Harmonic balancer; voodoo magic or reality?

My dad shoots a Browning a-bolt with BOSS in 7 mm rem mag. He used to reload but after getting his BOSS tuned for 175 gr factory winchester loads, he refuses to use anything else, as he gets dime-sized 3 shot groups at 100 with his cheap ammo now. It works, but is loud as hell with the muzzle brake!

This gun gave him a wicked migraine one time after shooting a muley buck; he almost retired it, but it shoots so consistently so it is still his go-to hunting rig.
 
webster said:
The way I understand it, a harmonic dampener allows you to tune your rifle to any kind of ammo you want to use, rather than trying to find a load that works in your gun and only ever using that load.

Seems like a good idea to me. I am definitely intrigued by the idea, too bad a new gun isn't in the budget any time soon. :(
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Que Industries makes an aftermarket version. - dan
 
This gun gave him a wicked migraine one time after shooting a muley buck; he almost retired it, but it shoots so consistently so it is still his go-to hunting rig.
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Look at the bright side, if he keeps shooting it without hearing protection, he soon won't be bothered by the sound, as he won't be able to hear much anyways.
 
So i guess that was the thinking at Mossberg when they came up with the adjustable brake on their 17hmr bolt rifle. Must be functional as it`s so darn big.:D
 
RythmusBlaster said:
This gun gave him a wicked migraine one time after shooting a muley buck; he almost retired it, but it shoots so consistently so it is still his go-to hunting rig.
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Browning sells, or at least sold, a solid version of the BOSS weight (no ports) which could be adjusted the same way to produce the same results, but didn't increase the muzzle blast. He should look for one to swap out with his loud version.
 
jjohnwm said:
Browning sells, or at least sold, a solid version of the BOSS weight (no ports) which could be adjusted the same way to produce the same results, but didn't increase the muzzle blast. He should look for one to swap out with his loud version.
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Was aware they now sell solid ones, but never thought about getting him one to swap out! Thanks for the heads up.

Now I don't have to wrack my brain for his next birthday!
 
I had a barrel tuner made out of a Levang linear compensator. I had the exterior of the comp threaded and two rings made to screw onto it. Both rings screw together to tighten it down. Tuning it will be time consuming, if it works.

It's for a rimfire by the way.....

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270shooter said:
At 100 yards after 20 rounds I had a pattern no bigger than my thumb nail. Neither my nephew or I could believe it and I am sure no one reading this does either.
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Not so much as not believing, but perhaps a bit of a stretch? I fluked off a 3 shot once, almost same hole deal. Have come close since that time, but now I recognize for what it was...a fluke. You see, there are guys whom spend thousands of dollars to acquire all sorts of widgets and gadgets for their precision shooting, to dream of the consistency that you have claimed. Not saying it did not happen, but like a fish story, could the facts be stretched just a wee bit?

With the dampener, my only experience was with my Ruger mini-target, when I owned it. Yes, tweaking the dampener did have an effect of changing the group size. It also made for one wild-a$$ change to the shot placement if I changed the ammo. I'm not talking subtle. Used 50 gr v-max to sight it in. Shot some 40 gr vmax, and the point of impact changed about 8". Changed to Winchester white box, and the point of impact then changed 16" in the opposite direction. THAT is not supposed to happen, and did not happen with my other 223. Got rid of that rifle, and replaced it with a bare-bones ranch rifle. Points of impact changes are much more subtle now.
 
Thumnail group - 20 rounds?. Need pics. The only rifle that is universally accepted for that level of performance is a Stevens 200 with a custom paint job, a harris type knock off bipod and winchester whitebox ammo.
 
I had a Browning Stainless Stalker in .375 H&H with BOSS that came with
both the vented & unvented weights. This was a very accurate rifle
when dialed in for the loads I was using. Ugly loud with the vented weight
obviously!
I should have kept that rifle dang-it.V:I:
 
One thing about which not much has been said. This is the amount of shooting you might have to do to find a "sweet spot" for changes in bullets or loads, if you are reloading.

I only had one BOSS equipped rifle, a .223 Browning Varmint (heavy barrel).

Browning did not supply a sweet spot setting for this calibre. To find the sweet spot I had to start with a O setting, then work through many of the various possible settings up to 10. After I found what seemed to be the sweet spot for a particular bullet and powder charge the same setting didn't always work the best for other combinations.

I finally just left the setting alone on the one sweet spot and then varied the powder and bullet combinations the same as I did with any other non-BOSS equipped rifle. The gun did shoot small groups with a lot of loads, however.

IMO if you are shooting factory loads and are happy to settle on one specific make and bullet weight they can be a good device. Not so good for the constant tinkerer.

Jim
 
Why don't you guys with your sweet spot, go back and read post #6 again.
The best shooters in the world didn't adjust the load to their rifle for accuracy. They properly bedded their rifles, loaded the heaviest loads the rifles would take and went on to shoot world record breaking scores.
How do you think the large rifle competitions between militaries, or between say in the US, the Border Patrol and the Texas Rangers, operated? Whether a team consisted of 10 or 200 members, they all used the same, well bedded and tuned rifles and they all used the same match ammunition.
If someone's rifle wasn't performing as it should, did he scream for different ammunition, so he could find his sweet spot?
Of course not. His rifle would be given to an armourer who would either repair the rifle or give the shooter another rifle.
 
OntJim said:
One thing about which not much has been said. This is the amount of shooting you might have to do to find a "sweet spot" for changes in bullets or loads, if you are reloading.

I only had one BOSS equipped rifle, a .223 Browning Varmint (heavy barrel).

Browning did not supply a sweet spot setting for this calibre. To find the sweet spot I had to start with a O setting, then work through many of the various possible settings up to 10. After I found what seemed to be the sweet spot for a particular bullet and powder charge the same setting didn't always work the best for other combinations.

I finally just left the setting alone on the one sweet spot and then varied the powder and bullet combinations the same as I did with any other non-BOSS equipped rifle. The gun did shoot small groups with a lot of loads, however.

IMO if you are shooting factory loads and are happy to settle on one specific make and bullet weight they can be a good device. Not so good for the constant tinkerer.

Jim
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Browning can't supply you with the exact "sweet spot" you need...it depends on the load you use. That's the whole idea. Instead of experimenting with loads until you get one that shoots best with your rifle, the BOSS is supposed to allow you to choose a load that you want to use, and then adjust the harmonizer to optimize your rifle for that load. As long as you keep track of the BOSS setting that works best with your loads, you can have as many different ones as you want, and set the BOSS to get maximum performance out of the one you are using at the time. It's perfect for tinkering, as long as you don't lose or forget your settings as you develop them.

Gee, H4831, my armourer quit recently, and my human resources department is having a difficult time finding a replacement. However, the good news is that my legal department informs me that I don't need to use the match grade ammo that my military contacts supply to me...I can just cobble up a load with data my research team finds, and then have my engineering staff assemble the ammo and testfire the gun.:rolleyes:
 
jjohnwm said:
Gee, H4831, my armourer quit recently, and my human resources department is having a difficult time finding a replacement. However, the good news is that my legal department informs me that I don't need to use the match grade ammo that my military contacts supply to me...I can just cobble up a load with data my research team finds, and then have my engineering staff assemble the ammo and testfire the gun.:rolleyes:
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Looks like my postings went completely over your head.
Sorry.
 
H4831 said:
Looks like my postings went completely over your head.
Sorry.
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Maybe so...I might have ducked. I'm certain that every word in your post is correct. I'm equally certain that the relevance of the situation you described, with respect to the shooting that 99% of us do and the possible utility of a system like the BOSS, is exactly zero.
 
H4831 said:
Why don't you guys with your sweet spot, go back and read post #6 again.
The best shooters in the world didn't adjust the load to their rifle for accuracy. They properly bedded their rifles, loaded the heaviest loads the rifles would take and went on to shoot world record breaking scores.
How do you think the large rifle competitions between militaries, or between say in the US, the Border Patrol and the Texas Rangers, operated? Whether a team consisted of 10 or 200 members, they all used the same, well bedded and tuned rifles and they all used the same match ammunition.
If someone's rifle wasn't performing as it should, did he scream for different ammunition, so he could find his sweet spot?
Of course not. His rifle would be given to an armourer who would either repair the rifle or give the shooter another rifle.
Click to expand...

So your saying the best shooters in the world use the heaviest loads the rifles will take, and that gives them the best results?

Then you say they all the "teams of 10-200 in matches" just use the same match ammunition as anyone else in a shooting match. Are the shooting matches using the heaviest loads as well? Why wouldnt they do load development for a single rifle?

What the heck does a military armourer have to do with the regular joe wanting to try out the effectiveness of a harmonic balancer and load development?

Wherever you were going went over my head too. Maybe you could elaborate a bit.
 
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