A 7 dollar barrel tuner

[JimSC]

I have been messing with various barrel tuners lately bit commercial and home grown on my rimfire and centerfire rifles and came across a youtube of a guy using a shaft collar as a tuner. A quick visit to Amazon and I had a one inch aluminum collar in the mail. I put it on a Savage FTR with an aftermarket Criterion .260 Remington that shoots consistent .5 MOA groups. I was shooting from a Sinclair bipod and a rabbit ear bag on the rear, Sightron 8 -32 scope. Adjustments to the collar were made using a Starrett dial caliper using the depth rod. Two shots were fired on another target to warm the barrel and foul it. I fired 2 rounds at target 1, adjusted the collar to 2.90 using the caliper then fired two more rounds on target 5 then adjusted the collar forward another .010 inch and moved to target 2. When the first two rounds touched I fired another three. I knew that was a good group so on target three I over adjusted my windage and fired the rifle free recoil. I was pretty pleased with that group so decided to call it good since this is just a FTR rifle. Later this week I will take it back out and stretch the yardage out to 850 and see how she shoots at range.

If you want to try out tuners without spending $150 or more, this is a fun way to experiment. I used a hose clamp on a CZ .22 rimfire to get bulk Remington Thunderbolt to shoot .5 inch groups at 50 yards.

 

[butchlambert]

I have been messing with various barrel tuners lately bit commercial and home grown on my rimfire and centerfire rifles and came across a youtube of a guy using a shaft collar as a tuner. A quick visit to Amazon and I had a one inch aluminum collar in the mail. I put it on a Savage FTR with an aftermarket Criterion .260 Remington that shoots consistent .5 MOA groups. I was shooting from a Sinclair bipod and a rabbit ear bag on the rear, Sightron 8 -32 scope. Adjustments to the collar were made using a Starrett dial caliper using the depth rod. Two shots were fired on another target to warm the barrel and foul it. I fired 2 rounds at target 1, adjusted the collar to 2.90 using the caliper then fired two more rounds on target 5 then adjusted the collar forward another .010 inch and moved to target 2. When the first two rounds touched I fired another three. I knew that was a good group so on target three I over adjusted my windage and fired the rifle free recoil. I was pretty pleased with that group so decided to call it good since this is just a FTR rifle. Later this week I will take it back out and stretch the yardage out to 850 and see how she shoots at range.

If you want to try out tuners without spending $150 or more, this is a fun way to experiment. I used a hose clamp on a CZ .22 rimfire to get bulk Remington Thunderbolt to shoot .5 inch groups at 5 yards.

Wow, .5 groups at 5 yards!

 

[JimSC]

Wow, .5 groups at 5 yards!

oops, 5 x 10. It was a challenge over at rimfire central, you had to use bulk ammo and shoot less than .5 at 25 and less than .75 at 50. I had just read a thread on tuners here and someone mentioned a hose clamp on a .22LR and that was what started me down this tunnel in the rabbit hole

 

[LCazador]

so how do you get collar to stay put?

 

[JimSC]

it's a split collar with 2 hex head screws, you just tighten them where you want it. To adjust you set the dial caliper where you want, in this case 2.080 inches, lock the caliper then place one end against the muzzle, loosen the collar screws and slide to to where it touches the caliper, lock it down. It only needs small adjustments. I started at 3.00 inches and the first 2 shots were horizontal, they began to go vertical at 2.90 and at 2.80 started to tighten up. Next time at the range if the groups start aout horizontal I will go to 2.70, if too vertical I will go back to 2.90.

I have a Ezell tuner on a .308 and a Harrel on a Kidd .22 LR. These things really do work. They will not perform miracles but it will make a good load into a better one and get you that last .1 or .2 MOA

Sorry for the blurry pic but it should give a idea how it works.

 

[jpx2rk]

How did you arrive at your starting point of 3.0" in the example?

Link for the split collar you used???

Thanks for posting.

 

[JimSC]

https://www.amazon.com/Climax-2C-100-Aluminum-Two-Piece-Clamping/dp/B0026GVZDW/ref=sr_1_5?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&keywords=Shaft+Collars&qid=1637195379&s=industrial&sr=1-5&ts_id=16411911

I just picked 3 inches. As you can see the groups can move go from vertical to horizontal in .010 inches, only very small adjustments are needed. If I keep moving it in .010 inch increments the groups will go back to horizontal then back to vertical. I could have just as easily started at 2 inches or 1.5 inches and still ended up at the same place with 1 to 5 adjustments. That rifle will shoot .5 to .75 ten round groups at 300 to 800 using 44.5 grains of 4831 SC and a 140 grain Barnes Match Burner seated .025 to .030 from touch when I do my part. I am hoping this will knock .1 or so off that. Bear in mind I do not consider myself a great shot, or some kind of firearms expert. I just do this as a hobby

edit - as I pointed out in a earlier post, just from what I have see a tuner will not get a 1 Moa load down to .5 MOA but it may help you get a .5 MOA group down into the 4's or 3's. Just my opinion as always your mileage may vary. In the OP pic the exact same load went from .46 to .3 just by me concentrating a bit more on my technique and trigger control. The whole tuner thing just might be mental, but for 7 bucks it is a fun experiment

 

[JMayo]

Clamp on's have been around in the 22 world for a long time. I have one laying around somewhere.

 

[divingin]

If you want to try out tuners without spending $150 or more, this is a fun way to experiment. I used a hose clamp on a CZ .22 rimfire to get bulk Remington Thunderbolt to shoot .5 inch groups at 50 yards.

Heavy rubber O-rings work as a poor mans tuner, as well (though probably tend to move by accident more than your shaft collar does.) On my weird old Weihrauch rimfire single shot, the O-ring type garden hose gaskets work perfectly.

 

[butchlambert]

I had good luck with golf club lead shafting tape. Cheap, try it.

 

[divingin]

Or if you want to splurge, try a $10 tuner. No fastening necessary:

https://www.amazon.com/LimbSaver-Sharpshooter-X-Ring-Dampener-Barrels/dp/B000KOWE82/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=barrel+tuner&qid=1637275206&sr=8-2

Be aware that those probably won't work on iron-sighted rifles (well, they will, but you won't be able to use the sights unless they're really high.)

A friend of mine had pretty good results with one on a scoped .22 he was shooting, but ended up changing to a clamp-on tuner of some sort after verifying that the rubber thingie worked.

 

[fatelvis]

Or if you want to splurge, try a $10 tuner. No fastening necessary:

https://www.amazon.com/LimbSaver-Sharpshooter-X-Ring-Dampener-Barrels/dp/B000KOWE82/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=barrel+tuner&qid=1637275206&sr=8-2

I never understood how/if these can work by simply sliding them on your barrel. I thought the whole “adjusting aspect” of the tuner is what allowed you to find the sweet spot that produced the best groups.

 

[divingin]

I never understood how/if these can work by simply sliding them on your barrel. I thought the whole “adjusting aspect” of the tuner is what allowed you to find the sweet spot that produced the best groups.

You slide it on, then play with position. Same as a tuner, minus the threads for adustment.

 

[LCazador]

In almost every case there is going a different point where the barrel will resonate differently. A default spot where to start is also going to vary. At any rate it can help but it could result in a lot of ammo being used up to achieve nothing.

 

[EOD Rob]

I have been messing with various barrel tuners lately bit commercial and home grown on my rimfire and centerfire rifles and came across a youtube of a guy using a shaft collar as a tuner. A quick visit to Amazon and I had a one inch aluminum collar in the mail. I put it on a Savage FTR with an aftermarket Criterion .260 Remington that shoots consistent .5 MOA groups. I was shooting from a Sinclair bipod and a rabbit ear bag on the rear, Sightron 8 -32 scope. Adjustments to the collar were made using a Starrett dial caliper using the depth rod. Two shots were fired on another target to warm the barrel and foul it. I fired 2 rounds at target 1, adjusted the collar to 2.90 using the caliper then fired two more rounds on target 5 then adjusted the collar forward another .010 inch and moved to target 2. When the first two rounds touched I fired another three. I knew that was a good group so on target three I over adjusted my windage and fired the rifle free recoil. I was pretty pleased with that group so decided to call it good since this is just a FTR rifle. Later this week I will take it back out and stretch the yardage out to 850 and see how she shoots at range.

If you want to try out tuners without spending $150 or more, this is a fun way to experiment. I used a hose clamp on a CZ .22 rimfire to get bulk Remington Thunderbolt to shoot .5 inch groups at 50 yards.

Jim
I have also tried similar metal collars with good results! Simple, cheap and easy. I saw it on a youtube video from the godfather of long range. He has pretty good stuff to check out.

 

[Topstrap]

Playing with the amount of wraps with Duct Tape let us really tune this 22lr beast in for the local longrange matches.

 

[fatelvis]

Playing with the amount of wraps with Duct Tape let us really tune this 22lr beast in for the local longrange matches.

That rifle certainly has “character”! Lol

 

[jonbearman]

Wow, .5 groups at 5 yards!

Where does it say 5 yards.LOL

 

[JimSC]

Where does it say 5 yards.LOL

in my original post I had a typo and forgot a zero when referring to the hose clamp tuner on my CZ452.

Last June there was a challenge over at Rimfire central where you had to use no match ammo and shoot 4 groups. Remington T bolt, Blazer, the .22 stuff you buy 500 at a time etc and get match ammoo groups.

CZ 'Not match ammo' challenge

So the idea is to have fun. Run whatever ammo you have in the range bag, that is not match and try to get some impressive groups. A lot of this is just the old 'Chead Ammo Challenge' from the Superstock forums. The Rules.... 1. Any CZ actioned rifle, no matter the barrel or stock, any scope you...

www.rimfirecentral.com

I used a hose clamp to get bulk CCI Std vel to shoot a .181 average group at 25Yards, and .436 @ 50 yards with my bone stock CZ452. I also played with Remington T bolt and Federal bulk with similar results

That is what got me into playing with tuners. I now have a Harrel on my Kidd 22 and a Ezell on a .308

 

[Nealm66]

I’ve been using tuners with excellent results every since I bought my first Winchester model 70 with the boss system. I’ll use the cheap harmonic dampeners if the barrel isn’t free floated. I’ve found that with some bullets you can literally tune a load completely with the tuner. Sometimes I’ll have to play a little with seating depth or powder charge but it usually for fine tuning at 5-600 yards.