i am skeptical...

[Spetnaz Soldier 47]

hey everyone...i have posted about this before but im still wondering if the chaos quad rail affects accuracy on the saiga rifle? I wondering if the set screws do anything to deplete accuracy? what do you think?

[dubya 198]

To a point yes, it can affect the accuracy. It's a thing called barrel harmonics (which i don't know a whole lot about) and the same reason you see all the high end bolt rifles have free floating barrels and are all pillar and/or glass bedded into the stock. I think it was Browning that came out with a muzzle device for their hunting rifles called the BOSS (ballistic optimizing ??? system) and it can be tuned for each load to get the "harmonics" (vibrations) of the free float barrel o the right spot increasing accuracy by making each shot exit the barrel the same. At least that's how i understand it. Having set screws pushing on a bolt rifle barrel would be shunned upon and i can only guess it's because of accuracy loss. Someone else will know more I'm sure.

[Red Star 38]

stuff touching the barrel will affect the harmonics of the barrel no matter what... the reason why those high end target rifles have free floated barrels, pillar bedded actions et al, is because they are trying to ensure that the barrel does the exact same thing, and returns to the exact same place every time you fire a round.

 

I dont like the bolt-on handguards for this reason, as an AK barrel already has a lot of stuff on, or touching the barrel. I dont know the degree of deviation you would experience without the handguard vs. with the handguard, but it would be an interesting experiment, and i would love to see the results

[thebuns1 4,323]

Red Star is correct. The more consistent the harmonics, the better your accuracy will be(generally). You will likely notice a difference in the performance. It is this reason I never put one on my rifles, as the AK already has enough contact points as it is IMO.

[XD45 7,124]

To take the opposite position, it's already got alot of crap hanging on the barrel that is uncontrolled. Bolting on a quadrail which is solidly attached probably won't be any worse, and could actually be better.

[dolomite_supafly 56]

I have done a lot of free floating of barrels and bedding the action as well as bedding of barrel and free floating the action.

 

This is what I have observed. A free floated barrel will shoot phenominally well with very few types of ammo, generally one or two, and will shoot the rest badly. While a bedded barrel will shoot a much wider variety of ammo well but it will rarely shoot as well with any ammo as the one or two loads a free floated barrel does.

 

If how I typed it doesn't make sense let me know and I will expound a bit.

 

Dolomite

[thebuns1 4,323]

Ive never tested one to be certain. Im sure it could easily change your point of impact, but its hard to say how it would affect accuracy/groupings.

[Spetnaz Soldier 47]

is there a handgaurd that you guys would suggest? i do not have the bolt on hand gaurd retainer but im willing to get one if i can get a good suggestion for a new handgaurd.

[mostholycerebus 415]

To take the opposite position, it's already got alot of crap hanging on the barrel that is uncontrolled. Bolting on a quadrail which is solidly attached probably won't be any worse, and could actually be better.

Thats the way I look at it. We are firing 3-4+ MOA surplus, of a round that drops off like a rock, from a platform with several inherent accuracy problems, including the barrel being firmly attached to other parts.

 

Adding an optic, possibly to a quadrail, and firing match grade or handloaded ammo is a faster, easier, cheaper improvement to accuracy vs worrying about handguard contact. This is neither the platform, nor the round for incredible accuracy, which really only benefits at distances far beyond the x39s effective range.

 

Ive heard the Ultimak rail is good for accuracy, but personally im more concerned with weight. Thats why I have a 4oz Hogue handguard and soon an ultimak railed gas tube. I lug this thing around alot more than I snipe people, and from a SHTF survival perspective, I dont see that changing at TEOTWAWKI.

Edited March 12, 2013 by mostholycerebus

[dubya 198]

To take the opposite position, it's already got alot of crap hanging on the barrel that is uncontrolled. Bolting on a quadrail which is solidly attached probably won't be any worse, and could actually be better.

Thats the way I look at it. We are firing 3-4+ MOA surplus, of a round that drops off like a rock, from a platform with several inherent accuracy problems, including the barrel being firmly attached to other parts.Adding an optic, possibly to a quadrail, and firing match grade or handloaded ammo is a faster, easier, cheaper improvement to accuracy vs worrying about handguard contact. This is neither the platform, nor the round for incredible accuracy, which really only benefits at distances far beyond the x39s effective range.Ive heard the Ultimak rail is good for accuracy, but personally im more concerned with weight. Thats why I have a 4oz Hogue handguard and soon an ultimak railed gas tube. I lug this thing around alot more than I snipe people, and from a SHTF survival perspective, I dont see that changing at TEOTWAWKI.

 

+7

[dolomite_supafly 56]

Ammo is the biggest cause of accuracy issues, specifically commercial ammo.

 

I built a bolt gun to shoot 7.62x39 and with handloads it was a MOA shooter all day long. I took commercial ammo (tula dn Wolf) and was rewarded with 2"-3" groups. I even tore down the commercial ammo and loaded rounds using the same powder and the same bullets but with the same exact weights. Those loaded rounds shot as well as my handloads.

 

The ammo I tore down varied so much, the powder charge fluctuated between 25.1 and 25.6 grains and the bullets ranged from 120.6 grains to 124.9 grains in weight.

 

Dolomite