THE ABS CARBON BARREL SYSTEM ADVANTAGE

So why would you want a carbon wrapped barrel? There are several advantages to carbon wrapped barrels for your hunting rifle, and weight isn’t the only thing you gain.

Also, there is also a WORLD of difference in the way carbon barrels are produced.

The primary reason most people are interested in a carbon wrapped barrel for their hunting rifle is weight reduction. In reality, it should be weight reduction without the loss of accuracy. A very thin, light weight steel barrel can be used to produce a very light weight hunting rifle. However, the primary problem with these rifles is a lack of accuracy, which is primarily a product of the barrel and its inherent problems. A light steel barrel, when fired, undergoes a multitude of stresses.

First, the heat created by the explosion in the chamber and down the bore changes the molecular structure of the steel for a short period of time. Successive shots have an additive effect to the heat in the barrel, and thus the structural changes are exaggerated. 

Most of us know, and have experienced in one way or another, what happens when we heat steel up, it expands. Even very small changes in temperature will cause steel to expand, but a small change in a rifle barrel equates to a change in point of impact by the bullet. The lighter the barrel, the less the steel and the less heat that is required to change the molecular structure of the barrel sufficiently to move the point of impact of the bullet.

This is why many of you have experienced the point of impact of your bullet “walk” across the target with successive shots. Some of you have even gone as far as waiting 5 minutes between shots, or even putting the rifle in the air conditioning between groups. This is one of the reason target shooters prefer large diameter “bull” barrels.

Second, the vibrations created by the explosion of the cartridge, reverberate down the length of the barrel. Again, the lighter the barrel, the more severe the vibrations and the “whip” effect on the barrel. These waves cause the end of the barrel to move and if they are “out of tune” with the barrel, the accuracy can be seriously affected. This is one of the reasons one load will shoot better then another in a particular rifle. It is also the purpose of some of the barrel gadgets on the market, designed to “tune” the barrel to a particular load.

What our carbon wrapping system does to help these problems:

Heat-

The ABS patented system is designed specifically with heat dissipation in mind. An additive is put into the resin that has a specific function of dissipating heat at extreme rates. This additive conducts heat 372% faster than steel. Our barrels do not “walk” with successive shots. In addition, we only use cut rifled barrels under the carbon.

Cut rifled barrels, because of the way they are manufactured, have no stress in the steel. The steel with out built in stress, does not change as much when it does heat up as steel that has stress induced by the rifling process. Button rifled and hammer forged barrels have a large amount of stress induced in the steel during the rifling process.

 We routinely shoot 5 shots from magnum rifles, with no waiting between shots, into .3” groups.

Vibration-

The carbon fiber is wound on the barrel with specific winding angles and layers that maximize the amount of vibration absorption and harmonic dampening. The carbon acts like a shock absorber and takes a substantial amount of the vibration away from the steel. The winding angles are also designed to produce as much stiffness as possible over the length of the barrel.

The results are a final product that weighs substantially less than a steel barrel required to give the same accuracy, as well as a barrel that won’t warp as it’s heated up.

In essence, a light weight barrel with “bull” barrel accuracy.

ALL CARBON BARRELS ARE NOT THE SAME

The only similarity between ABS barrels and the other carbon barrel manufacturers, is that they use carbon fiber on a barrel. The differences are significant and that’s what makes the difference.

Most carbon barrel manufacturers  use a steel barrel under their carbon that is too thin to safely shoot without the carbon. One of the maker’s barrels even has a reputation for rupturing when chambered in large magnum cartridges. Most of the other carbon barrels on the market do not dissipate heat, they do more insulating then dissipating.  All of the other manufacturers also use button rifled or hammer forged barrels. Some other carbon wrapping systems also try to hold the steel barrel from moving by tensioning the barrel. In this process, they heat the barrels allowing them to stretch, then they fasten the carbon to the steel while it is hot and try to hold the steel in the tensioned position. Unfortunately for them, carbon shrinks and steel expands as it heats. The result is a barrel that “walks” significantly as it shot. Some others also thread the carbon on the end of the barrel to accept a muzzle brake etc. In the larger magnum calibers, they tend to strip the threads and the muzzle brake comes off.

The ABS barrel system uses only cut rifled barrels under the carbon, and the barrel “liner” is heavy enough to shoot with out the carbon. The carbon and the barrel are not tensioned together, so there is no struggle between the carbon and the steel as they both heat up. The heat dissipating additives also significantly decrease the movement of the barrel, by getting rid of the heat quickly.  The end of the barrel has a steel cap that can be threaded to accept a muzzle brake, suppressor etc.  The Satern cut rifled barrels we use, are the highest match quality cut rifled barrels we have found. Being cut rifled, they have inherently less problems with heat and vibration compared to button of hammer forged barrels.

In order to expedite our rifle building and availability of barrels, Bettin Custom Guns now produces our own carbon wrapped barrels under a licensing agreement with ABS.

We have just installed a state of the art CNC filament winding machine and are at full production of carbon barrels.

We also now produce and sell carbon barrel blanks for other gun smiths and individuals. If you are interested in a barrel blank, contact us and we will be happy to wind one up for you.