Thread: Tell me about carbon wrapped barrels

So apart from the "cool factor" what is the advantage for a carbon wrapped barrel on a hunting rifle.
I want to know about their down sides as well as their upsides.
Can the barrel delaminate? ie water/ oil get between the fiber and the steel?
Stuff like that.

had one since 2006 on my AR15, Brought it for the cool factor and was building a lightweight rifle but truely its just like any other barrel. Mine is an ABS barrel and they were brought out by Proof Research if I recall correctly
Not sure its worth the premium myself, mines had a hard life but shows no signs of delamination etc. Cost me $600us back when I brought it

They have tensioning problems when heated apparently. As the carbon and metal barrel have different temp sensitive expansion rates.

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I believe the concept is an update of wire wound naval gun technology pioneered in the 1890s. The concept was to make a lighter gun but with the same strength as a solid bored one. A rifled liner was wrapped with tensioned wire rope and then encased in an outer. The concept was sucessful and saved 10-15% in weight. An added bonus was that when shot out, the liner could be easily replaced making barrel replacement much quicker.
So the idea is a lighter barrel of at least equal strength and accuracy
I believe claims are also made for better heat dissipation but as thermal transfer through carbon is slower than through steel I cant quite see this.

I thought carbon radiated heat quicker?

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Carbon does but carbon fibre in epoxy is actually a lot poorer than iron. This table is from a paper on carbon fibre characteristics
Carbon Fiber Properties-Heat Conductivity
MATERIAL CONDUCTIVITY
Aluminium 210.
Copper 398
Gold. 315
Silver 428
Diamond 2500
Graphene (theoretical) 5020
Carbon Nanotube (theoretical) 3500 N/A
Carbon Fiber 21-180

Silicon 141
Epoxy 0.5-1.5
Carbon Fiber in Epoxy5-7 in plane .5-.8 transvers
Air (not moving) 0.026
Glass .93
Iron 80
Wood .15
Expanded Polystyrene .03
Mineral Wool Insulation .04

The article is quite easy reading and explains the difficulties composites present in measuring heat transfer rate.
There is the added issue of the different thermal expansion rates of steel and carbn composites someone else has mentioned.

If you would like to get a good carbon fibre wrapped barrel ensure you get an imported one.

Local gunsmith did some testing here recently.

Measured stiffness with carbon and equivalent weight carbon barrels and found they are identical.

For example my 24” proof research is a sender contour but same weight as a number 2 profile steel barrel and is just as stiff. However, all my no2 profile barreled rifles suffer in accuracy as the shot strings go past 3-5 shots and this is not the case with the proof, it shoots the same poi regardless of heat.

The way I view carbon barrels is that 1 they look good, 2 they shoot well, better than an equivalent weight steel barrel and 3 they are light.

Originally Posted by 300_BLK

Local gunsmith did some testing here recently.

Measured stiffness with carbon and equivalent weight carbon barrels and found they are identical.

For example my 24” proof research is a sender contour but same weight as a number 2 profile steel barrel and is just as stiff. However, all my no2 profile barreled rifles suffer in accuracy as the shot strings go past 3-5 shots and this is not the case with the proof, it shoots the same poi regardless of heat.

The way I view carbon barrels is that 1 they look good, 2 they shoot well, better than an equivalent weight steel barrel and 3 they are light.

One thing to consider is the conditions under which the stiffness test was done. To be useful the test should be done at elevated temperatures. Most epoxies tend to loose strength rapidly as temperature rises, typically becoming quite soft at 50C. I don't know the properties of the epoxies used to wrap barrels.

@gagetman I believe the tests were done in a paint oven where each barrel was kept at a consistent temp based on research done with a laser thermometer after shooting steel and carbon barrels.

It wasn’t Hardy doing the tests either

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

If you would like to get a good carbon fibre wrapped barrel ensure you get an imported one.

@Kiwi Greg Why is that please? Can you be more specific?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Tahr

@Kiwi Greg Why is that please? Can you be more specific?

Thanks

I have only had one local carbon barrel, it wouldn't shoot, the manufacturer wouldn't stand behind it, owes me over $2k so I just had to suck it up...

I know of many others both locally & overseas with similar stories, both with carbon wrapped & standard barrels.

I have used many Proof Research Carbon barrels & all of them have shot extremely well, some of them below.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-magnum-37679/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....eedmoor-38108/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....eedmoor-38052/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-barrel-37192/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-barrel-37344/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-magnum-21359/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....eedmoor-33937/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....minator-25380/

So clearly we have a bit of idea of what we are doing....

@Kiwi Greg what caliber was your local one? How many rounds down the tube before it imploded?

Originally Posted by 300_BLK

@Kiwi Greg what caliber was your local one? How many rounds down the tube before it imploded?

It was a .284 & it just wouldn't shoot from the get go, two together & one away up to 1-1.5 moa away constantly.

It was rechambered to straighten it up to eliminate that possibility & it still didn't want to know.

I put a 300 NM chambered proof research barrel into the same action, stock, bedding, scope, trigger etc & it said party on

I also know of one person who had a wrapped barrel done in NZ that wouldn't shoot and he wouldn't stand behind it


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