Barrel Tuner

C

Chism G

Active member
Over the past several years, I have seen a variety of barrel tuner designs. The owners all swear that these things work. In some cases ,the match results speak for themselves. In some cases,I have personally witnessed some of these adornments(Tuners) being hurriedly removed by the owner, during a registered Match. Which leads me to suspect that tuners don't always work.

I spent some time at the range today with Turk Takano. The barrel on his rifle was fitted with a tuner designed by Charles Huckeba. I've seen a similar design before,but I've never seen a tuner of this design,screwed on the barrel like Turk had his today. As I recall ,the tuner body usually extends a little beyond the muzzle end of the barrel. I told him that his installation didn't look right and inquired if his tuner came with instructions. I was just joking. Turk ignored my comments and proceeded to shoot three five shot groups, that measured in the low .2's. At that point, I quit joking with him. Turk's tuner worked today.

His rifle was built around a strange looking Action I had never seen before. Its a Shilen DGA(Short) Copy. Ed Shilen is the designer.

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Glenn
 
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Glenn, I saw some tuners at the Super Shoot made by Sid Goodling. In the picture below Sid's rifle is on the top, but his tuner is on the purple rifle. He was shooting LV and the rifle that he had would not make weight w/ the extra 5 ounces. Sid's stock is made of balsa/carbon fiber/English walnut by Roy Hunter. The purple one is dyed maple/carbon fiber by Terry Leonard. Roy Hunter is new to stock making, but has much experience making classic furniture. James

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Hey James,that is some beautiful stock work on both of them rifles. I'd love to have both of em. The position of the Tuner on the the purple rifle,looks similar to what I've seen before. Turks tuner looks like there needs to be another part screwed on to the exposed threads out in front of the tuner. I don't guess it really matters if the gun shoots em all in the same hole. I'm just not that into Tuners. I"m still confused about powder charges and bullet seating.

Hope to see you at the Crawfish,when it goes back to Louisiana.


Glenn
 
There is the potential

for someone to make a lot of money by documenting the do's and dont's with regatd to the tuners they are selling and it's performance. Why those who understand when to add weight aren't willing to share is beyond me. There is a lot more to winning than the equipment.

I have always been more than willing to share everything I have learned over the years. I would much rather see everyone on equal footing, equipment wise, than to even imaging, someone, who may be less talented, but who could win because of their equipment having a big edge.
 
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Hi Glenn,I agree with Pete I think sometimes the tuner threads turn into aguments and that is why some stay away from getting into the discussion too deep.One way I have been setting up tuners is to change powder charge untill the group is nothing but vertical with no horizontal at all with the tuner on the rifle.Then adjust the vertical out with the tuner .Tuners dont fix horizontal they only fix vertical.So when you see a particluar area of velocites that the tuner will not fix that is when you have to change powder charge,there is no other way but ussually with a .3-.5 change in powder will get you off of the bad spot and the tuner will work again . there is a window around 60-90 fps apart before you hit another bad spot that the tuner will not fix in which you want to stay away from velocity wise. Once you have it shooting good with a good powder charge and the tuner is set for 0 vertical at a particular temp ,then as temp rises turn the tuner towards the action a little bit at a time untill the vertical is gone and note the temp and setting and you are good to go ,hope this helps sir.

Tim in Tx
 
Thanks Tim. The part about what Tuners will and will not do is particularly enlightening. The direction to turn the tuner to achieve a desired result is news to a Dummy like me. This is the kind of advice we need in a sport where components play a huge role in success.

Glenn
 
Y'all ALL best tune in when tim in tx talks tuners, tim's the tuner testin'est note takin'est Texan of all.

al
 
I shoot more rimfire BR than CF and I find a similar tuning process with tuners in RF. Once you get a sweet spot you usually need to adjust it towards the receiver a click or two as the day warms. Some in the RF game are adament that once you get it tuned you don't ever have to change but that's not my experience. I feel they are missing an opportunity to make their rifle better by not adjusting with the conditions.
Dave
 
Your welcome Glen.And I apreciate the vote of confedence fron Alinwa,But I must say that I have learned from a lot from Gene beggs ,Gene bukys,Jackie and lynn , Ralph Stewert.Mike stennet ,Jerry Stiller.Tim O ,Butch Lambert, mks,boyd ,Varmant Al, Pacel ,Pete and many others on this forum as well as Alinwa for a combined knowledge of tuners.And hopefully this combimed knowledge will help the ones who just getting in to the sport as well as the ones who have helped me and I thank all who have helped me .These guys have always shared their knowledge openly and without them I would be still guessing .Thanks for your input Burtona,I have always enjoyed reading your posts as well,It is always nice to see confirmations of our thoughts. Tim in Tx
 
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