Canadian Airgun Forum

My rifle barrel has the standard 1/2" UNF threaded end for a suppressor, break or air stripper. I would have thought some manufacturer of barrel tuners would have taken advantage of that and designed one to just screw on but I can't find any. Has anyone run across such a setup?
--Ed.

This muzzle break should work.
http://www.airgunforum.ca/store/product ... ucts_id=72

Thank you for your reply. A barrel break has it's advantages and looks cool. What I'm looking for is a vibration tuner. They look the same but the tuner can be screwed in or out to change the way the barrel vibrates know as barrel harmonics.
--Ed.

This one's clamped on not threaded, but is adjustable:
http://www.ezellcustomrifles.com/home-3/pdt-tuners/
At $190 (US, I'm assuming) it's not cheap, but compared to the stuff I can see for benchrest shooters ranging from $300 to $500 I guess it is sort of a bargain. If I were to tackle your specific problem I'd just start with a rod of bronze, boring it out to the barrel diameter for an easy slip fit except for the last bit at the front which I'd thread 1/2" UNF. Then I'd make a second bronze component to slip over that with a nylon-tipped set screw, put that on and start shooting some groups. After lots and lots of adjustments and finding the smallest group at a couple of distances, lock it down with a bit of Loc-tite on the set screw threads. Paint if wanted, but bronze eventually tarnishes to a nice dull colour.

I made a simpler bronze barrel weight for an IZH MP-61 and it took a fair bit of tweaking to get it in just the right spot, but it did shrink the 10 metre patterns by about half the outer diameter of the group once I found the sweet spot. Of course changing grip on the rifle opened it out again... but such is the nature of shooting a springer. I did a fair bit of research at the time and it seems there are a significant number of bench shooters who feel a single weight is not enough, that putting one somewhere in the middle of the barrel and playing with that location to fine tune group size is essential for ultimate accuracy. I'd run out of the bearing bronze I used, so didn't pursue that. Besides which my son really wasn't grooving on the MP-61, so I put him onto a 2240 carbine and the 61's for sale.

You re right Gerard building my own barrel tuner is the way to go. I read the article http://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=660 that Bob suggested and am even more excited about the potential of tuners for accuracy in my Diana 460 springer and my CZ varmint rimfire.
I'm only half way through reading and trying to understand another site http://www.varmintal.com/a22lr.htm that has enough data to train someone as a barrel tuner engineer lol. I've already learned a lot about weight, position and setup.
I will post pictures when I've finished one.
--Ed

You may be able to buy a barrel tuner from Brownells - the one or similar to the one on Browning rifles, years past. They work.

One of the guys I shot with in 3-position back in the 70's had an adjustable 'tuner' on his Sako L46 .222 sporter. It was simply a 1 1/8" diameter x 3" long chunk of Linotype he cast onto the muzzle end of his greased barrel. He carefully removed it and drilled and tapped a number of holes around the circumference. He'd loosen it off and move it a bit fore or aft until he found the sweet spot, then lock down all the screws snugly. It worked, although looked a bit "hokey". His light barreled rifle thought it was a match rifle. Those light barreled Sako rifles were quite accurate for the day, but not match-grade, which is what 'tuner' did for his rifle, turned it into a 1/4" rifle.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

Years back you could get a Vortek Accuracy Tamer, but I haven't seen any for yrs now...KEN.

I have made a few for powderburners. The threaded portion of the barrel needs to be at least 3/4" long to provide some adjustment room. I made a knurled and threaded sleeve to be used to lock the brake in place, much the same as the Browning BOSS system. The last one I made went on a 7mm Shooting Times Westerner. Once the sweet spot is found, and the locking collar tightened, the brake doesn't move. Each time you change ammo, it has to be re-calibrated for that load. It allows you to choose the bullet you want, the load you want, the velocity you want, etc. without worrying about accuracy, knowing that you can tune the gun to suit the load. I enjoy shooting many different loads out of my powderburners. While I have made and installed brakes on several of my powderburners, none of them are tuners. The brakes are there to save my rebuilt right shoulder from having to be rebuilt again.

I haven't tried one on an airgun.

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