Tension barrels

[Ksmirk]

Evening fella's, after about an hour digging for info I don't have much so thought I would ask just in case someone might know and be able to point me in the right direction. About to play with a 22LR upper for an AR and while I know you can order out barrels I've just really got an itch to test my patience lol I've got this idea for a tension barrel or whatever they call them when you put a liner and cap both ends with your choice of tubing, I know it can't be as easy as just threading caps to hold the tubing in place reason I am asking.

The barrel will have a suppressor hanging on the end which has me questioning if the barrel will be stiff enough? with it gaining to be on an AR I'm looking for accuracy of say a golfball at 50yds as the main thing this will be for is varmints and just plinking around with.

I'm a big boy with thick skin BUT if you just say I'm wasting my time do me a favor and give me an idea of why I would be. I appreciate you time and replies! have yourself a great weekend.

Kirk

 

[WSnyder]

I know Volquartsen and others have done this for rimfire but I don’t recall much if any in BR rimfire competition. In centerfire it was done a fair amount in the past but never panned out as worth the extra time and effort to do. In 1K BR Charles Ellertson worked on it a bunch and used Dave Tooley for at least some of the gunsmithing if I recall correctly. There were others but I don’t recall all who did them. In short range BR I recall barrel tube combos filled with cerrosafe and some with epoxy. Jackie Schmidt I believe did a fair amount of those in his unlimited rail gun. @DaveTooley @jackieschmidt

 

[Ksmirk]

Oh this wouldn't be for BR...... I don't have that much patience lol was looking at them and the mind got to running which is never a good thing as it seems to always hurt my bank account! so thought I would ask here as there are many more that have forgotten more than I know.

I appreciate the info! thank you.

Kirk

 

[WSnyder]

I figured it wasn’t for BR but BR is a good measure to look at to see if something has worked or not. I remember following Charles E’s progress. It looked like there was some promise to it and it worked fairly well but as I said not well enough for anyone to continue the effort.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I did several Unlimited Barrels for my Rail Gun that was a barrel Epoxied inside a steel tube, with the epoxied being around 3/16 to the side. It was a lot of work, but the thing shot really well. I am thinking about going back to that setup.

The reason I quit doing it was the amount of work involved. It could be discouraging to spend all of that effort on a barrel that turned out to be mediocre.

But this is not the same as placing a barrel in tension. That does involve threading the end of the barrel and making a nut that sandwich the tubing between the nut and the action face.

Jerry Hensler played with this back in the mid 2000’s. The results were inconclusive.

 

[PigButtons]

I have one from TACCOM, that is awesome, but he is out of the 22lr AR business and strictly does 3gun stuff now.
The idea was to save weight first and accuracy second. He made two versions, aluminum tube or carbon fiber tube. It only saved a few ozs but it is functional.

 

[DaveTooley]

I did a few tension barrels as well as one under compression. The only one that didn't work was one with two barrel blocks holding the tube. It had a vertical shift as the tube heated up.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Ive made quite a few carbon fiber tension barrels. This was after volquartsen came out with a rimfire barrel and nobody was wrapping centerfire barrels yet. These were mainly hunting gun barrels. They shot ok but it was a hassle to make, damn sure a hassle to install, and i never found a good way to get rid of the heat. Once they heated up they were awful but in hunting situations they were fine, and very light. I think they are fine for a rimfire but not a centerfire. This is tension barrels im talking about not compression or filled void ones

 

[Ksmirk]

Fella's is there any magical number of torque/tension or just connect the ends together where stuff doesn't flop around lol guess I'm wondering what kind of tension is really needed? I've got the idea in my head how to get there just not sure what needs to happen once I do get there if that makes sense?

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Fella's is there any magical number of torque/tension or just connect the ends together where stuff doesn't flop around lol guess I'm wondering what kind of tension is really needed? I've got the idea in my head how to get there just not sure what needs to happen once I do get there if that makes sense?

I figure some nice spanner holes or crowsfoot wrench flats would allow you to tune the best tension. I wouldnt know even a ballpark correct torque. I always put mine together tight with red loctite

 

[WSnyder]

Fella's is there any magical number of torque/tension or just connect the ends together where stuff doesn't flop around lol guess I'm wondering what kind of tension is really needed? I've got the idea in my head how to get there just not sure what needs to happen once I do get there if that makes sense?

If I remember correctly when CharlesE was messing around with them is I don't think there was any magic number as to how much tension only that it had some. I also don't think it was tune-able with tension much either. It's been a long time so I could be mistaken. You should spend some time searching the subject on Benchrest Central. Search for CharlesE posts if they still exist.

 

[DaveTooley]

If I remember correctly when CharlesE was messing around with them is I don't think there was any magic number as to how much tension only that it had some. I also don't think it was tune-able with tension much either. It's been a long time so I could be mistaken. You should spend some time searching the subject on Benchrest Central. Search for CharlesE posts if they still exist.

You're correct. To many variables. Pretty much comes down to friction in the connecting points. On my compression barrel I used moly grease to lube. Seem to make it easier to manage.

 

[Ksmirk]

I have one from TACCOM, that is awesome, but he is out of the 22lr AR business and strictly does 3gun stuff now.
The idea was to save weight first and accuracy second. He made two versions, aluminum tube or carbon fiber tube. It only saved a few ozs but it is functio

Could have sworn Tim was making them again????

Fella's thanks for all the info! kinda sounds like something to play with when the bank account is really happy as it could work or not from what I am gathering BUT sounds like something fun to tinker with one of these days. I'll dig around over on Benchrest Central and see what I can find.

Again much appreciation for the replies and advice! guys have a great day.

Kirk

 

[WSnyder]

A couple of other names to search for on tension barrels. Charles Bailey and Joel Pendergraft. Both shot tensioned barrels in long range BR. Jerry Hensler was the one that shot the cerrosafe filled tubes in a short range rail gun.

Two searches that bring up a fair amount of info at BRC:

site:benchrest.com tension tensioned barrel Charles E
site:benchrest.com tension tensioned barrel

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Could have sworn Tim was making them again????

Fella's thanks for all the info! kinda sounds like something to play with when the bank account is really happy as it could work or not from what I am gathering BUT sounds like something fun to tinker with one of these days. I'll dig around over on Benchrest Central and see what I can find.

Again much appreciation for the replies and advice! guys have a great day.

Kirk

Keep us posted

 

[Ksmirk]

Keep us posted

I will for sure! now to decide if I want to use Aluminum or carbon fiber for the tube....... probably carbon fiber as it just looks cool lol

 

[Will Henry]

Was there not some one who was using a spring washer to maintain tension? I seem to recall reading that somewhere. Another sealed the tube, with O-rings, and filled the space with glycol. WH

 

[troupe]

Joel Pendergraft is a old friend and Joel set some records. He is a engineer by profession and now retired to just do some gun work . A super guy and very easy to talk to, give him a call. Tell him, Tommy Roupe told you to call, very laid back fellow and a great guy. You won't get the engineer talk that the average person may not understand, speaking of me for one.