Tuner brake for F-class gun

[garandman]

Starting a 6 Dasher build. In the rimfire F-class world, a tuner seems "mandatory" - ish. But the centerfire world I dunno.

ETA: not really talking about NRA sanctioned F-class matches, but an F-class type of gun, vs. a pure BR gun or a PRS gun. A gun using a bipod, off a bench, shooting known and unknown distance at a variety of targets, paper and steel. Sorry for any confusion on that.

My understanding: In the rimfire world since we can't (yet) load our own ammo, a tuner seems like smart choice to dial in many / most rimfire ammo speeds. If I were shooting primarily factory 6 Dasher ammo (not even sure any exists) , a tuner would seem like a good idea. But since I'll be rolling my own smokes, here, is a tuner necessary / worth it?

I'm looking at something like this:



I usually suppress my bolt guns, but I'm thinking a brake, so I can see my off target "splashes" But a tuner?

And wisdom / helps welcome. I reallyt don't know.... thx.

 

[F Class John]

What RKS said, plus off target splashes are pretty rare in F Class so I wouldn’t sweat that part too much. Remember we are shooting at a 6 foot wide board, not a 10” plate.

 

[garandman]

To be clear.... my primary interest is not NRA sanctioned F-class competition, but an F-class type of gun, vs. a pure BR gun or a PRS gun.

So I will be shooting at 10" steel with this F-class type of gun.

My question is about the functionality of a centerfire tuner, not the legality of one.

 

[ballisticdaddy]

How would the splash be more visible between a brake or a suppressor? Obviously centerfire tuners are functional but wont make change the splash. The 6mm bullets are all not easy to spot splash.

 

[garandman]

@ballisticdaddy -

In theory, with a straight or flat keel / buttstock and a brake, the rifle tracks straight back and you can spot hits on steel / splash in dirt. This works in reality with my suppressed guns out to 700 yards, with 85 gr .224 bullets. I see my hits / misses either in moving the steel or kicking up dirt. . My rifle builder (Bugholes) tells me it will work with a brake as well with 6mm 115 gr bullets. I trust him. He's bult me 2 really good guns. My limited expereince with other brakes is they do minimize recoil. They are just obnoxiously loud.

It keeps the rifle from recoiling so much the splash can't bee seen thru the scope.

 

[garandman]

Again....for clarity....I'm really looking for info on the TUNING feature of tuner brakes.... and if it makes sense to put them on a gun you can reload for .

 

[F Class John]

Hello, my apologies as the way it was written I read it as looking for a tuner brake such as Cortina makes.
Regarding a standard tuner for F class it is my experience that it is totally shooter dependent. I have seen fantastic shooters not use them and I have seen fantastic shooters who do and a lot of it comes down to how good your reloading processes are and what you can eek out of them with a tuner.
I am somebody who does use them but I treat them largely as an emergency button more than some thing I fiddle with all the time. I’m very confident in my load development at zero tune and will often to look for a couple of other tuner points and make notes so that I have back ups at a match in case something changes. I’ve seen people use them in different ways but whatever you do, you have to be consistent with them because it’s really easy to become tuner dependent or get lost and not focus on good reloading practices.

 

[Lance21]

I use the EC TUNER BRAKE on my son's BRa and my 22 br, both for prs. They are definitely worth it! Pretty much takes the seating depth part out of load development. Seat bullets 20 thou off, get your velocity in line, tune with the brake.

 

[garandman]

Hello, my apologies as the way it was written I read it as looking for a tuner brake such as Cortina makes.
Regarding a standard tuner for F class it is my experience that it is totally shooter dependent. I have seen fantastic shooters not use them and I have seen fantastic shooters who do and a lot of it comes down to how good your reloading processes are and what you can eek out of them with a tuner.
I am somebody who does use them but I treat them largely as an emergency button more than some thing I fiddle with all the time. I’m very confident in my load development at zero tune and will often to look for a couple of other tuner points and make notes so that I have back ups at a match in case something changes. I’ve seen people use them in different ways but whatever you do, you have to be consistent with them because it’s really easy to become tuner dependent or get lost and not focus on good reloading practices.

Thanx. Yes, I want my reloads to be the source of my accuracy, not my tuner. FIddling with a tuner all the time could be quite a rabbit hole

You raise anotherr issue I'm unfamiliar with.... you mention "in case something changes." Can you explain / illustrate? I've had enuf success in precision reloads for 3 separate bolt guns. But having a tuner as "backup" might make sense ...

 

[garandman]

I use the EC TUNER BRAKE on my son's BRa and my 22 br, both for prs. They are definitely worth it! Pretty much takes the seating depth part out of load development. Seat bullets 20 thou off, get your velocity in line, tune with the brake.

interesting ... thanx....

 

[dcali]

To be clear.... my primary interest is not NRA sanctioned F-class competition, but an F-class type of gun, vs. a pure BR gun or a PRS gun.

So I will be shooting at 10" steel with this F-class type of gun.

My question is about the functionality of a centerfire tuner, not the legality of one.

If you're not shooting F Class/BR type targets, the tuner's not going to make a difference. Tuners are good for keeping already tuned, extremely accurate rifles in tune, not for the type of shooting you're talking about. I would argue they're not necessary for F Class either, since it's very difficult to tweak them in the middle of a match.

 

[Sandstorm]

I say get one and put it on a fiddle with it for a while...( Cortina Tuner brake for example )
You can always take it off if you deciced and nothing lost except a few bucks and you gain some
first hand knowledge ....or turn around and sell it I you so decide.

 

[F Class John]

Thanx. Yes, I want my reloads to be the source of my accuracy, not my tuner. FIddling with a tuner all the time could be quite a rabbit hole

You raise anotherr issue I'm unfamiliar with.... you mention "in case something changes." Can you explain / illustrate? I've had enuf success in precision reloads for 3 separate bolt guns. But having a tuner as "backup" might make sense ...

I've shot in enough different states at different altitudes and temps to know that occasionally the tune you left with isn't the tune you arrive with. In most cases if you have a solid tune you're good, but stuff happens and it's nice to be prepared. I've seen it happen to guys and I've seen then tune it back in with success. But it's a rabbit hole for sure so be prepared to get worse before you get better just like any major change.

 

[ballisticdaddy]

@ballisticdaddy -

In theory, with a straight or flat keel / buttstock and a brake, the rifle tracks straight back and you can spot hits on steel / splash in dirt. This works in reality with my suppressed guns out to 700 yards, with 85 gr .224 bullets. I see my hits / misses either in moving the steel or kicking up dirt. . My rifle builder (Bugholes) tells me it will work with a brake as well with 6mm 115 gr bullets. I trust him. He's bult me 2 really good guns. My limited expereince with other brakes is they do minimize recoil. They are just obnoxiously loud.

It keeps the rifle from recoiling so much the splash can't bee seen thru the scope.

Recoil management is key to being able to spot your impacts and the larger the caliber the more it will throw you off target. With a 6 dasher recoil should not be any issue regardless of the muzzle device. In my experience tuners work great if you shoot the same distance and same area. Once you change distances and altitude, barometric pressure.....previous setting will more than likely not be optimal. Have been reading so many threads lately where folks are looking for the "easy button" instead of tuning a load to their rifle. In theory all of this is easy as could be....but in reality it's not quite that cut and dry....good luck on your build.

 

[garandman]

Anyone else install a tuner brake? And if so,, why and for what shooting discipline? Maybe I'll also look thru ppls pics in the pic threads....

 

[jlmurphy]

I use a tuner brake for local Varmint competitions, out to 600 yards. You can fine tune a load with powder and seating depth and on the day of the shoot if the conditions are different, you lose, plus the time and material to work up the load. Now I load for the fastest safe load and on the day of the shoot, sight in at 550 yards and if the groups aren't round and under 1.5", I play with the tuner, it usually takes only a small adjustment. If I pay attention, I usually win, I hope nobody else uses a tuner brake.

 

[Mark W]

Anyone else install a tuner brake? And if so,, why and for what shooting discipline? Maybe I'll also look thru ppls pics in the pic threads....

I have a Harrels tuner brake on my latest 6 BRA. This is a bench rest style build that is used for informal 100-600 yard group shooting and the occasional varmint match. The brake part does it’s job well, but I haven’t had time to wring out the tuner function yet.