Barrel block location

I've seen a few photos of rail guns where the action was mounted in the block and not the barrel

The first one pictured belonged to Frank Murphy, and the second and third look like they were made by Jay Young, the fourth one was built by Mike Bryant and the third & sixth one look like long Stolle actions bolted to the top.

I assume these shot pretty well, or did they? The reason I ask is because I still see more barrel block rails compared to action block rails.
 

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Ian.

I think the one third from the left is a Hasecuster, less a barrel block, with a Stolle Polar action.

The reason I think this, is the rest is a dead ringer for the Hasecuster I shoot.

FWIW

Steve Kostanich
 
Jackie,

Ever consider what I call a front sleeve. I epoxy a ring on the front of the receiver that doesn't extend beyond the face of the action. After the epoxy has cured mount the action on a mandrel. Turn the ring down leaving a small shoulder on the rear. Make up a sleeve for lack of a better description. Then epoxy the action with ring into the forward facing sleeve. I have an Xp-100 in a steel sleeve that still shots very well. Make the dimensions work so your max diameter will work.
No need to completely sleeve the action.
 
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Dave, a picture of your partial ring thing would help. Sounds interesting.
 
I'll try and get a picture up. If you look at the last set of pics in this thread some of the actions were sleeved then put in blocks. The full length sleeve is unnecessary and a lot of work. You just need a ring on the front of the action. I turned the ring down to size for the bore in the block, leaving a small shoulder on the rear towards the loading port. When I glued the prepared action-ring combo into the block I would set it up vertically and let gravity square everything up. The block could be a basic ?X4?X whatever in length. I use steel for the ring on the action and aluminum for the block on several I've built. If you built and tested a hundred of these a steel block might prove to be better and could be made smaller than one made of aluminum. I've built several test rigs for 338 caliber rifles and there's one thing I've learned. It takes mass to manage violence. Even with the PPC case mass matters.
 
Dave Tooley said:
You just need a ring on the front of the action.
Click to expand...

OK, that makes more sense. But if you are going to glue the action into a block anyway, what is the advantage of the ring or a sleeve? Doesn't the block act as a sleeve?
 
You could and I have taken a Remington action and turned down the front of the receiver to get the shoulder to use for alignment purposes. This was started back in the 70's using Remington actions. For all you old timers Nick Young had two UL built and even a HV with a front sleeve. Also it's much easier to to bore/ream a through hole rather than a two diameter hole of any length. I don't think you give up anything using the ring .
 
Anybody got a pic of the rail Sierra uses to test their bullets? And do yall think it would be competitive in BR? Just curious
 
I've been in Sierra and Hornady's tunnels. One has a large heavy fixtures running on linear bearings. Ferris Pindell built Sierra's. It has a block on top that's hinged on one side and T-handle clamping screws on the other. Kinda like a hatch cover on a ship. 1.250" barrels are the norm. Also consider they are not looking for BR accuracy. Sub whatever the spec is and keep the presses running. Both grind through a lot of bullets everyday doing QC. If you're passing by on a hunting trip stop by for a tour. It can be enlightening in many ways. It always best to call ahead. I need to get back out to Hornady. They've expanded three times since I was last there.
 
Gary Vincent shot a rail gun for many years that had a very small barrel block mounted at the front of the rail and then had the action supported at the receiver ring of I think a XP-100 action at the rear. I think the rear support was an adjustable wedge. It's been too long since I've seen it. Haven't seen Gary in years. He shot it very well and did well with it. I built a top for my rail gun one year where the block was in the front of the rail gun with the action and the rest of the barrel just hanging. I showed up with it at the nationals in St. Louis and hadn't shot it at home. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to shoot any better than .3's at 100 and .6's at 200. Larry Kuse looked at it and said, "Mike, we found out that didn't work years ago." Still have the top propped up against the side of my shop behind the air compressor. That big sleeve on that rail gun that Ian posted of mine shot pretty well and was pretty easy to change the barrel as the barrel was completely free floated. However, one barrel on it and I built my third rail gun with a delrin sleeved barrel block and a Stiller Diamondback drop port action. It was copied after a Jay Young rail gun and shot very well.
 
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Anybody remember Jerry Hensler's lightweight rail gun with the barrel held in a block at the muzzle? The rest of the barrel and receiver hung out the back. He had it at Seymour, but I don't remember how it shot.
 
Butch Lambert said:
Anybody remember Jerry Hensler's lightweight rail gun with the barrel held in a block at the muzzle? The rest of the barrel and receiver hung out the back. He had it at Seymour, but I don't remember how it shot.
Click to expand...

I don't remember anything these days but seems like he said it didn't do well. Better than some thought but not really great. Maybe Jerry will clear things up when he sees this thread...hope so!
 
Butch Lambert said:
Anybody remember Jerry Hensler's lightweight rail gun with the barrel held in a block at the muzzle? The rest of the barrel and receiver hung out the back. He had it at Seymour, but I don't remember how it shot.
Click to expand...

Butch, maybe you will remember this...I recall a few years back, a test done where the end of a barrel was formed around and concrete poured into the form with just the muzzle flush or barely protruding. The results that I remember are that it wouldn't hit a bull in the arse with the muzzle fixed so solidly.
 
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