Benefits of shrouded barrels?

Maybe look like a cool beefy bull barrel over a skrawny pencil barrel or keep the over all length shorter, some stiffness with those tensioned setups, or a place to grip too pending the design. The vast majority of the PCPs I've had with a shrouded and internal mod over barrel, still needed moderation. But, have not tried them all

I always wondered what the difference is between a baffled shroud and a moderator/LDC with baffels or is there any difference? My Taipan Vet 2 Tac has what they say a shroud that is baffled which makes it quiet then I added a unf 1/2 20 adapter and stuck a DonnyFL Sumo on that and it made it really quiet....

Air stripper and sound. When your shroud becomes part of the chassis, that also makes for a very consistent gun. A gun without a shroud will require a bigger can to keep it quiet. A giant can may require you to take some steps to stiffen the barrel to accommodate the giant thing on the end of it.

Noise noise noise. As a side benefit a shroud hides those rinky dinky barrels found on all production air rifles. Coming from PBs I cant stand the look of a 10lbs pcp with a big stock and air reservoir only to see a car antenna sticking out of the breech.

As far as I am concerned there are no advantages and only disadvantages.

In the guns I own, I have an original Avenger with a shroud that is mostly for appearance, does very little for sound reduction, and several P35 variations that all come with a baffled shroud that is effective and may be enough. I use the Bullshark and P35X which have a different and to my ear more effective baffle system as is but I have printed moderators in my 3 P35s. Being able to put the printed moderator in the shroud protects it and makes me more comfortable with relatively easily damaged plastic. SPA guns are unique in my limited experience in allowing you to slide out the shroud to create more room for something like a printed moderator. But to do that they secure the rear of the shroud with a end cap that stays in position by grub screws. Only one in my P35s (until I added another) and two on the Bullshark and P35X. If the grub screws let the shroud slide the baffles can be damaged. So there are plusses and minuses.

I would always prefer a little bit longer shroud that actually does something for noise to one that barely projects past the end of the barrel and does nearly nothing for noise reduction.

One thing for me is that they look much better that these soup cans some folks hang on the ends of their barrels.

abstruse said:

So what are the benefits? Stiffness? Protection? Quietness?

One could remove the shroud and wrap the barrel with carbon fiber, use a larger diameter barrel, or press fit an aluminum sleeve.

Click to expand...

You might be confusing a shroud with a sleeve. Sleeves typically accommodate either a liner or thin barrel. It is a necessary component to house a liner, and it can add stiffness to a thin barrel (the value of which could be debated relative to air rifles). Shrouds are usually part of a sound suppression system. The ones I have had were not as effective as a good suppressor added to the muzzle, but much better than nothing.

Definitely louder without a shroud. I own a Leopard that has no shroud and it sounds like a rim fire without a moderator on the end.

I have some guns that have shrouded barrels w no internals which I think are mostly for aesthetics, but most or the others offer some sound moderation.

As others have said it can provide a place to thread an actual moderator and I have noticed barrel droopage on long barreled guns w the shroud removed when running a moderator. So there's that actual function.

True, some guns look downright weird with the shrouds removed.....