Tuners are/will be a must in short time!
I backed into tuners as a "genius" mistake made by me switching comps on my .223 semi auto, and .223 bolt gun. I made both tuners and looking at them without my "reading" specs on, they are twins.
At the range my semi was shooting stupidly small 5 shot 100yd groups at 0.275" where it generally shoots .400" to .600", but my bolt gun was all over the planet at 1.5MOA+? This is a .500" rifle all day.After realizing my stupidness <word? I switched back, they normalized, and I made a retreat to the shop to see what was up.
The comp for the bolt gun has a dead nuts perfectly aligned bore to the threads and muzzle face<<<important...well good as I can get it with my lathe set up. The semi was off by 0.0018" or just under 2 thousandths over 2.5" of comp bore length. That's all it took to go from "HOLYFRIGGINDOOKY" groups to "Meh lets get lunch" groups. And this was just from a comp, not a purpose built tuner, or "Adjustable Barrel Devise" as some like to call them.
Where is this going? well, if you want to compete in the next say 2 years...you better get on the "Tuner" wagon, or get left in the dust. I shoot rimfire bench and I would never think to let a barrel go out of the shop without a tuner on it. You just cannot win without one these days. EVERY barrel is better with a well executed tuner setup.
Basically what they do for you is reduce the effect of the slight deviation in ammo specs and what would be a flyer, becomes part of the group. For kicks, take a few moments and look at a few rimfire forums and you will get the deal with the world of tuners. Small bore dudes are Tuner masters.
Have fun,
Gerry