Question regarding free floating barrels
- Thread starter Spearhunter
- Start date
- Location
- Kelowna, BC
Cost and time. A plastic 2 piece handguard is far cheaper then a FFing handguard. It's also usually easier to mfg install and work on the rifle with a 2pc clamshell handguard.
I have to remove the gas block to get the full float tube off and forward on my AR. I'd imagine the original design strived for practicality and accuracy based on the iron sights. The basic design is just so damn good we've kept it evolving.
Gunnerlove
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Even when non free floated a good AR is far more accurate than 95% of users.
Where the free float really shines is when firing from support like a door frame from kneeling or standing at ranges beyond 200m.
Where the free float really shines is when firing from support like a door frame from kneeling or standing at ranges beyond 200m.
Bolivar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The expense part is probably the main reason. If it raises the price point it can negatively affect sales. Plus users can be picky about which handguard they want. Just like optics. You will never make all or even most happy with the FF tube/handguard picked as OEM so just give them the generic handguard and let them mod later.
Gunnerlove is probably 100% correct in his statement....but I added a free float tube to my CQB rifle anyway....just cause I could.
Gunnerlove is probably 100% correct in his statement....but I added a free float tube to my CQB rifle anyway....just cause I could.
agreed.
When we switched from irons to optics we noticed BIG shifts if we used slings in any position. Turns out with a non-floated C7 you can really tug the barrel around with a tight sling. In the old days you tugged the front sight right along with it, so that camoflauged the movement a LOT. A nice stable position using a tight sling more than made up for a little shifting you barely noticed.
Drop a nice piece of glass on the upper and watch what happens when you flex a barrel around that much -- now that the sight stays put... WOW. It was an 8-12 inch shift in match 8 at 200m. So - lose the sling unless you have a floated barrel - or at least don't use it under any tension, save it for carrying your rifle around...
We played a bit and noticed with the aid of the C7 version of a boresighting tool, that even supporting the weight of the rifle holding the foreguards in a normal prone position shifted the POI up to a full minute compared to "not" touching the barrel at all. Probably pepper and flys**t for most applications. But for CFSAC it inspired a whole lot on "non-field-like" "Range-Queen" positions and holding...(guilty
)My National Match gun is floated and (silly) US rules insist on slings being mounted even though you can't use it at 200 standing. It's not a rule, but And you NEED to use a sling properly to be competitive in that game at 300 and 600-- and proper means TIGHT -- so floating barrel is critical. The line swine with unfloated barrels don't notice so much because it is old iron sights, as I discussed earlier -- but they usually do make notes about different "zero" settings for their windage in different positions, due to sling use.
The carbine and rifle I use in Law Games and Canadian Service Rifle are both floated as well. But I never picked up the habit of using a sling in our games up here, so I don't think it really makes much of a difference to me. Maybe the odd bull instead of a V. But I do my own work, and don't see the harm in doing things "right."... But honestly -- (and I HATE talking about what we do wrong instead of waht we do right) -- admit it -- The vast majority of "oop-sies" that cost matches in our sport are brain-fart things. And squeeking half a minute more accuracy out of an AR15 won't help you with those things.
