Any info on vibration reducers???
 

I jusy picked up a vibration reducer that fits onto the barrel of my gun. I have heard some say it makes the gun more accurate by reducing vibrations as the bullet leaves the barrel. Any first hand accounts of this product? Was it worth the 17$ I paid for it?

Thanks

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

Some vibration reducers work great and some don't. I have no personal experience with the simms product so I don't know if it works or not. I do have extensive experience with browning's BOSS system and it works. From my understanding,all vibration reducers work basically in same manner-to "tune" barrel vibration to where barrel is at same point of vibration every time when bullet exits barrel. We do exactly the same thing when working up a load but in a different manner. Try it out and please share your experiences of it with us.

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

I will THX for the info.

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

Contrary to much opinion reducingbarrel vibes is a misconception.

The crux of the truth lies, as stalking bear mentions, inbarrels and loads that are"tuned".

There is also much misconception as to what "tuned" means but in general anyone who tunes a barrel/load to shoot the best possible groups is pretty close to having the thing"tuned"....kinda.

It's hard to dispute anyones findings per "accuracy", per their rifle, per their set of circumstances/conditions......

Until, that rifle/load combo doesn't do exactly what we want it to do at a later time under adifferent set of circumstances. Anyone who shoots a lot knows what I mean because they've experienced a different point of impact, at a different place, under different conditions....mainly weather and/or altitude. IOW, a good load that shoots nice in sunny70ish weather down homedoesn't do the same in iced over 15 below up on the mountain, or visa versa.

The reason for that is pressure, and the timing of the exit of the bullet from the muzzle. Both walk hand in hand tocontribute to the same problem.Simply put, the unpredictable load pressureallows the bullet to exit the muzzle at a time when barrel vibrations are not prime. Fix one and you've fixed the other by default.

Barrel vibes are very predictable, it's a law of physics unique to themachine we are messing with. Recoil is not barrel vibes, barrel vibes are generated by the fast burning of the charge, "explosion" as it's generically known. Barrel vibes travel from the chamber to the muzzle and back again, repeating that processin decreasing intensity until dissipated to nothing. Being overshadowed by recoil, you can't feel 'em, see 'em, hear 'em...or do anything at all about reducing them in the sense that the Sims product is marketed.

The definition of "prime" as it relates to barrel vibes, accuracy, and when the bullet exits the muzzle...is when the vibration is at it's furthest point from the muzzle, which is the chamber. The reasoning here, is that the muzzle, when subjected to a "vibe", oscilates.....basically whipping and swirling around in a tiny, faster than the speed of the human eye, accuracy robbing little mess of unpredictable motion. If the bullet is exiting the muzzle when the vibe is close to or at the muzzle then that motion energy is transfered to thebullet throwing it "off course".

Ever wonder where a head scratching "flyer" comes from in an otherwise good group from a "good" load in an otherwise known system?

The trick, rather than relying on a 17$ rubber thingy....or a boss type system is to simply "tune" your load to get the bullet to exit when the vibe is at the chamber and the muzzle is at it's least amount of movement. This is done with varying the amount of pressure with changes in the powder charge. Those who don't alreadyknow what I'm saying are sitting back thinking..."well, duh...".

What's missed though, by most folkswhen that "good" load in a tiny little group is found, is the inherent side benefit of properly tuning the load to the rifle. That being aVERY"pressure tolerant" load. THAT translates into a load that performs exceptionally well through a wide range of climacticdifferences, allows in many cases a different bullet of the same grain weight to be used with the same ballistic footprint or point of impact over it's trajectory, and in some cases functions with the sameattributes of accuracy in a different rifle. AND, most often this can be done with different makes of brass with no regard to case capacity variances.

Much reloading VooDoo can be considered ofless consequence, those who chase lot numbers can relax a little, different primers can likely be used in a pinch....and as already mentioned loads can perform in different makes of brass.

Before you all holler BS, consider this, I've currently in my stash of arms, three rifles, a 30-06, a 25-06 and a .243. With those three different chamberings, I've TWO bullets foreach, a big game bullet and a varmit bullet, that shoot to the same POI using the same trajectory chart,turret settings (the .243 is nonturreted)and POA.....with the same charge weight.

No I didn't say I'm using the same powder andcharge weight in all three rifles....what I said was, my 30-06 will shoot a 168 TSX AND a 168 Hornady Match HP, similar profile and BC's,to the same POA over the same trajectory with the same powder weight of RL19 using the same turret settings...at a common velocity average of 2880 fps., 115's and RL22 in the 25-06 at 2990fps,and 85's/RL15 in the .243....

All three rifles confirmed over the mid range distances I have use of them for....all with different brass as well, and at different times of the year.

I don't dare tell how fewrounds of initialload development it took to reach that optimumcharge weight in each rifle..............

Once the optimumcharge weightwas found, group size was tuned with seating depth.

I should add that only the 30-06 is a tricked outcustom, with a floated aftermarket barrel,lighter trigger, turreted VX1and Talley mounts.

The other two are plain jane as factory as they canbe, zero custom work...the quarter bore isa #1B with turretedM8 6X, and the .243 is my son's 700 BDL complete with pressure point and 2-7X Nikon.

All three shoot each of their load combos into very sub MOA groups out to 300 which is the extent of my testing so far.

I take my hobbies justatiny bit serious..........

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

WOW that was awsome!! THX for the information. If I cna't re-load, andshoot only factory ammo can the vibration reducer work? I am unable to "tune" me load to work perfectly.

Thanks again

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

Only 1 way to find out right? With all methods as the other poster stated is for the bullet to exit muzzle at the same point of vibration "cycle" every time.

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

I had a long conversation with Melvin Forbes from NULA's at his shop in Morgantown, Wv. And that man is probably the best wealth of knowledge you can get. I believe it when he says, if you have tune withing 2gr in a load to get it shooting good, or if your rifle is that finicky, your compensating for some shortcoming in your rifle. If you have to take out a torque wrench and get the action screw right at a certain torque for a rifle to shoot, your compensating for some shortcoming.

Melvin has done alot of work on vibrations of barrels. And alot of work on bedding. And he gets pencil thin barrels to shootsubMOA and most important, gets pencil thin barrels to hit with the same POI from cold bore. Something I bet 80-90% of factory rifles can't do.

So yes those blocks do work. But I would rather have the rifle bedded right to begin with so I don't have to have them on there.

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

Sittin' here slammin'boots and camoon to getup onthe mountain before light so this'll be short, the chase phase should be in high gear today..........

Melvin surely is a guru and his NULA's are among the best of the best, IMHO. Can't think of anything I've tested for OCW,that would even come close toa fullblown Melvin Forbes NULA. He do make some good stuff.........

What I'm talking aboutare the rifles with the finicky shortcomings, the ones with thin factory barrels and lousy actionfit.....the 80-90 percent of factory rigs you speak of. Two out of the three rifles I'm currently shooting with an OCW are just that, untouched factory rifles with shortcomings.

When I tune an OCW load it'sbasically looking within the loadrangeof that powder for a sweet spot. The sweet spot is a RANGE of charge weights that put the bullet in the same impact point at a given distance. IOW, several consectutive increasing charge weights that all hit the same place relating to point of aim. The optimum charge weight with inTHATrange is smack in the middle....so it's actually in line with what Melvin is saying.

I usually find two sweetspots in a test, one down low in the velocity range and one up almost at max charge. The one with more speed is a more definate result on the target, as the full potential of the chambering's efficiency is thereat that speed,being better utilized.

I fire in the neighborhood of 15"two cold barrelshot" groups from a clean barrel,covering the published range of powder weight for that chambering at 100 yards. Evidence is quickly realized wherein that range the OCW is.That OCW range is further tested at 300 for confirmation, which doesn't take a lot if I've hit the mark...pun there.

As stated above,further tuning of the OCW, which might only reveal at best a 1 or 1 1/2 MOA group size initially, is tweaked with bullet seating depth. Seating depth does two things, refines the pressure of the load, and optimizes the match of bullet to the freebore of the rifle, which consequently reduces group size.

It's all really simple actually.........

As far as the original posters question about the Sims thing, he's stuck with finding the best shooting factory ammo and sliding that rubber thing up and down his barrel to see if it makes a difference. Nuthin' wrong with that if that's all he's got. If I were him I'd forget about the rubber thing, have the rifle professionally bedded with pillars and shoot premium ammo, nuthin' wrong with that either.........

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

Yep, for new reloaders, they call it fancy things like OCW, but older ones call it load development[:-].

What people will find on those finicky rifles is they won't be able to find a dynamic load. Or they will lose thier groups on a differnet lot of powder. Or can't find thier little clover leafs after a few hundred rounds, or weather changes.

Fix the rifle correctly and don't worry about ladder load develpment and other hokey things.

RE: Any info on vibration reducers???
 

My Win 70 .300 mag shoots great with the BOSS system.

My .308 Kimber Montana (thin barrel) improved greatly when I added a Sims donut to the barrel. Previously, I'd tried factory match ammo and quite a few handload combinations without success. I suppose I could've spent tons more effort trying for a load that worked without the donut, but that $20 gizmo saved me a lot of time and money.