Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 6:46 am
As of today:
I have spoken with barrel makers around the country and Europe. The effectiveness of wrapping a barrel with Carbon Fiber, in the minds of most, is limited to cut barrels. This is because button barrels have a certain amount of stress that they endure in the manufacturing process that alters the properties of the steel in such a way to create significant problems once they are wrapped with an unforgiving substance like CF.
Cut barrels, on the other hand, work remarkably well when wrapped and have shown a great deal of promise - but most of the R & D has been applied to high power barrels only. There is a diverse and wide discussion out there with regard to rimfire/smallbore application.
I have been able to find several manufacturers that will fashion me a custom cut barrel with my choice of contour. I found a firm that will wrap the barrel in CF or Kevlar. Right now, I have one more group of folks I need information from before laying down the funds to get the ball rolling. And the entire conversation will revolve around the lapping process to make a cut barrel accurate. Their input will be the decision-maker as they are the best in the world - and who have already done extensive testing in this area.
I'll be back with more after the WCT Tryouts. BartP
I have spoken with barrel makers around the country and Europe. The effectiveness of wrapping a barrel with Carbon Fiber, in the minds of most, is limited to cut barrels. This is because button barrels have a certain amount of stress that they endure in the manufacturing process that alters the properties of the steel in such a way to create significant problems once they are wrapped with an unforgiving substance like CF.
Cut barrels, on the other hand, work remarkably well when wrapped and have shown a great deal of promise - but most of the R & D has been applied to high power barrels only. There is a diverse and wide discussion out there with regard to rimfire/smallbore application.
I have been able to find several manufacturers that will fashion me a custom cut barrel with my choice of contour. I found a firm that will wrap the barrel in CF or Kevlar. Right now, I have one more group of folks I need information from before laying down the funds to get the ball rolling. And the entire conversation will revolve around the lapping process to make a cut barrel accurate. Their input will be the decision-maker as they are the best in the world - and who have already done extensive testing in this area.
I'll be back with more after the WCT Tryouts. BartP