TargetTalk

I'd like to play with a tuner on my prone rifle: what are my options ?

I know that Lowey products offer one but at 140 mm, it is definitively too short for me.

Has anyone tried this new (to me) ''BeeSting'' tuner: http://www.beesafeusa.com/beesting.htm

At $360, it's not exactly cheap...

Any other options ?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

Hi Paul

Here is an Italian tuner/tube that I've seen some European prone shooters use.

http://www.varidecicognani.com/2009/sch ... 81&ids=694

Hi Paul, What length are you after ? we are starting to get more and more requests for the extended tuner, I will look into this after easter if i can get some idea of a standard length needed ?

Thanks
Lowey

Lowey,

That's good news !

The tube I use right now is 10'' (255mm).

Let us know if you ever decide to build longer extented tuners.

Paul

This is what I am working on , Hope to have more time after Easter to get it into production, work out costing etc






Cheeers
Lowey

MEC also has a new tuner, that they just released, I am not sure what the price is thou.

Take a look at benchrest central. Several tuners are available. Some allow for the sight extension to screw into the front allowing for different tubes.

I use to use a Harrel tuner on my smallbore position rifle. At first I was skeptical if it would really make my gun shoot better but after getting some help from some benchrest guys I definitely saw an increased accuracy with the tuner. The tuner was well worth it for increased accuracy but it is not worth the trouble for position shooting. The bloop tube extension on the tuner was threaded, thus you screwed the bloop tube into the tuner every time you shot. This was extremely problematic for me because the bloop tube would not index properly this way. Sometimes it would screw in to the right place and others it would be completely off. I dealt with this the best I could until it was off so bad one day that I was nearly disqualified from an important match. After that I took the tuner off and have not used it since then. I would love to be able to use a tuner on my smallbore gun but will never do it again unless I can get a tuner with a bloop tube that is not threaded. The beesting tuner mentioned above seems to be the perfect combination for using a tuner on a position gun but it is way to expensive for me. Until something similar comes out that is cheaper I will continue to tune my ammo via torque on my bedding screws.

Brian

Hi BJ, with my tuner as above i would loc tite the the extension on the thread you see and continue to remove and replace my tuner as normal with the clamp on the barrel that fits into a locator, I use my tuner this way now and have never had any issues with it being mis aligned

Cheers
Lowey

Can anyone comment, re the removal and replacing the tube/tuner that you need to have exactly the same torque setting for your clamping system as this could cause a veriation in harmonic's.
When someone at my club mentioned it to me I changed to removing the butt plate instead of the bloop tube to get rifle into case.
I guess I will have to remove from time to time to clean so still may be an issue.
Others feed back appreciated.

I cannot say definitively that the torque setting on your clamping system causes a variation in the harmonics but it makes logical sense. As far as I am concerned whether or not it actually does cause a discernable difference; this is a game all about consistency, so why not take the extra time to ensure that your set up is the exact same every time? This would mean using the same torque on your clamping system every time.

I have trained alongside the Army Marksmanship Unit on multiple occasions and this is a common practice for them. I asked them about it once and they told me that the torque on the clamping system affected the harmonics and actually needed to be tested to find the optimal torque. I don’t know how they know this for sure but from the scores they shoot, I think its safe to say they are doing something right.

I conducted a test with the torque on my bloop tube clamping system once and keeping everything else constant I was able to cause a variation in group size. The groups sizes were not affected significantly but they were indeed affected. More testing needs to be done confirm the actual extent of the torque on clamping system in relation to group size. From what I have seen, however, I would not be overly concerned about the torque messing up group sizes. I do believe it is important to help achieve consistent results on a day to day basis. The torque setting on your bedding screws is by far a more significant factor to be taken into consideration.

Also it is very important to remove the bloop tube/tuner from time to time to clean it. If you do not clean it you will get a build up of residue in the tube. Over time this build up will be enough to change the weight of the tube which theoretically has the potential to cause a chance in the harmonics of the barrel.

Brian

If you're worried about torque setting, invest in a torque meter.

I would be more worried about cleaning the end of the barrel to remove the damp lead residue which over time will eatout the crown than the .1 of a gram of lead in the tube changing the harmonics

Another shooter once asked why do you take off the tuner to clean the rifle, I showed him the inside of the tuner and mention I'd found that my groups where better when it was clean.
So he took off his barrel extention on his FWB, first time ever.
A barrel recrowning was the only way to get rid of the pits he found.

He's shooting much tighter groups now, and cleaning the extention plus crown.

Has any of our European friends already had the chance to test this new offering from MEC ?

Eric Uptagrafft is making tuners. Good ones for a good price. His email is uptagrafft at earthlink.net. His are low profile and he uses it himself. You should ask him about the torque setting issue and see what he says.

I am using one of Tarl's Bee Sting tuners and I love it so far. It was a tad expensive, but I like the carbon fiber ingredient. Like BJ says, the tube MUST not thread into the tuner. It needs to be one unit that clamps on the same every time. The Bee Sting is an excellent design.

BartP

If you use a tube or a tuner you want to torque your clamp down the same each time. It does affect how it shoots if the torque is different. All of us on the team torque ours the same every time we put it on.

Shane