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Practically Shooting

Effects of the Barrel Band on the 10/22


BarryinIN

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It's general opinion that barrel bands have an effect on accuracy. If it's best that nothing touches the barrel except perhaps some forend tip pressure (on some rifles) a band clamped around the barrel and forend can't be doing anything good.

Sounds reasonable, but I had never actually tested it.

I have a standard model 10/22 with the barrel band. I think it's plastic now (sigh), but this one is metal. The last time I had it apart, I looked at the band lying there and decided to try it both ways- with the band and without. I don't use this gun much, so I didn't get around to this little test until last Friday.

The test couldn't be simpler. Shoot a group or two with the band, and shoot a group or two without it. Measure. Done.

The specifics for anyone interested:

Gun was an early 80s manufacture 10/22 standard model. No mods except for addition of a scope, which was a cheap Simmons Whitetail Classic 1.5-5X that I took off some rifle I bought used. Rings were Millet. Base was Weaver.

Test distance was 50 yards.

I decided to try it with fairly cheap ammo and fairly good ammo.

The cheap was Federal High Velocity HP- the bulk 550 round in a box stuff from WalMart.

The better stuff was Eley Practice 100, which I don't think is made anymore. It was one of their mid-level grades that I always found to shoot well in most guns.

With the band on, I shot a 5-rd group with the Federal at one aiming paster, then shot a 5-rd group with the Eley at another paster.

I then marked the hits so I could shoot at the same pasters and superimpose the groups for comparison.

With the band off, I did it again.

Here are the results, Federal on left, Eley on right:

Federal:

With band- 1-5/8"

Without band- 1-3/8"

POI was 3/4" lower without the band.

Eley:

With band: 7/8"

Without band: 3/4"

POI 1" lower without band.

Well, there you go. With this rifle, and these two ammo types, it does shoot a little better without the band. Not much, but a little.

Perhaps the more important thing shown was that if I forgot to put the band back on after having it apart sometime, the shift in POI is going to be the big problem.

This is not a particularly accurate rifle. Whether that caused the effect to be more pronounced or less pronounced, I have no idea.

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I'll check. It won't take long to shoot a few more groups, taking the band off and back on between each, and a few back to back with it left on and left off,

I would think it would change each time it goes back on, but whether it changes enough to measure with this somewhat sloppy rifle is another thing.

Before the first test, I thought the band would lower POI by pulling the barrel down, but it raised it. Evidently it didn't so much draw the barrel down as act like a Class 1 lever, pulling it down behind the fulcrum (forend tip contact) which raised it forward of the fulcrum (muzzle end). I guess.

I may not get to the range much this week. I have to visit all the gun shops around here. Big 1500 table gun show coming this weekend, and since I think it's the last big one here before the election, I fear people will hit it hard and wipe the shops out that go. They might be getting some nice stuff for the show too, and I want to see it before it's gone.

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I tried that today. In short, I don't see that it made a difference.

I don't think I'm testing it right, though. I'll tell you what I did, then what I think I should be doing.

I left the barrel band off since last week. Today I took it back to the range.

I put the band back on, then shot a group with the Federal bulk ammo. Then I took the band back off, and marked the holes in the target.

I let the rifle sit for an hour while I shot other rifles, put the band back on (same way, tightened to the same point), and shot another group. Off came the band again. The group was with the first group so I didn't bother marking the holes.

After another hour, I put the band back on (same way) and shot one more group. It also appeared to be in among the first two groups.

Interesting thing #1: Each group was pretty big, which is how that ammo/rifle combination shoots. But...The first group had three shots touching. So did the second group. The third group had three that were close if not touching. All of those "touchers" were superimposed on each other to make one knot. So while it was a pretty big group, eight or nine of those 15 rounds tore one hole.

Interesting thing #2: While the POI didn't shift from group to group, it was different from last week after sitting for five or six days. I haven't measured it yet, but it moved at least an inch, maybe closer to two, high and left.

I had been wondering if I should test this differently, but knew it would take time. That second interesting point convinced me I should do it. I don't think putting the band on and taking it off again and again on the same day does anything. I think it might need a day or two or three for the wood to react, for lack of a better word.

What I'm going to do now is leave the band off for a few days, then put it on and shoot it again. Just one group, to see where it is from last time. Then repeat a couple of times.

Or-

Shoot it, bring it home, then after a day or two, take the band off and put it right back on. Shoot it in a day or two, and repeat, checking for POI shift. That way is probably more replicating of what happens.

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  • 1 year later...

The first test they were 36 grain HP (the Federal) and 40 grain solids (the Eley).

I tried this test a few times with other ammo, mostly 40 solids, covering a wider range of quality. At the bottom would be either CCI Blazer or PMC Zapper, and at the high end Eley Club.

Generally speaking, but not always, the more accurate the ammo in this rifle, the less change in accuracy was shown. It did always improve with the band removed, just less with its favorites.

The POI shift was in the same rough ballpark regardless of ammo- an inch, plus or minus 1/4.

I won't be able to test more with this rifle- at least for a while- because it is in another stock.

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