Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: Kino MIf you got a 1/4" gun, it's still going to be that and in most cases better as long as it's a quality suppressor with a solid mount.
I'd love to hear the explanation for how randomly changing the harmonics of a 1/4" barrel is magically going to make it "in most cases better".
Tuners have been experimented with to death in bench rest but have never caught on. If they could magically improve the accuracy potential of a barrel, every BR competitor on earth would be running one. Instead, they prefer to put that weight into other components and tune the load to the barrel rather than tune the barrel to the load.
You can think of adding a suppressor as adding a tuner, that can't actually be tuned.
Fortunately, the load can be tuned and a 1/4" barrel is still going to be a 1/4" barrel and won't be made worse by a properly installed barrel weight, or suppressor.
I do not doubt that barrels frequently do show increased accuracy when a suppressor is installed. But what that should be telling you is that you didn't have your load tune fully optimized and have just stumbled into a better state of tune by randomly changing barrel harmonics.
- DAA
So to elaborate on my comments, I'm saying that a quality suppressor and solid mount in my experience has never been detrimental to accuracy and in most cases, pet loads don't have to be tweaked much, if at all. In most cases there is a small increase in muzzle velocity. If your gun is a 1/4"MOA before you screw a suppressor on it, it still will be with a suppressor on it.
The biggest "gain" is shooter comfort. Less recoil, less muzzle blast and less noise, ESPECIALLY under a covered bench. This benefit is much more prevalent in hard recoiling calibers with lots of blast like 300, 338 and even 308 with heavy bullets. It makes shooting 308,260s and 243s a real pleasure to shoot. It makes 223s like a toy.
With a 12-18 pound benchrest gun in 6PPC or other light calibers, there's almost no recoil so these guns wouldn't benefit from a suppressor anywhere near what a tactical or hunting rifle does.
Hopefully that's a little better explanation!