Big Dipper
TGT Addict
Isn’t this discussion really about precision, not accuracy?
For a given precision, accuracy is merely a matter of adjusting the sights.
I’m guessing the shooter impacts accuracy more often than barrel type, but it’s just a guess.
Not the ultimate or final guide but a good explanation of barrel harmonics
That's funny because, well I'm hilarious, but also because the first agency I worked for used Mini 14s. God I hated those bastards. You had to qualify from distance backwards cause the groups really open up the more you shoot and farther back you went, so much so many took 2 or 3 runs to qualify and needed down time between stages.If it wasn't for the barrels in their mini 14s the ATeam would have killed lots of bad guys.
Minute of jeep was ok for them.
Engineering nerd. It's all about barrel harmonics and they change with temperature, barrel contour, and metallurgy. A light contour barrel is light because it it easier to hump. A light contour barrel harmonics is more finicky than medium or heavy contour barrels. Light contour barrel harmonics change more dramatically as it heats up. The first shot through a light contour barrel will consistently be dead-on if the barrel is allowed to cool between shots. Rifle shooters refer to this as the 'cold shot' and know the off-set compared to the follow-up shots. A heavy contour barrel is less affected by heat so the cold and subsequent shots will be normally have closer groups. A light contour barrel can be more finicky about ammunition for the same reason. If the pressure hits a light contour barrel at the wrong place it will throw shots very wide. On the other extreme is bench rest barrel which weighs between 10 and 20 ponds, just the barrel. They weigh so much and shoot light loads to reduce the harmonic variance. That said, humping a 17 pound gun around the woods, let alone shooting it off-hand, is a challenge. Fit the gun to the purpose. Good luck.
That's how mine is. I actually have a friend that has a 280 ackley imp. as well, and said he'd work up some loads. I supplied him the materials (re-supplied some of his). He ended up making me 200 rds, which will last me my lifetime with this rifle. It was shot more in load development than it has been since.As a general rule, the more slender the barrel, the shorter the barrel to be able to deal with those harmonics better. Those rifles with very slender barrels are much easier to pack all day long going up and down hills and valleys. Those rifles are not typically chot a lot to begin with. If the hunter is a reloader, then most of it would have been during load development for the rifle. The majority of the other shooting done is usually just verifying the sighting of the scope. Such rifles are not usually very good range guns!
ETA, I've watched film of riots in many states where mini 14s were used in prisons where the first 1 or 2 shots, actually aimed at a person, were head shots but they really got wild after that. That's partly because of the riot but partly cause that's the mini 14 pencil barrel. They get hot fast and accuracy went down hill fast.
I must say there were usually warning shots first before you start shooting guys unless you see a weapon or someone sneaking up on an officer during a fight or something. So you could be on round 5 quick.
Heavy barrel ARs are very repeatable for a long time, relatively speaking.
Warning shots, like shooting at or from moving vehicles, is something that changed almost yearly for some states and agencies. Usually depending on something they got sued for the year prior. Like killing some innocent driver picking up a hitchhiker not knowing he was an escaped inmate and an officer opend fire on the fleeing vehicle. California if I remember correctly. Cali also shot lots of inmates without warning shots for a while.Interesting, this is the first I can recall reading about warning shots as SOP.
But it makes sense in a prison environment.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My thoughts used to be that a heavy barrel's extra mass kept it more stable while aiming: it was less affected by wind or a nervous shooter. It would be less likely to warp or bend with rough handling. It would be less likely to bulge with hotter loads. A heavy barrel also dissipates heat faster than thin-walled barrel. A hot barrel is detrimental to groups. The rising mirage can distort your sight picture. Intuition might also have me believe that a heavy barrel vibrates less when fired. I would think vibrations throw bullets off course. I would think a heavy barrel for a sniper rifle or a long-range varmint barrel to be par for the course. Why were HBAR barrels so popular on so many AR type rifles? Long range accuracy with a flat-top pic-rail-mounted scope?
This man tries to debunk the so-called light-barrel sloppy-shooting lie:
You're on a roll.Yes it's not that accurate
Not really. With the near universal adoption of adjustable harmonic dampers, benchrest barrels have gotten lighter and more accurate. And as for light loads for benchrest? That makes me smile. The proportion of benchrest shooters who have ruined brass (i.e. had primers falling out) while chasing a higher node is approximately 100%. Benchresters often shoot really hot loads if that's what their rifle likes.On the other extreme is bench rest barrel which weighs between 10 and 20 pounds, just the barrel. They weigh so much and shoot light loads to reduce the harmonic variance.