Gun Barrel Stabilizer
Why and How It Works!
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Gun Barrel Stabilizer Why and How It Works! |
Where a bullet lands on a target is largely determined by where the last segment of gun bore is pointed as the bullet separates from the gun. Unfortunately, this final segment of gun bore is always moving during firing. The movements most detrimental to accuracy are angular deflections caused by forces acting perpendicular to the gun bore. Force components acting perpendicular to the gun bore result from the fact that the mass center of the gun is not normally located concentric with the bore. The forces produced by the pressure of the propellant gases act rearward along the axis of the gun barrel. These axial forces are resisted by the mass of the gun, but because the mass center is offset from the bore, a couple results, thereby producing accelerations of the gun barrel in directions perpendicular to the axis of the bore. We all recognize muzzle rise during firing as a consequence. These perpendicular accelerations, acting along the unsupported sections of the gun barrel, are resisted by the mass of the gun barrel causing temporary elastic bending of the gun barrel and angular deflection of the muzzle.
The development of these forces which produce detrimental gun muzzle angular deflection increase and diminish in very short periods of time, on the order of a millisecond for modern high powered rifles. This occurs as the pressure inside the cartridge increases to a peak and then declines as the projectile moves further down the gun barrel to be finally released as the projectile leaves the muzzle. The bending of the gun barrel is, therefore, also a transient event resulting in changes in the amount of bending over the very short time period while the projectile is in the barrel. Small variables, which may include such things as changes in the pressure profile and/or drag of the projectile inside the barrel from shot to shot, tend to change the timing of projectile departure relative to the angular position of the muzzle. This in turn results in dispersion of projectile impacts at the target.
The invention consists of a device called a Gun Barrel Stabilizer rigidly attached at the gun muzzle and extending toward the gun breach without further contact. Based on the attachment at the gun muzzle, and by its cantilevered nature, the invention, when exposed to the same accelerations as the barrel, resists the angular deflection of the muzzle. Instantaneous rates of change in angular position of the muzzle are reduced, therefore, variations in the timing of bullet release have less effect and accuracy is increased. The Stabilizer configuration can be optimized using a computer by carefully matching the counteracting moment produced by the Stabilizer to the exact moment necessary to maintain the final segment of the gun barrel at the muzzle moving through a series of parallel positions up to the time of projectile release. In the absence of angular deflection at the muzzle, gun accuracy is increased to a maximum allowed by the remaining limitations of cartridge performance and barrel bore quality. Inexpensive production firearms such as the Ruger Mini-14 using common factory ammunition when a Gun Barrel Stabilizer has been installed have produced outstanding accuracy.