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Posted: 1/5/2005 4:47:55 PM EDT
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I have been reading a ton on this site for months, but am still pretty new to the AR-15 world. I understand what Freefloating is and what it takes to do it, But I don't understand why it makes the AR more accurate. Can you help me to understand? |
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Free floating the barrel isolates the barrel from external stresses (your grip, the windowsill as a rest, a bipod) allowing more consistant shot groupings. The slightest stress can affect your group 1 MOA or more at 100yds (depending on bbl length and ammo). If you are looking for the best possible accuracy out of your gun, free floating is a must, along with quality ammo and practice, practice, practice. Some people will argue that carbine barrels and wolf ammo negate the positive effects, but if I were to buy my carbine over again, I would again get a FF HG, but a YHM instead of the Hogue that currently resides on it. -Redfoot |
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Anything that touches your barrel affects how it vibrates when you take a shot. And if those things that touch the barrel are inconsistant in any way, those inconsistantcies are going to be transferred to the barrel, and will affect your rifle's accuracy. With standard handguards, any subtle change in the amount or direction of pressure will cause your rifle to be off a bit. The more pressure exerted on the barrel, the more it will be off. And as the barrel heats up and begins to lose structural integrity, all of these changes are amplified. Free-floating the barrel allows the barrel to vibrate the same each time, greatly reducing the amount of factors that influence the barrel's vibration, and thereby reducing the size of your groups. Most higher-end railed handguards also provide far better barrel cooling than standard handguards, which further helps to keep your rifle accurate. -Troy |
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http://www.snipershide.com/blackthoughts.php is the starting link of a series of articles on accuracy and precision shooting by Greg Langelius. He's got a nice folksy way of explaining the complicated and making it simple. By the way, his watch word is "consistency" too! He takes this to great lengths explaining wind, temperature, body position, reloading, headspacing, ammo types, dimensioning, powder types... I screen scraped all the articles and pasted them into a word doc. Came to about 100 pages. Well worth reading every page. |
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