Are Clamps on Barrels OK?

[pope_face]

I've been mulling this over in my head for a little while, but I thought I'd ask some people with more experience... I'm just wondering whether clamps are an acceptable method of affixing accessories to a barrel, or if they should be considered a last resort?

I'm thinking in particular of things like heatshields with attached ghost rings, or tactical rails, or flashlights/lasers. Will the barrel and clamp heat and cool at the same rate? If not, can the barrel be damaged at the point where it's clamped? Or, can a clamp shift during heating/cooling and cause a laser or front sight to go off zero?

And finally, any recommended material or design for a clamp? For example, should the material be matched to the barrel, or does it not matter? And is it preferable to have as much contact area between the two as possible, or as little?

I know it's probably an awkward question, and if someone tells me it's completely irrelevant then that's fine... I'm just curious to know if there is a right or wrong answer to this.

 

[F22_RaptoR]

Not a big deal.

What I WOULD worry about (for double style clamps that clamp onto the barrel and mag tube) is the mag tube being "crushed" just enough to hinder the follower from going past (this is the case with the Benelli M4 which has a strong but very thin mag tube)

The ONLY thing you will have to worry about is the barrel being scratched up if the clamp moves at all.

If you have a shotgun like the Remington 870 and a +2 extension for it, then the double clamp will prevent the mag tube from coming loose under recoil. On a thicker mag tube it wont really be a problem (think of the 870 or mossberg 500/590)

You can get a few different models, things like the Tac Star (you can clamp a flashlight on it, then clamp it to the barrel) although they are kinda junky.

You can also get fairly nice models like Mesa Tactical and Nordic components. Mesa makes 2 models, one thats a double clamp (clamps onto mag tube and the barrel) and a single clamp (that just clamps onto the barrel). They can have small picatinny rails added to both sides. The Nordic one I think can only have the rail added to one side, BUT it has a bit more surface area on the 'clamp' so it may not have to be quite so tight.

Casey at Tactical Ordnance carries Mesa stuff, or Brownells can ship them up here. Not sure whom carries Nordic stuff up here, BUT a place called Tactical Shotgunner (down in the US, but they will export stuff up here as long as its under 100 bucks) carries all the Nordic and Mesa stuff.

I wouldn't personally go for a heat shield iron sight type deal (they probably wont hold zero very well) but as far as mounting accessories with clamps and such, it should be fine! Just make sure to function test the feeding to make sure everything works good!

 

[pope_face]

Great, I appreciate the info... the finish isn't that much of a concern for me, but I'll keep the mag tube comment in mind. Good to know that I shouldn't have any issue with it overall. I'll take a look at the Mesa and Nordic clamps... hopefully one of them will work for what I need.

 

[Colin]

I had the heat shield with sights on my 500, it worked fine for close in bear defense distances and improved my aim over the bead sight which never worked for me.

 

[supernova]

tacticalshotgunner dot com has no export limit. My last order was over $300 USD in firearms parts. cheap shipping and great service. The nordic clamp is awesome, is uses a 10-32 hole on either side (standard sling swivel thread) but only comes with 1 rail. It has 2 large allen head bolts that clamp very tightly and a conical seat for the rail bolt. The tacstar clamps work ok, but need to be cranked down until they almost strip or they will shift under recoil. Normally they rotate a little, sldie forward and the light slides forward in the mount. I'm running a Vltor QD offset scout mount on the nordic rail. It uses the same ADM MFG. throw lever as NEA's cantilever scope mount and clamps VERY tightly with little effort, and the throw lever locks in the closed position. Though this setup is a bit pricey at $50 USD for the clamp and $85 USD for the mount, it is rock solid.

Sorry about the crappy pic, my phone has aids and needs to be taken out back and shot...along with whoever sourced the camera they put in it...

 

[pope_face]

Supernova: That's a nice little setup there... does it have a rail on the far side as well, or is it just the single light clamp on the near side? For me, the only downside to that one is that I don't have a magazine extension, so I won't have anything to clamp the bottom part to. I could use a laser in that position, but the whole clamp might end up shifting and I'll lose zero anyway.

Actually, I have a solid rib on my barrel, so I may be able to mount a rail under the barrel by bracing both clamps against that to prevent them from rotating side-to-side. The front of the barrel has an adjustable choke welded on, so I can use that to prevent the clamps from sliding forward, and I can use the barrel lug just in front of the magazine that'll prevent the clamps from sliding backwards. As long as I keep them tight, there shouldn't be any movement of the rail.

 

[supernova]

the clamp is drilled and tapped on both sides for the rail, but only came with one. Thats fine for me since I have no use for a rail on the other side. You can also use the clamp to mount a light under your barrel, and have a sling swivel stud on it too. The nordic clamp has alot of surface area and larger bolts that can take alot of torque, It would be a lot more solid than a smaller clamp like the ones tacstar makes. Clamp a light in the mount and mount the laser on the rail?

 

[pope_face]

Super: I could do that... by the looks of your setup, I thought it was a barrel/magazine clamp with the attached flashlight mount, but I probably misunderstood that. It seems like the clamp doesn't go all the way over the top of the barrel... is that right? That'd be perfect for a solid rib... it seems that a lot of the clamps (single or double) wrap all the way around the barrel, and I wouldn't be able to do that without modifying one or the other.

$50 USD sounds pretty good for a solid double clamp... I'm assuming the rail and sling mount are extra. I'd probably mount the laser under the barrel though, rather than to the side. If I zero the laser, I'd much rather have it hit the target above or below the POI at other ranges, rather than to one side or the other. I'm sure I could figure out some way to do it, even by going with a single clamp and having one rail on the side and one on the bottom.

 

[supernova]

yup, it doesnt wrap around the barrel or mag tube completely. You are right, its a barrel/magazine clamp with a light mount on the supplied rail. What I meant by the sling points is nordic drills and taps a hole on each side to 10-32NC which is the standard thread for machine thread sling swivel studs so you can just screw one in and go. The rail is included with it and mounts using one of the 10-32 holes. I see your point about running the laser underneath, then you just need to hold over/under to compensate range. I found using a non-offset mount had the light way out to the side, more than I liked. The Vltor scout mount tucks it in close and actually touches the nordic clamp. The nordic/vltor/fenix all fit together so perfectly even though they are made by 3 different companies. I had a flashlight under the barrel while I waited for the nordic extension to show up, so I know it will work with a 1" light or laser.

 

[pope_face]

I would just mount my light to the side and be done with it, but I've got a muzzle brake type thing on the end of my barrel, and it's about 5" long. In order to prevent the light from getting covered in powder after every shot, I either have to mount the light further back from the end of the barrel, or fabricate a simple baffle for the underside of the muzzle brake to prevent the used powder from contacting the light. If the barrel doesn't block too much of the light, I'll mount it to the side. Otherwise, I'll play with placements and see what gives the best results.

I think my laser is a little smaller than 1", but I believe you can get inserts to use smaller lights and lasers in larger clamps, so I could make it work.