Carbon rifle barrels

I have read a lot more bad than good on these type of barrels. I will not purchase one or a rifle that has one but will opt for the "old school" steel on my rifles etc.
Recoil will also increase due to the reduction of weight in the rifle to absord it, same as a wood stock vs syn. stock reducess weight, also syn. is not effected by the enviroment as bad.
 
I have 2 Christensen arms rifles, one in 7STW and the other in 7MM Rem Ultra Mag. They both shoot great!!! They do not heat up near as fast as all steel barrels. From what I have read, the epoxies used to bond the carbon fiber actually act like a heat sink. My rifles do not FEEL even close to as hot as a steel barrel that has fired the same amount of rounds. I had a friend who did have a Christensen arm rifle that had a barrel that was not straight with the action and it was obvious, they did not fix it without charge!!! As far as accuracy, if you get one of there shilen match grade barrels wrapped in carbon fiber, it is still a Shilen match grade barrel, and it SHOULD shoot extremly well. I like them!!

AZHUNTER
 
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I have to think that if anything, barrel life will be less with the fiber wrapped barrels. Carbon fiber does not conduct heat very well. This may keep the external surface of the barrel cool but only increases the temperature of the bore.
It is the bore temperature that determines barrel life.

Jack



Jack is totally right. There is no scientific data that in any supports fiber wrapped barrels are better than a regular quality barrels. In fact probably the converse is true it seems the larger manufacturers have all but scrapped them. If they were all that great you’d be seeing a lot of them pop up on the bench rest circuit and I’m not seeing them. More hype to sell guns I’d stay as far away from anyone trying to sell me one of these as I could.
 
azhunters post confirms that the carbon fiber does not conduct the heat away from the bore. The claim that they have figured out a way to make carbon fiber conduct heat over 3 times as fast as steel is very hard to swallow to start with. If that were true the exterior of the barrel would get hot much quicker than a steel barrel.

As azhunter said, the exterior is cooler than a steel barrel, ergo the heat is not being taken away from the bore.

Basic laws of physics, no wiggle room available.

Jack
 
I own one of the Remington 700 rifles with a 26" carbon barrel in 22-250. I love the light weight and accuracy is great. recoil in not a concern in this cartridge though. I would not hesitate to purchase another one. I do believe that the outside of the barrel may feel cooler due to being insulated by the outer carbon wrap, but I tend to take it easy and try not to overheat the barrel. It makes an excellent calling rifle as I get the benefit of a stiff barrel as well as light weight. Eventually it will need a new barrel and due to the large barrel channel in the stock, I will be forced to make a decision. Do I get another carbon barrel or go with a standard steel and new stock? I sure would miss the carbon barrel.
 
I have two rifles built by Christensen's. The first is an accurized 10/22 with their barrel and the 2nd is Rem 700 .223 and they are both as accurated as I can shoot. The .223 was a little tricky to shoot at first since it is so light in weight.

A side note. The first time I visited them I ask them quite few questions that mostly boiled down to "How sturdy are the carbon-wrapped barrels. I can't recall his name but the 'smith I was talking to walked in back and came out with a package that was wrapped and addressed waiting for the UPS truck to pick it up. He cut the wrapping off and took out the rifle and told me to follow him outside where he proceeded, holding the rifle in one hand, to smack the barrel against the painted cinder-block wall.....not a light tap but a solid smack....and then he did it a second time. I was more than a little stunned as I could see two marks on the barrel. He took a piece of cloth out of his pocket and wiped the barrel removing the "marks" which were just smudges from the painted block. There wasn't a mark of any kind on the barrel anywhere. I was convinced and we went inside to complete the specs for my rifle.

Just in case you were wondering, the name on the package was Craig Boddington.
 
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