General discussion > Gun Building
Question on barrel length and harmonics
Artificer:
Don did come in with the voice of reason. Grin.
I would suggest most barrel makers and rifle builders of the 18th century also wondered what made rifles shoot better, but they didn't get hung up on science they didn't understand or wasn't invented yet. They tried different things they did know and could control and that's why as Don mentioned, through trial and error they found a 42" rifle barrel worked best.
I wonder if in the day if a bunch of them would have ever gotten together, would they argue about rifling twist, depth and style of rifling, etc? I bet there may have been some heated discussions arising from that. Grin.
I'll also readily admit there are so many human induced variations in loading muzzleloaders (especially from a pouch, primitive measure and horn) that those variations may well and probably do contribute more to variances than harmonics. This brings to mind something I first saw the International shooters do when loading in the 1980's, though the "chunk gun" shooters may have done it years and years before that.
Some of the shooters had long brass tubes with a brass funnel soldered to them. When they put the long tubes into the bore of their gun, the funnel would stick out just a bit from the muzzle. The theory was that the powder going through that tube would not mix with powder residue of earlier shots and you would get a more consistant charge at the rear of the barrel. I know we don't do that on the primitive range and wiping between shots does close to the same thing. (These shooters wiped between shots and then used the long tubes to get the powder down the barrel.) They swore it aided in accuracy, though I'm not sure how much it helped as the targets they shot at were 50 and 100 meters.
rich pierce:
I will ask a simple question. If I rest my flintlock over a log, on the bench, or against a tree, will it affect the shot? If I rest it on the muzzle versus the forearm? How much at 100 yards would ordinary weight of an average 9 pound rifle affect the point of impact?
Dr. Tim-Boone:
Well, when I rest my flintlock against a tree it seems accurate enough to get the deer in my sights!! ;D ;D And I have more confidence than when I have to shoot offhand with no rest........... course I am getting a little old...... :o :o
jwh1947:
Richpierce, regarding your reasonable questions. From my experience, I would answer "yes," "yes," and "a good minute of angle."
FL-Flintlock:
The simple answer is "don't know until you try".
It's going to depend on how the rifle responds both to the shot and to the applied stress when rested at various points. The combination of rigidity of the barrel & stock combination will determin how much, if any, defelection will be caused by the static weight of the bridge length between the muzzle and butt. If the barrel has a lot of flex to it, resting it on the muzzle may cause it to climb more or may prevent it from moving as much.
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