What exactly is "Tuning" ?
- Thread starter Wolfdog91
- Start date
Tuning a rifle is a real thing, with real results to back it up, for better or worse. Properly tuned guns often appear at and near the top of match reports. Another thing that affects finishing order is pulling the trigger at the wrong time. That's the hardest thing to fully correct. But yes, the search for the elusive perfect group/score does help the makers of components that come into play with tuning a rifle, when the game is usually determined by who screws up least. It's tough enough to not miss a switch or anything in the conditions that will worsen your finishing position with a well tuned rifle and load...but damn near impossible to win anything with a combo that isn't well tuned. That's not marketing but simply a fact.
I’m going to advocate a point or two on your humorous post’s behalf, because it’s honestly not an entirely foreign concept, in all fairness.
I’ll start with ammo. Fclass and BR have nothing on .22 BR retentiveness. An argument can be made that ammo’s sheer uniformity is the real final word in who wins at the highest levels 22 BR. Those that partake in this addiction are well aware that .22 LR ammo, from “target” grade - to Eley Tenex or Lapua X-Act - is in theory all the same “pre-box”. But it is broken into some four or five “grades” depending how tightly batch samples group, and that final rarified tier is now closing in on a dollar a shot, and we will all live to see that.
These do not group tightly because they were made (tuned) for a particular gun. They group tightly because they are absolutely the most uniform .22 LR ammo that can be produced, and the truth is they will shoot a tighter group in every gun, than the next tier down, will shoot in that gun, and so on and so forth. If this were not true, no one would shell the most $ per gram of ammo in all of small arms, for the good stuff, and this uniformity is not a function of tuning.
I shot Midas last Saturday through a 45 or 50 year old heavy BBL 40-X SS. There’s zero chance that Lapua set out to tailor Midas or any Lapua LR ammo to an obsolete, low production gun, yet it doesn’t matter, the ammo will beat lower grade shot through a “better” gun and rest. Because the rifle is heavy and a bolt, it beat the other Midas gun. It does shoot better in two matches with Midas than it did in many with centerX. It shoots Eley black box better than club. All my .22’s demonstrate this effect.
Next is weight, especially in the barrel. I’m not sure that “tuning” isn’t stealing a lot of credit that is properly due simply to “weight”. Guys that do focus a lot on a gun’s harmonic tuning, don’t seem to think that it can overcome something like a Palma contour barrel, as you almost never see in F-Open any barrel that is not 1.25” straight bull. (I personally cannot reconcile letting a heavy barrel extend undampened and unsupported, just to then believe that the whole system’s vibrations cause dispersion, so as to then experiment with a variety of remedial steps in timing how it vibrates, when it could have easily been dampened in the first place using the forearm and a compressible material, but that’s me).
Next is depth of seating. I do see a lot of seating depth tests shot at 100 yards, but I don’t see many test targets followed by a confirming test target. Really, it shouldn’t even be an option to jam bullets. A lot of tuning is looking at group size differences between jamming to jumping. There are three good reasons not to jam. Bullets get stuck in chambers, lugs slowly get galled and damaged, and jamming spikes pressure relative to jumping and opens up brass pockets. Jamming is not even in the realm of possibility for responsible manufacturers.
Powder charge, velocity. For this I’d look to TR because it’s a huge group and sample size of people. Somehow all those different lengths and grooved barrels all work so very well 200 grain Berger bullets going 2,650 FPS. One or two powders covers all of TR. I’ve seen guys borrow ammo and do just fine.
6mm rifles in Open. We have probably all seen by now that these have come to be thought at midrange to shoot so well no matter their “reasonable” load, that it’s almost unfair. Basically, a concession that tuning does not really work the same way when it comes to them. I agree.
If I can find a screen shot of my .243 with DTAC’s, I’ll attach. Literally any powder charge that does not overpressure the brass shoots amazingly.
Super flat. Sketchy wind calls. 11-13 year old loads of Re 17/dtac for different rifle.
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I probably misunderstood something in your post but what I read it like is that you can shoot premium factory ammo as well as tailored handloads. I've rarely seen that to be anywhere near the case. Why do you load your own cf ammo if it is indeed down to premium components and scrutiny at the factory. I'm missing something. And why do virtually all rf br shooters use tuners, even for the best ammo?
They do tend to use tuners in RF on the custom, high end rifles, usually on relatively thinner barrels. I’ve seen that traveling to matches. I’ve read it explained that in order to tune a RF barrel, it needs to be moving, so they reduce the diameter, and actually favor the smaller tenons and actions, as well. (This would be in relation to the size of a 40-X.). I’m sure that one can dial in extreme accuracy with a tuner in RF.
On premium factory loads, I was only meaning the 22 LR, the cartridge where we can’t load our own. High end 22 would be an example of the manufacturer not producing a round optimized for a particular gun, rather focusing on making every round in the box exactly alike. Do agree that match factory loads do not outshoot hand loads in center fire. The best factory match loads I have shot were Lapua’s, and they were very good in 6BR, .308 and .338 LM but I’d liken them to thrown, versus individually weighed powder charges.
Also, a factory is constrained to SAAMI specs. Berger loads match rounds with the same starting components we buy. Even if the charges were perfectly measured, they’d be below F/TR pressure levels, the brass isn’t fire-formed to the chamber, the bullets would not be hand tipped, and they’d be loaded unsorted from a bin. The pressure difference alone seems to be a pretty big deal. (Fed GMM 168 bthp is I believe the velocity TR shoots the 200). Being somewhat higher than book pressure, and FTR, and surely Open guns also are, may not bode well for brass life, but it seems to ensure a very complete and uniform powder burn.
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dc.fireman
Sling & Irons!
Although, I might add that in the world of rimfire match rifles, we would seek out varying lots based upon speed of that particular batch. In one of my rifles, it shot Tenex in the slower velocities (1046-1052 fps) amazingly well, while in the other rifle it shot either brand - Lapua or Eley - Tenex, Match, Midas, etc. as long as the velocity was kept around 1060 fps. In a sense, I used to "tune" my rifles by seeking to control the velocities.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
In the world of Short Range Benchrest, that “almost negligible improvement in ballistic performance or accuracy” is the difference between winning and not winning.
Send me a PM if you’d like to. I am not the authority on this site as others on here have been at it longer than me, but I absolutely love tuning a rifle. I find it very satisfying to work with a rifle and wring out whatever accuracy that rifle and barrel have in them. I start with a mild load and try different bullets to see if the rifle picks a favorite. Next come different powders behind that bullet to see if the rifle picks a favorite powder. Then come powder ladders, seating ladders and possibly primer and neck tension tests.
I believe some rush tuning and shoot on days with poor conditions. This can lead to bad data and if you put faith in bad data, the whole process falls apart.
Just my opinion and how I approach tuning.
Dave.
Alex Wheeler
Site $$ Sponsor
Tuning is the fun part. Once thats done I usually sell them.
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