free floating
 

i have hear alot about free floating barrel especially when i had my AR what is it what are the pros and cons

RE: free floating
 

Free floating a barrel means that it doesn't touch the stock or anything else. Thisprevents the barrel from bumping against somethingthus vibrating freely when shot, presumably giving you more consistant groups. Mostrifles will group better when the barrel is floated. However there are some rifles that shoot better with the barrel bumping up against something.

RE: free floating
 

well if the ar was free float that does not help to keep the nad gaurd from smoking

RE: free floating
 

The AR's barrelcannot be free floated since it has the handguards mounted directly to the barrel.

RE: free floating
 

i see

RE: free floating
 

Wrong, not all handguards do, mine does not...

RE: free floating
 

Some AR's are free floated. I was looking at one that was.

RE: free floating
 

i thought the gaurd was mounted to the reciever

RE: free floating
 

On most AR's and M-16's the rear of the handguard has a set of mounts at the reciever and the front has a set of mounts on the barrel at the front sight assembly. There are some where the barrel is free floated but i have not took them apart to see how they work. I have more experience with M-16's and M-4's then AR's.

RE: free floating
 

basically the handguard is just threaded to the reciever, and the forward part of the handguard has a large enough hole as to not touch the barrel, so the only place it touches the gun is at the upper reciever/barrel mount area...

I believe most standard issue military weapons will not have this, but anything with a 4-rail handguard probably will...

RE: free floating
 

I stand corrected! I've gotta admit though, I wasn't even thinking about the match-type rifles. I was thinking about those plain-jane AR's.