds. And at shorter distances.
Now, if you're into competition and what have you, or extreme long range... It may be worthwhile. But there are a lot of other factors that need to be accounted for and applied correctly.
In whatever arena I have interest, the added weight is by no means worth the tiny gain to be had. I'd rather have a thin barrel in a carbon fiber tensioned shroud. This setup in a way emulates a bull barrel. And is way way way lighter. I have one such barrel on an unregulated rifle, and found it was actually necessary to overcome the varying harmonics that occur as pressure at the valve drops, and valve/hammer interaction changes resultingly. The rifle came with a tensioned barrel, but a heavy metal shroud instead. The barrel in it now is much shorter, of a different caliber, and bonded to a carbon fiber tube as well to further stiffen it prior to tensioning.
A lot of FX guys now use this practice as well of using a carbon fiber sleeve to stiffen their liner inside of the shroud. Fx also has some tensioning kits for the impact at least.... IIRC?
Now, if you're into competition and what have you, or extreme long range... It may be worthwhile. But there are a lot of other factors that need to be accounted for and applied correctly.
In whatever arena I have interest, the added weight is by no means worth the tiny gain to be had. I'd rather have a thin barrel in a carbon fiber tensioned shroud. This setup in a way emulates a bull barrel. And is way way way lighter. I have one such barrel on an unregulated rifle, and found it was actually necessary to overcome the varying harmonics that occur as pressure at the valve drops, and valve/hammer interaction changes resultingly. The rifle came with a tensioned barrel, but a heavy metal shroud instead. The barrel in it now is much shorter, of a different caliber, and bonded to a carbon fiber tube as well to further stiffen it prior to tensioning.
A lot of FX guys now use this practice as well of using a carbon fiber sleeve to stiffen their liner inside of the shroud. Fx also has some tensioning kits for the impact at least.... IIRC?
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The whole point of bull barrel is to have additional weight so the harmonic vibration frequency is higher but very limited in travel or amplitude. This usually means the timing or getting the right “node” is much easier. Airguns don’t have “bull” barrel but most has solid barrels but thanks to the lower power of airguns harmonic don’t always show up at lower power like 20-30 FPE. Some precisions target guns do have slightly thicker barrels. Even in PB world most true “bull” barrels are on fully locked in bench rest guns with a tuner. There are many ways to manage harmonic also but in airgun world it doesn’t really show its ugly head until over 50fpe in most air guns in most situations.
thanks to thiner barrels and quest for lighter weight there are some barrels that are tensioned which has similar effect as Bull barrel but certain isn’t as consistent as true free floating barrel. I do like tensioned barrel for hunting situations but for true target work free floating is king because the harmonics is the most consistent with no other variable such as tension and tension interface plus temperature affect on the barrel and tension material. There simply isn’t a way to get consistent thermal expansion even if the same material is used for both barrel and outside tension mechanism.
Just my 2 Pennies.
thanks to thiner barrels and quest for lighter weight there are some barrels that are tensioned which has similar effect as Bull barrel but certain isn’t as consistent as true free floating barrel. I do like tensioned barrel for hunting situations but for true target work free floating is king because the harmonics is the most consistent with no other variable such as tension and tension interface plus temperature affect on the barrel and tension material. There simply isn’t a way to get consistent thermal expansion even if the same material is used for both barrel and outside tension mechanism.
Just my 2 Pennies.
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