Does Barrel Vibration Exist and Does it Matter

[Doom]

I'm posting this here in Reloading because it comes up now and again in load development. A lot of information and misinformation is out there. Yes it matters. The attached link to a Paper by FN covering a redesign of a SAW barrel is probably one of the best that is available that demonstrates the impact.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA434693.pdf

 

[Baron23]

I'm posting this here in Reloading because it comes up now and again in load development. A lot of information and misinformation is out there. Yes it matters. The attached link to a Paper by FN covering a redesign of a SAW barrel is probably one of the best that is available that demonstrates the impact.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA434693.pdf

One thing that seems to be overlooked when we talk about barrel oscillation and its impact on precision is inertia. Simply putting a heavy weight on the end of the barrel increases its moment of inertia and result in slower oscillation rate and....I think smaller absolute excursions.

But I'm no mechanical engineer

 

[Maurygold]

Alex wheeler says no. He did some testing with high speed camera suggesting no exist barrel movement. W

The vast majority of the most successful f class shooters in the country clearly say yes given they run tuners on straight taper barrels.

I’m going with the guys shooting really small groups far away. If you look at wheelers statistics on standard deviations of group size and wez the f class guys should never be shooting the groups they are yet they repeatedly do.

 

[flogxal]

I think, at a certain structural level, the frequencies resulting from the explosion in the chamber, pushing down the bore's path, are happening even if a refined camera cannot sense them externally. I would think the little explosion translates its energy along any path it can -- rearward toward the buttstock is the one we all feel, but I don't think all the energy goes backward. I think the projectile pushing down the barrel sets up its own energy impulse that I believe physicists and mech engrs can measure as frequency/wavelength. Even if it's not seen to the human eye as a slow "whipping" action that many talk about.