Tuner story...

mwezell

mwezell

Mike Ezell
I posted this story on another thread but thought others may find it interesting and am posting here, too.

The story is based on a rifle I bought last year, which had another maker's tuner on it when I got it. This tuner uses a slightly smaller thread diameter than mine, so rather than cutting an inch of new barrel off, I shot with it, as is.

Here goes...

I've been working with tuners for several years now...won't go back to shooting without one.

I bought the gun a bukys tuner was on, last year. I had built the gun for a friend and he didn't shoot it hardly at all. He wanted to try a Bukys on this gun and except for the tuner, he let me build the rifle as if I were building a gun for myself.

Anyway, first time out with the rifle was at a match. I went pre-loaded with an unkown rifle, unknown load, another maker's tuner and put the scope on the night before the match.

When I got to the match I had not fired the gun and the scope was off considerably, but was on paper with my first shot so, I fired one round on target and adjusted the reticle to the bullet hole.

Then I went to my sighter and fired a 3 shot group. The gun was COMPLETELY out of tune. The 3 shot group was near 1/2".. HUGE!

I made an adjustment based on experience with tuners in the past and fired another 3 shot group....Now the tune was close. I made one more small adjustment and did the same thing..another 3 shot group, and this one was small, maybe a low .1.

I had gone from a gun that was just on paper, completely out of tune, with an unknown gun an unknown load, and someone else's tuner on the gun, to a very competitive tune.

Here comes the good part...I did this in under 2 minutes, during my 3 minute warm-up per UBR!!

That, my friends, is what tuners do!

If you have any doubts about tuners, call me. I love this stuff and am happy to share my experiences with tuners. Yes, I prefer my own tuner for various reasons but for the most part, they all work on the same principle and the above story is a very classic example of that. Feel free to post your own experiences with tuners.

--Mike Ezell
 
I have had similar experience several times with tuners. On rimfires they are absolutely necessary.

A few years ago we were arguing on here about tuners... the IBS ingeniously outlawed them as being unsafe. :):)
 
Tuner Adjustments

I know Bukys recommends setting tuner and adjusting powder
during the day. For those that adjust tuner could someone
tell me the direction to adjust tuner if temperture rises and a
adjustment is needed to get tune back ?
Thanks
 
dnal said:
I know Bukys recommends setting tuner and adjusting powder
during the day. For those that adjust tuner could someone
tell me the direction to adjust tuner if temperture rises and a
adjustment is needed to get tune back ?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes sir. I move the tuner in toward the receiver, when temps rise. Away from the receiver as temps go down. Learning how far to move a given tuner design, based on temps, group size and shape, is where the magic happens. The single(by far) most common mistake people make with tuners is making too big of adjustments.

With my tuner, on a typical BR contour barrel, it is very, VERY typical for there to be 4 marks from completely in tune to completely out of tune. They are threaded 32tpi and have 32 marks around them, so that's only .004" of tuner travel between all the way in and out of tune. Herein lies a lot of the confusion with tuners. You have several makes of tuners, with varying weights, positions fore or aft of the muzzle, different thread pitches..etc. So, when you hear that you should move a tuner by x amount, that may or may not be true, in your case.

The scenario I gave above was one based in large part, on my experience with many tuners and how they respond. As I said, that was not one of my own tuners, and I did adjust it by SWAG...and it worked. But, I did move it slightly more than I would have my own.
Hope this helps--Mike
 
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Thanks So Much Mike

Now I have some information to use from someone that knows a lot more than
me. I can test and know which way to go. Make small adjustment and note
what happens. Nothing like learning. Put this in my notes.

Again Thanks

Mike I do have 8 marks on my tuner. I need to work within 1 number
from what you said. (say from 4 to 5 will get you in or out of tune) 4
marks within that area
 
Last edited:
dnal said:
Thanks So Much Mike

Now I have some information to use from someone that knows a lot more than
me. I can test and know which way to go. Make small adjustment and note
what happens. Nothing like learning. Put this in my notes.

Again Thanks

Mike I do have 8 marks on my tuner. I need to work within 1 number
from what you said. (say from 4 to 5 will get you in or out of tune) 4
marks within that area
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about the tuner you're using, so it's hard for me to say how many marks, etc. I will say that you can use a depth mic to measure from the end of the tuner to the crown on a tuner that extends beyond the muzzle. I would not move it more than .001 at a time until I positively confirm how far I need to move it to get the desired affect. It sounds like your tuner needs more marks. You might try RAS or someone who could supply an adhesive tape with much finer graduations.
 
Mike Checked and know what .001 adjustment looks like . Plan on
going to range this weekend and making sure rifle is in tune. Then shooting
4 groups ,adjusting .001 at a time into action . Go back out to zero and shoot 4
groups away from action , adjusting .001 at a time. Then compare group shapes
Don't know if this will tell me much but trying to think this out. Hopefully group
shape will tell me a direction to go.
 
I think that the theory goes like this. What you are trying to do is have the bullets exit when the barrel is on the up swing near to the top of the swing where it starts to slow before stopping and reversing. For short range benchrest barrels of typical length adding weight to the muzzle slows the swing so this is possible (longer barrels may do this on their own, but a tuner can help improve the exit timing). If the weather is cooler, velocity will be reduced possibly to the point where the barrel swing peaks before the bullet exits. In order to compensate the barrel swing has to be slowed. Screwing the tuner out (away from the action does this. When conditions heat up, typically this increases velocity, perhaps to the point where the bullet is exiting on the steepest part of the rise curve. To put it back on the flatter part of the curve near the top, the barrel's swing has to be sped up, which is accomplished by turning the tuner closer to the action. If you have ever played with an old wind up metronome, you have probably observed that when the weight is moved farther from the pivot point swing rate slows,and the opposite happens when the weight is moved closer to the pivot. Stiffer barrels require heavier tuners. I know one fellow who had a HV barrel that did not respond well with a two disk tuner but did when another disk was added for a 50% increase in tuner weight. My friend Lou Murdica has used Stuart disc type tuners, regular ones on his LV barrels, and a monster on his big,untapered rail gun barrels.
 
This is very interesting information to me. Don't know what you
don' t know is a old saying but true,
Thanks Guys
 
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