Why floating barrel

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ for information on posting and navigating the forums. And don't forget to check out the latest reviews on guns and outdoor gear on fieldandstream. Logging in Remember me. Log in. Forgot password or user name? Top Ad. What is the advantage if any to a free floating rifle barrel?

Posts Latest Activity Photos. Page of 1. Filtered by:. Previous template Next. Joseph Schmit. Tags: None. In theory, it keeps the vibrations of the barrel uniform from shot to shot, as opposed to having irregular pressures from different parts of the stock bearing on the barrel.

Minor warping of the stock could also change the point of impact over time. Often, accuracy of a free floating barrel can be further improved by placing a shim under the barrel at the forend tip. Comment Post Cancel. What he said. A barrel is like a tuning fork, you want the correct and consistent tone every time! Actually vibrations of the barrel is called barrel whip!

A free floated barrel isn't necessarily more accurate than one that isn't, it just saves you from the effects of a warping wood stock. They can change your point of impact not only over time, but even from day to day as conditions change.

You can do as well or better, accuracy wise, with a full length glass bed or some sort of contact points - hence the shim helping. I am not an air gun expert, but have loads of PB experience. From what I been reading and experiencing I think barrel harmonics in air guns is a bigger deal than in PB rifles. The vast majority of the most accurate bench rest and sporter PCPs have free floating barrels forward of the action.

The legendary Theoben Rapids are free floated. Those BSA and the Theoben are nice looking rifles. Too bad Theoben went bust. Does anyone know of any underlevers that are free floated. I found the new Cricket Mini carbine with its floating barrel to be more accurate than my original cricket that as said has the mounting points on the barrel. All have free floating barrels.

I set it up leaning on the barrel in my safe even, grabbed it by the barrel tried to flex the barrel all in my testing to see if I should worry about shifting POI.

Only one pigeon at 50yds. Normally take body shots but wanted to see if it was still dead on so I took a head shot. Hit exactly where I wanted to. If barrel has more than one fixing point it will bend between fixing points as it heats up and your poi will move. No significant barrel heating on air rifles.

Most manufacturers use floating barrels for buzz and to to save production costs. Real floating barrels have tapered contours. I would say that the barrel on my Diana 34 is free floating. The stock is attached to the compression tube behind the breech of the barrel.

Tks, I will have to look at the Diana I have had several of both that I used in long range competition shooting and hunting. Take a look at all the very serious competitive bench shooters and see what there shooting, I do believe most if not all the Biathalon shooters use free floaters. One thing for sure I do prefer on my PB rifles is, for hunting, banging around climbing mountains etc I use an embedded rifle.

Less chance of knocking something out of alignment, be it scope or barrel. In all my years of shooting and careful observation and testing, a free-floating barrel is only as good as its rigidity and how well it is anchored to the receiver so that during the shot cycle or even a slight bump will not change its point of impact.

On a air tube-type PCP, a free-floating barrel is pointless if the barrel is flimsy. I have tested my S to see if the barrel moves by mounting a laser to the shroud and superimposing its dot to my zero distance at 27 yards. No matter what I did to the barrel, which was push it side to side and up and down and even shot the gun from a full charge to no charge at all, it held on to zero.

Personally, I like the design of that of the Cricket or bullpups that use its barrel-to-scope-rail mounting system. Jon said:. You are kidding Andras there are many that move as pressurew drops. Even in free floated state, slackening and further slacken of cylinder sees zero shift, work that out.

No Jon, I never have experienced something like this with my FWB, even when it still had a fixed barrel. My wife's AA was totally others, when the air tank pressure went below bars the rifle started to shoot higher with many centimetres, with the same or even lower velocity so it was for sure some POI-shift.

First let me thank you all for your replies. So, for what I can understand barrel floating will not improve accuracy has this will remain more or less the same, it will add consistency, correct me if I miss understood.

The advantage of the fixed barrel is that keeps POI more stable if there are any temp changes, rigth? What can be considered temp shift capable of chage POI? Exactly the opposite, fixed barrels are more likely to have POI-shifts, this is coded into the mechanical structure. What I understand from your initial post is that, if there are no pressure or temperature shifts, fixed can be more accurate then floating is that correct?

If the barrel is free floated correctly of course then there are no shifts. Accuracy is an other question, usually fixed barrels give better groups but it depends on many factors and different people have different experiences with different rifles.

But why not try it for yourself? Do some tests from the bench and you'll see if it's better or worse. If the barrel is free floated correctly of course.