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Carbon wrapped barrels
- Thread starter misskimo
- Start date
impalacustom
New member
I know Mike Degerness does it here in Lincoln Nebraska. http://home.windstream.net/mdegerness/
Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
I had two of the ABS barrels. Couldn't get them to perform accuracy-wise. I finally gave up and got my money back from them.
Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
What is the purpose of having this done?
1. To get heavy barrel stiffness without heavy barrel weight
2. Improve cooling
As it turns out, I did see some good improvement on cooling compared to an M4 barrel; but the accuracy was bad. Looking back at my shooting logs, the average 5rd group at 100yds for Black Hills 77gr Mk262 was 2.59" at 100yds. That is out of 17 5rd groups with the shooters being myself, a former Air Force marksmanship team member and a former Royal Marine Commando trained as a sniper. The majority of those groups were fired with a 16x target scope and all were fired from the bench.
I tried five more different types of ammo from 77gr to 55gr and never did better than 1.30" at 100yds for 5 rds.
Last edited:
mapsjanhere
New member
While you can get improved stiffness with the right wrapping, your heat conduction will go down the drain. Carbon fiber composites are notoriously bad heat conductors perpendicular to the main fiber axis. Both NASA and DoD are spending millions in research dollars right now to make those composites conductive, doesn't help if you save a hundred pound in missile weight by making them from composites and have to put most of that weight back in in form of metallic heat sinks since your electronics overheat.
Bolosniper
New member
I have built a number of rifles with carbon composite barrels over the last couple of years. The accuracy and heat management of most of them wasn't very good so I didn't push the product very hard as I saw few benefits from their use. Light weight is a plus, but lack of accuracy and consistency kills it for me, and for my customer base.
It didn't seem to matter who made the barrel, and all I use are Match or Premium grade barrels. After it was wrapped with the carbon fiber composite the accuracy was spotty at best, and that is being kind.
That changed a while back. Mike Degerness at ABS has come up with a new patented formula and I have had a number of Broughton Rifle Barrels in 5C ® rifling configuration wrapped with this new formula, and we are very satisfied with the results. There is no discernible difference in accuracy, and the heat management is excellent. Copper fouling during break in was a little higher than without the wrapping, but after break in the barrel fouled no more, or no less than an all steel Broughton barrel does, and again, the long range bullet stability and accuracy I expect from a Broughton barrel is present.
The wrapping acts as a heat sinker and draws the heat from not only the barrel, but the receiver group and muzzle brake. I fired 20 rounds ( 4 detachable Box magazine changes) as fast as possible from an MPI Spartan MK100A 338 Lapua Magnum rifle on a hot summer day at the range in Dillon, Montana and was able to lay my hand on the barrel tenon and receiver ring area, and the muzzle brake. It was very warm to the touch, but it was not frying pan hot like it should have been.
It didn't seem to matter who made the barrel, and all I use are Match or Premium grade barrels. After it was wrapped with the carbon fiber composite the accuracy was spotty at best, and that is being kind.
That changed a while back. Mike Degerness at ABS has come up with a new patented formula and I have had a number of Broughton Rifle Barrels in 5C ® rifling configuration wrapped with this new formula, and we are very satisfied with the results. There is no discernible difference in accuracy, and the heat management is excellent. Copper fouling during break in was a little higher than without the wrapping, but after break in the barrel fouled no more, or no less than an all steel Broughton barrel does, and again, the long range bullet stability and accuracy I expect from a Broughton barrel is present.
The wrapping acts as a heat sinker and draws the heat from not only the barrel, but the receiver group and muzzle brake. I fired 20 rounds ( 4 detachable Box magazine changes) as fast as possible from an MPI Spartan MK100A 338 Lapua Magnum rifle on a hot summer day at the range in Dillon, Montana and was able to lay my hand on the barrel tenon and receiver ring area, and the muzzle brake. It was very warm to the touch, but it was not frying pan hot like it should have been.