Gene Beggs
Active member
Beginning in 2006, NBRSA wisely approved the use of tuners in sanctioned competition, and beginning in 2007, now permits them to be adjusted at the bench so long as the bolt is removed and the shooter remains seated.
This opens up a whole new world to the informed shooter. Think about this. If one uses no-turn cartridges, he can easily load plenty of ammunition to last through an entire match. Time consuming, laborious case prep can be a thing of the past. If one preloads ammunition in a controlled environment with a carefully weighed charge, known to be accurate, he can use that ammunition anywhere, anytime and always be perfectly in tune if,,, and it's a big if,,, a good tuner is installed on the rifle and the shooter knows exactly, how to use it.
I do not know who was the first to use a barrel tuner, but it certainly was not me. I was very skeptical of them when they first appeared. As far as I know, Bill Calfee was responsible for introducing tuners to the rimfire BR shooters, and I believe Jackie Schmidt was the first to use them successfully in centerfire competition.
In recent times, much has been written about tuners and many have experimented with various designs. Some tuners have been somewhat successful, but none proved to be exactly what I was looking for and no two people could agree on how to use them. Everyone seemed to have a different idea about what was going on.
For years, I studied various designs, built and tested several in the tunnel, but only recently, have I perfected what I believe is the best ever. It is simple, lightweight, easy to install and adjust, very predictable and also inexpensive. A large batch is being produced at this time and will be available soon. If you can read a clock and turn a dial, you can quickly learn to use this tuner. And, , if you can monitor density altitude and apply the simple formula I will tell you about later, you can keep your rifle in tune at all times. Sound good? Listen up.
As I have stated many times before, standardization and repeatability are very important. It is also important to keep everything as simple and reliable as possible. I hope this series of articles helps you take full advantage of the tuner rules in 2008.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you that a tuner will not make a hummer out of a bummer nor can it make bad bullets shoot well, but it will enable you to maintain an optimum state of tune throughout the day.
"So how does a tuner work?" you ask. It works by changing the vibration frequency of the barrel. A wind chime is a good example. The longer the tube, the lower the frequency/tone and vice versa. Another good example is a guitar string, especially a steel guitar string. If we place the steel on one of the strings and pluck it with the other hand, it vibrates and produces a tone. If we move the steel fore and aft on the string, the tone rises and falls. A rifle barrel vibrates at its natural frequency when fired, but with a tunner installed, we can raise and lower that frequency at will by moving the tuner fore and aft.
We as shooters need not understand all the details of why and how a barrel vibrates; all we need to know is that the muzzle whips up and down, mostly in the verticle plane, as the bullet travels down the bore. The muzzle slows and comes to a complete stop at the upper and lower limits of its travel. If we time the exit of our bullets to coincide with one or the other of these stops, dispersion is minimized.
Tomorrow, we will continue with, "How To Use A Tuner."
Later,
Gene Beggs
This opens up a whole new world to the informed shooter. Think about this. If one uses no-turn cartridges, he can easily load plenty of ammunition to last through an entire match. Time consuming, laborious case prep can be a thing of the past. If one preloads ammunition in a controlled environment with a carefully weighed charge, known to be accurate, he can use that ammunition anywhere, anytime and always be perfectly in tune if,,, and it's a big if,,, a good tuner is installed on the rifle and the shooter knows exactly, how to use it.
I do not know who was the first to use a barrel tuner, but it certainly was not me. I was very skeptical of them when they first appeared. As far as I know, Bill Calfee was responsible for introducing tuners to the rimfire BR shooters, and I believe Jackie Schmidt was the first to use them successfully in centerfire competition.
In recent times, much has been written about tuners and many have experimented with various designs. Some tuners have been somewhat successful, but none proved to be exactly what I was looking for and no two people could agree on how to use them. Everyone seemed to have a different idea about what was going on.
For years, I studied various designs, built and tested several in the tunnel, but only recently, have I perfected what I believe is the best ever. It is simple, lightweight, easy to install and adjust, very predictable and also inexpensive. A large batch is being produced at this time and will be available soon. If you can read a clock and turn a dial, you can quickly learn to use this tuner. And, , if you can monitor density altitude and apply the simple formula I will tell you about later, you can keep your rifle in tune at all times. Sound good? Listen up.
As I have stated many times before, standardization and repeatability are very important. It is also important to keep everything as simple and reliable as possible. I hope this series of articles helps you take full advantage of the tuner rules in 2008.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you that a tuner will not make a hummer out of a bummer nor can it make bad bullets shoot well, but it will enable you to maintain an optimum state of tune throughout the day.
"So how does a tuner work?" you ask. It works by changing the vibration frequency of the barrel. A wind chime is a good example. The longer the tube, the lower the frequency/tone and vice versa. Another good example is a guitar string, especially a steel guitar string. If we place the steel on one of the strings and pluck it with the other hand, it vibrates and produces a tone. If we move the steel fore and aft on the string, the tone rises and falls. A rifle barrel vibrates at its natural frequency when fired, but with a tunner installed, we can raise and lower that frequency at will by moving the tuner fore and aft.
We as shooters need not understand all the details of why and how a barrel vibrates; all we need to know is that the muzzle whips up and down, mostly in the verticle plane, as the bullet travels down the bore. The muzzle slows and comes to a complete stop at the upper and lower limits of its travel. If we time the exit of our bullets to coincide with one or the other of these stops, dispersion is minimized.
Tomorrow, we will continue with, "How To Use A Tuner."
Later,
Gene Beggs
