Why Free Float?

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I have been searching the internet and youtube for reliable information on how much, or if free-floating truly does add more accuracy to an AR platform at any barrel size. Now I for one cannot find any test where someone took the same rifle, and the any different was that one had a FSB, and the other was FF, and with proof showed that the FF barrel out performed the FSB.

I feel like this is another myth marketing did much a great job over the years getting into our heads and we just ate it up. That's my honest opinion, hopefully someone on here can link me to some proof. The kind of proof where it is two of the same rifles, not some high end $3000 FF rifle vs your budget $700 FSB. Equal testing, really looking forward to the replies!
 
mebiuspower said:
It's physics.

Do you also believe the world is flat and vaccines are government made drugs trying to control people?
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Thank you for the proof. Weird I believe all that and I also believe Bruce Lee is alive. Your reply sounds very much like, well "because".
 
I've owned AR's with both setups and I think it has a lot more to do with the quality of the barrel than it has to do with it being free floated.
I've owned expensive AR's (PWS piston driven) not free floated that would shoot sub moa and I've owned cheaper AR's with free floated barrels that were not sub moa no matter what ammo was fed to them.
Where you will notice a difference all other factors being equal is that a free floated barrel will be less affected by you. What I mean by that is how you hold the rifle and if you load the bipod etc. On a free floated system as long as the crosshairs are steady the way you hold the rifle makes little difference but on a non free floated system you can throw your shot by inches just by applying different forces to the handguard each time.
Accuracy comes from consistency, everything from how you hold the rifle, how consistent the ammo is and how consistent the barrel harmonic is, a non free floated barrels harmonic is easily disturbed by forces introduced by the shooter causing accuracy to be inconsistent.


mebiuspower said:
It's physics.

Do you also believe the world is flat and vaccines are government made drugs trying to control people?
Click to expand...

No and yes.
Not to control as in mind control, but to keep people sick and dependant on the system.
 
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cr5 said:
I've owned AR's with both setups and I think it has a lot more to do with the quality of the barrel than it has to do with it being free floated.
I've owned expensive AR's (PWS piston driven) not free floated that would shoot sub moa and I've owned cheaper AR's with free floated barrels that were not sub moa no matter what ammo was fed to them.
Where you will notice a difference all other factors being equal is that a free floated barrel will be less affected by you. What I mean by that is how you hold the rifle and if you load the bipod etc. On a free floated system as long as the crosshairs are steady the way you hold the rifle makes little difference but on a non free floated system you can throw your shot by inches just by applying different forces to the handguard each time.
Accuracy comes from consistency, everything from how you hold the rifle, how consistent the ammo is and how consistent the barrel harmonic is, a non free floated barrels harmonic is easily disturbed by forces introduced by the shooter causing accuracy to be inconsistent.
Click to expand...

I understand all that in theory, and it makes sense to me. I'm just at a loss that no one or no company has come out and shown tests for this. I just don't believe that the improvement is as great as some people make it sound. Most people online argue that if you are loading your bipod if you use one, that it can apply pressure to the handguard of a FSB, hurting accuracy or POI. I would just like the see the "data", "science" behind the FF claim. Everything people are saying about FF makes sense and sounds great yet, with the power of the internet no one has really tested this. Hopefully this makes sense, I just got off a 12 hour shift.
 
It's a conspiracy to sell rails.

The decades of claims of improved accuracy (and the physics behind it) by pretty much everyone who has swapped out to a FF handguard is actually one of the best kept Illuminati secrets.

It's all a lie. Freefloatdom is slavery.

So is the physics of forced frequency oscillation and the effect of dampening forces.

Complete hogwash.

Stay woke.
 
Look at what competitive shooters are using. Particularly unsponsored ones. My personal belief is that to some extent the use of optics necessitates the use of free floating barrels. With irons the sights will move with the barrel, but a receiver mounted optic will have the same point of aim.
 
Also, even a "free floated" AR still has a FSB, whether there is a sight on it or not (in which case it is just the gas block). In fact, no AR is truly free-floated like a bolt gun since they all need a gas block and a gas tube to function. The accuracy improvement comes mainly from the shooter not affecting the harmonics of the barrel, as CR5 mentioned since your grip on the handguard or pressure from the bipod no longer acts on the FSB and therefore the barrel. I don't have a video to link you to but I'm sure someone out there has tested this. It's half of the same concept as applied to free-floating the barrel on a bolt gun. In the case of a bolt gun, you'd make sure that the barrel doesn't contact the barrel channel in the stock both at rest and when loaded into a bipod (ie the stock doesn't flex) hence it is fully free-floating, attached only to the receiver where it is threaded into it and nothing impacts it's harmonics. You can't make an AR barrel fully free-floated in that sense, because of the aforementioned gas block/ gas tube but you can remove the shooter's input onto the barrel when gripping the handguard or loading a bipod by installing a free-float rail so that neither of those inputs affect the barrel.
 
Euro said:
I have been searching the internet and youtube for reliable information on how much, or if free-floating truly does add more accuracy to an AR platform at any barrel size. Now I for one cannot find any test where someone took the same rifle, and the any different was that one had a FSB, and the other was FF, and with proof showed that the FF barrel out performed the FSB.

I feel like this is another myth marketing did much a great job over the years getting into our heads and we just ate it up. That's my honest opinion, hopefully someone on here can link me to some proof. The kind of proof where it is two of the same rifles, not some high end $3000 FF rifle vs your budget $700 FSB. Equal testing, really looking forward to the replies!
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You "feel" like this is a myth.... :)

Free floating works for some barrels in some applications. There's a reason why competitive shooters use free floated heavy barreled AR rifles for High Power LR competitive shooting - they learned by doing it, not by watching it on youtube.
 
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cr5 said:
No and yes.
Not to control as in mind control, but to keep people sick and dependant on the system.
Click to expand...

Clearly. Look at how many people go to the hospital every day with small pox and polio....

OP, Free floating is the easy way, basically. Back in the day, (and I'm talking before the AR even existed) high end guns would be custom fitted into stocks and the entire barrel length would be bedded. The SMLE has a screw in the forend to provide just the right amount of pressure, and you'll often read stories of guys in ww1/ww2 using wood shims on their rifles to try to get that perfect fit.

Today that takes too much effort, so to avoid pressure points that would cause flyers manufacturers free float barrels. Which is better? I dunno. But free floating is a lot easier.
 
Free floating is needed because POI will change by applying pressure to a non-free floating hand guard. Most semi autos have skinny barrels. By applying different forces to the hand guard while holding on to the rifle, the barrel will be bent to various degrees. Swiss Arms is a good example.

If the rifle has a 1" dia, obviously it is to going to be as much affected as a barrel with 0.625" dia.

Someone said data. I can get a 10MOA shift by holding on to a 20" government barrel. Loading a swiss arms on a bipod easily makes a 3MOA lift.
 
@Greentips: What if you hold by mag well? There's no pressure on the barrel.

OP, you need to ask yourself couple of questions. What distance are you going to shoot, are you already good with your skills in shooting (otherwise poor skills would neglect all the costly HW benefits), are you shooting the ammo that would not neglect the possible improvement from FF, are you planning to have optics or any devices on HG and if so - what kind, as red-dot for 20 meters CQB will do just fine on plastic drop-in, how do you shoot - on the move or from rest, is the platform you own is capable to get better with FF - some will not, no matter what, how do you grip your rifle, etc. Physics is simple, yeah - you apply pressure, you change the system. However, thing is most likely 95% of issues with accuracy will come from other sources.
 
If you hold an AR with regular hand guards near the magwell, that hand guard is still imparting force on the front sight/gas block.
Harmonics are therefore affected. Maybe adversely, maybe to a minimal amount or not at all enough to affect accuracy.
With a FF handguard, you know there is no affect to the harmonics.
MPI will be less affected by holding the mag well of course, but to what extent you won’t know without trial and error.

Fully floating an AR is about 1) eliminating unknowns or possible adverse affects to accuracy and MPI, and
2) stress relieving the barrel to receiver connection from having crap and forces applied to the hand guards.
 
(1) If you are only blasting targets at 25 yards "operator" style, you will never notice the POI.
(2) If you train lots and are very consistent with your hold in positional shooting, you will not suffer much from the POI.
 
I have considered going free float. I was taught 30 years ago to use the mag as a monopod by a top ranking shooter and still do.

Running a Colt 6920 with older round CAR style handguards and just a 3X vortex spitfire would not lend itself to good accuracy, normally.

Somehow this setup when used with an ATRS 10rd pistol mag, resting on the mag, wrapping the support hand around the mag well, and mag but not touching the barrel or handguards, is getting me and my wife consistent 1 MOA.

I can't explain it and it does make me put off buying into the FF HG game. The one thing that deters me the most is the thought of the hassle to remove the FF HG is If need to clean the barrel exterior of moisture or debris.

Moe
 
norlandgeese said:
If you train lots and are very consistent with your hold in positional shooting, you will not suffer much from the POI.
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Speaking of internet myths, this notion is a fallacy that seems to get regurgitated on forums quite a bit.
If it is one thing holding at range will teach you, it is that a reliable, consistent hold to maintain consistent POI is extremely difficult.
It is the entire point of floating barrels in the first place.
 
beltfed said:
Speaking of internet myths, this notion is a fallacy that seems to get regurgitated on forums quite a bit.
If it is one thing holding at range will teach you, it is that a reliable, consistent hold to maintain consistent POI is extremely difficult.
It is the entire point of floating barrels in the first place.
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No one said it's not difficult, I've seen the Bisley lads do it well.
Note carefully I did not say the same guy at the same level won't notice a difference, I said they won't suffer much. The young rifle team guys who took the medals at the matches I was at did not suffer much by using the C7A2, because they took the medals.
Not sure if you can discern the nuances, but I know you're a tenacious gent who always need the last word, I've other things to do so I'll leave it at that. Cheers.
 
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