Floating Barrel ?

I don't understand the fuss about free floating barrles at all. More trouble than it's worth if you ask me. The Cricket is known to be accurate and uses 4 screws to hold the barrel in place, same as Mutant and Vulcan. Some say that causes POI shift but that is false, it only causes POI shift if the screws are not tightened properly/equally when the airtube pressure goes down. So long as the screws have the same ammount of torque I think it is far superiour to a free floating barrel. I would constantly worry about bumping the free one, My Cricket I feel much more comfortable carrying in a soft case and bumping it around.

Mitch, free floating barrels are a real big deal in PB competition rifles. All of mine had them. The Barrel does not touch the stock after the breech. This benefits in the fact that if you change your hold any then supposedly the harmonics etc. of the barrel wont be affected. This could be of benefit in PCP and C02 guns. I would think it would really be a PITA in a springer or Gas Piston, due all the extra cocking mechanics, I really don't see how it could be free floated. Now in an underlever if the cocking arm was not held in place by a latch on the barrel, I could see it being of benefit. I am not an air gun expert, but have loads of PB experience. From what I been reading and experiencing I think barrel harmonics in air guns is a bigger deal than in PB rifles. 

The vast majority of the most accurate bench rest and sporter PCPs have free floating barrels forward of the action. Rapid Air Weapons, Thomas, FX are free floated. My two extremely accurate BSA Hornets are and they are of the very very few that have 1/2 moa 100 yd 5 shot groups to credit. The legendary Theoben Rapids are free floated.

Those BSA and the Theoben are nice looking rifles. Too bad Theoben went bust. I have so far have not been able to find any air guns other than pcp/c02 that have free floated barrels. Does anyone know of any underlevers that are free floated.

I've only owned a few pcp's and they have all benefited from a free floated barrel. If you can't be careful enough with a ???$ air gun then keep it banded and when you sell it let me know, I won't be on the buyers list.

I found the new Cricket Mini carbine with its floating barrel to be more accurate than my original cricket that as said has the mounting points on the barrel.

I say look at the top tier airguns $1500+ like RAW, WAR, AAA, FX etc. All have free floating barrels. I sighted in my RAW day one and hasn't moved yet. I set it up leaning on the barrel in my safe even, grabbed it by the barrel tried to flex the barrel all in my testing to see if I should worry about shifting POI. Hadn't shot it in 10 days decided to take it to the farm to see if anything was around. Only one pigeon at 50yds. Normally take body shots but wanted to see if it was still dead on so I took a head shot. Hit exactly where I wanted to. If the gun is designed right it doesn't need a barrel band.

On PB's floating barrel makes sense. If barrel has more than one fixing point it will bend between fixing points as it heats up and your poi will move. 

No significant barrel heating on air rifles. Most manufacturers use floating barrels for buzz and to to save production costs. Real floating barrels have tapered contours.

"LIVIT"I would think it would really be a PITA in a springer or Gas Piston, due all the extra cocking mechanics, I really don't see how it could be free floated.

Click to expand...

I would say that the barrel on my Diana 34 is free floating. There is no attachment to the rest of the gun after the breech except for the pivot point of the cocking lever but that is not under any tension with the barrel locked up and it's only 2 inches forward of the barrel attachment point. Changing my grip certainly isn't going to change the barrel harmonics. The stock is attached to the compression tube behind the breech of the barrel.

Tks, I will have to look at the Diana 34. There was for a very long time a lot of talk/speculation in the PB competition arena and custom gunsmiths about the advantages to a free floated barrel in comparison to a true embedded stock and barrel. Both cost about the same back then (as in the 70's). I have had several of both that I used in long range competition shooting and hunting. A true free floated barrel and not the "production cost saving versions" has absolutely no contact with anything other than the breech and that includes the normal screw up through the forend of stock into the barrel that a lot are claiming to be free floated.
Take a look at all the very serious competitive bench shooters and see what there shooting, I do believe most if not all the Biathalon shooters use free floaters. As "Peole" already mentioned in PB guns your also dealing with heat. But there is one more thing that does apply to airguns and that's barrel harmonics. I am "not" an airgun expert, still learning about the barrel harmonics. One thing for sure I do prefer on my PB rifles is, for hunting, banging around climbing mountains etc I use an embedded rifle. Less chance of knocking something out of alignment, be it scope or barrel.

In all my years of shooting and careful observation and testing, a free-floating barrel is only as good as its rigidity and how well it is anchored to the receiver so that during the shot cycle or even a slight bump will not change its point of impact. On a (air)tube-type PCP, a free-floating barrel is pointless if the barrel is flimsy. It's why the Air Arms S4XX series utilizes a barrel clamp to make the barrel stiffer and unaffected by vibration, bumps, harmonics, etc. I have tested my S410 to see if the barrel moves by mounting a laser to the shroud and superimposing its dot to my zero distance at 27 yards. No matter what I did to the barrel, which was push it side to side and up and down and even shot the gun from a full charge to no charge at all, it held on to zero. You can see for yourself by doing what I did if you have a S410 or similarly designed gun, the barrel will always return to its original position provided it's held securely to the receiver. 

Personally, I like the design of that of the Cricket or bullpups that use its barrel-to-scope-rail mounting system. Basically, the scope (which is mounted close to the midpoint of the barrel), by means of the rail/clamp, enables it to point wherever the barrel is pointing. With either design -- free-floating or not -- accuracy on my TX200, S410, and Cricket bullpup is no different than each other. They all are precision shooting weapons when I'm up to the task.

"LIVIT"Tks, I will have to look at the Diana 34.

Click to expand...

I believe all break barrel rifles have free floating barrels since you have to use the barrel to cock the gun it can't be attached to the stock anywhere forward of the pivot pin except the pivot point of the cocking lever which has no tension on it when the barrel is locked.

I looked at mine after reading your post outdoorman. Makes sense, as you say no tension after cocking. Have y'all seen those Sims barrel doughnuts ? I know a lot of PB shooters swear by them, was wondering if one of them on an air rifle would allow you to adjust barrel harmonics to find the sweet spot. I am sure someone has already tried them on air rifles.