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Anyone have carbon fiber barrels

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  Phlyan Pan 
#1 ·
I want to make a lightweight hunting rifle for my winter project and was looking at a carbon fiber wrapped barrel for my build. Any comments gentlemen?
 
#4 · (Edited)
No question carbon fiber is an extremely strong material, I have worked with it quite a bit considering my RC heli/plane hobby where minimizing weight is critical. Carbon fiber would likely have a few drawbacks in firearms applications. First and foremost, metal is a heavy material, and more weight = less recoil. A lightweight rifle is likely to have a lot of kick, and accuracy is sacrificed by recoil. Second significant drawback is cost, as already mentioned. Carbon fiber ain't cheap. Last but not least, you'd need a fairly thick steel liner inside the barrel. Obviously the thinner the liner, the lighter the barrel, but at an increased risk of the barrel rupturing especially in larger magnum cartridge applications.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I got one of the early ABS carbon barrels and it didn't shoot well. Returned the barrel and sent me the money back.
Then bought a custom cut obermeyer barrel with deep fluting and the difference was 11oz. and the obermeyer shoots like the house is on fire.
The differences are not that huge in weight plus I actually don't mind a tad heavier rifle and with makers like LW, obermeyer, Krieger and schenider among several others along with their nice fulting options for those weight minded then, I don't know, it is kind of a leap.
..you know the old motto.. don't try to fix what ain't broken..
BTW the fluting also helps with cooling in rapid strings, another selling point of ABS. I almost always shoot slowly anyway.

Everyone is saying they are getting a lot better at the process and if I had to do it now I would probably go with former ABS now proof research. I do believe they wrap rockcreek 5R but not sure and use one the gunsimiths that are doing these builds. Of course be patient ... long wait list..
Proof Research | We Give You Proof | Tactical Rifles : proofresearch.com
 
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