Tension barrel clarification

[rcs9250]

I was looking at the Bullet Central tensioned barrel kit for an FX Crown .22. Perhaps I don’t understand how tensioned barrels work on airguns. Years ago I had a Dan Wesson .357 Magnum. Their revolvers all had tensioned barrels.
There was a barrel that screwed into the frame, then the barrel shroud slides onto the barrel, and finally there was a nut that screwed onto the end of the barrel to a certain torque thereby tensioning the barrel.
I don’t see how on the Crown, tension is applied to the barrel. The Crown barrel is held in by a couple small set screws, to me it seems there is a real possibility that the stainless portion that the setscrews screw into would deform over time as tension pulled against them and release the tension applied to the barrel.
I would think a design like the Dan Wesson is what is desirable and would be considered “tensioning”.
What am I not knowing. If there was a cross section view of the assembly I might see what I’m missing.
Randy

 

[Peskådot671]

Tom Costan of American Air Arms fashioned his rifles tensioned barrels based off the Dan Wesson revolver.

 

[MikeVV]

Yes...
Just like the Dan Wesson's of the past (I still have two of mine), the barrel is "stretched" between the frame and the outer barrel sleeve / and the frame.
Many don't seem to realize, air gun wise, a couple of the Edgun guns (Lelya, M5 are two) are designed with the barrel in tension...just like the Dan Wesson design.
The American Air Arms guns is another brand that uses a tensioned barrel from the factory.

And yes, you are correct. The "aftermarket" barrel systems (and one or two factory) ARE...pulling against a set screw or two. Not a good design in my book.

The American Air Arms, the Edgun's are two well done, well thought out, tensioned designs.
Those that pull on a couple of perpendicular placed set screws...is not (in my humble opinion).

Or...you can buy a gun with a heavy barrel, like the Weihrauch HW100 rifles (and others). There are a few with larger diameter barrels. Yeah, they are heavier (weight wise), but the design is simple, and strong.
Take a look at most (if not all) "Sniper firearms" . Heavy barrels..!

Mike

 

[madeintheuk]

The original crown only has 2 set screws holding the barrel in and I could see this as a weak point in a tensioning system, but he mk2 crown has 4 and is much stronger than it’s predecessor. This rifle would lend itself well to a tensioner system, but they added the superlite barrels to them. There is no way to tension a superlite barrel, so you would need to source a standard stx barrel kit first, and then purchase the tensioner system.
My superlite free floating barrels havnt given me any issues with poi changes or accuracy issues, so I don’t feel the need to tension them. Now as power goes up, tensioning is more important. That’s why it’s such a big deal on the impacts. Guys running stupid power and the harmonics are just crazy. Tensioning that barrel is just one way of helping with accuracy in those big power setups. My crowns don’t need to be that powerful, or even have the capability of being so, so I won’t worry about it.

 

[rcs9250]

Gentlemen, thank you very much.
An Evol has been on my list so that’s excellent info. I was not aware they had, what I would call, a true tensioned barrel.
Here’s another question. Do you think, or have there been tests where a shorter tensioned barrel is
just as accurate as a longer non-tensioned barrel.

Randy

 

[slayer]

Gentlemen, thank you very much.
An Evol has been on my list so that’s excellent info. I was not aware they had, what I would call, a true tensioned barrel.
Here’s another question. Do you think, or have there been tests where a shorter tensioned barrel is
just as accurate as a longer non-tensioned barrel.

Randy

Maybe a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. Within reason, barrel length has no impact on accuracy. Given two barrel lengths of the same construction, I'll alway chose the shortest length that delivers the ballistic performance I'm after. Barrel harmonics follow the function X=Y^3 - if you double the length the amplitude (muzzle excursion) increases by 8X assuming same construction.