rifle, barrelPossible Duplicate:
How and why would you make a barrel “free-floating”?
Why is a floating barrel desirable? What are the advantages and what are any drawbacks?
Floating barrels are nice because any gadgets you place on the rails don’t “bend” the barrel. With non-floating barrels, gadgets (or stands) can bend the barrel slightly which can cause bullet flight to be affected.
In my opinion, there are no drawbacks of floating barrels. It can be kind of expensive to have them installed by a gunsmith, but the benefit outweighs the drawbacks.
The benefit of a floating barrel is not about it being bent, but about the harmonics. An explosion causes anything to vibrate. When it’s a barrel, it actually flexes slightly. This is normal. When you add ANYTHING that touches the barrel, it affects those harmonics. It will now vibrate LESS in that area and on that side of the barrel meaning it’s not even and uniform anymore. At your longer distances this can affect accuracy quite a bit.
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