I was feeling kind of bummed out last October so I decided to buy some bling for my rifle – a carbon fibre bloop tube. I’ve been using a 10” aluminum bloop tube from Champion’s Choice for a couple of years now and it’s been great. It comes on and off with no hassles and there’s almost no wander in the zero.
But the problem is that it’s not quite long enough. My eyes are really bad and I can’t see anything down range when I look outside my shooting lens. This includes the wind flags, which I always try to position between my rear and front sights. This way I can keep an eye on them without lifting my head.
With my 27” barrel plus 10” tube and my 22 mm front tunnel, I don’t have a lot of white space to track flags, especially if they’re not already in the right place. And since I wanted to start using my Nesom flipover front sight this year, I knew I’d need a longer tube to keep the same amount of white space.
So when I saw Brian Johnson’s ad on targettalk.org for custom carbon fibre tubes, I jumped on it and ordered a 14” tube with a 2” dovetail up front. I figured this would give me some wiggle room if I didn’t like the Nesom sight or wanted to experiment with my regular front tunnel.
The attraction of carbon fibre is its low weight and strength. I’ve ridden a carbon fibre / steel road bicycle for years and it’s amazing. But I didn’t want a heavy tube hanging off the front of my rifle and carbon fibre seemed like a great solution.
I was pretty excited to open the tube when it arrived from Brian in a large, foam-lined box. The tube is pretty typical carbon fibre with a nice weave that glows in the sunlight – very cool! The tube is glued in place using industrial adhesive and looks just as straight as my old tube.
The aluminum dovetail on the end is finished nicely and the dovetail itself isn’t too wide – both of my Gehmann front tunnels, all of my riser blocks and the Nesom front sight slid on easily.
The slick part – for me, anyway – is the mounting block set-up. Brian’s used a pin on a locating collar to ensure that the tube mates consistently every time it’s installed on the barrel. And if you’re shooting scope, you can flip the tube over and the pin nests inside a groove in the underside clamp. This will ensure consistent weight and balance when shooting any sight matches.
Installing the tube was a piece of cake. Brian takes your muzzle OD and adds 0.002” for a snug – but not too tight – fit. Levelling the tube was easy: I just mounted a front tunnel with bubble level and very carefully rotated the tube until everything was centred (my rifle was mounted on its bipod on my kitchen table).
Here’s how it looks all put together. I’ve mounted my Nesom front sight on a 14 mm Gehmann front riser block to give me the height I need.
The only downside, of course, is that it makes the rifle really long. I’ve really got to be careful moving around in position so I don’t smack the muzzle on the floor.
But I don’t feel the muzzle is being drawn down, either, so I’d say the light weight of the carbon fibre works just the way I hoped it would.
The only concern I have is possible warpage from the muzzle blast. Carbon fibre is tough but it is just fancy plastic, after all. Brian says he’s put thousands of rounds through his tubes and hasn’t noticed any warping, and he says that it’s okay to clean it with a regular 12 gauge shotgun brush.
I was hoping to make it to the March match in Winnipeg and provide an after action review of the tube but it didn’t happen. With April around the corner though, I should be able to make it outdoors for some testing in a couple of weeks and will post a follow-up once I’ve put some rounds through it.
If you want to add some bling to your rifle, send Brian an email at carbonfiberblooptube at gmail.com.
But the problem is that it’s not quite long enough. My eyes are really bad and I can’t see anything down range when I look outside my shooting lens. This includes the wind flags, which I always try to position between my rear and front sights. This way I can keep an eye on them without lifting my head.
With my 27” barrel plus 10” tube and my 22 mm front tunnel, I don’t have a lot of white space to track flags, especially if they’re not already in the right place. And since I wanted to start using my Nesom flipover front sight this year, I knew I’d need a longer tube to keep the same amount of white space.
So when I saw Brian Johnson’s ad on targettalk.org for custom carbon fibre tubes, I jumped on it and ordered a 14” tube with a 2” dovetail up front. I figured this would give me some wiggle room if I didn’t like the Nesom sight or wanted to experiment with my regular front tunnel.
The attraction of carbon fibre is its low weight and strength. I’ve ridden a carbon fibre / steel road bicycle for years and it’s amazing. But I didn’t want a heavy tube hanging off the front of my rifle and carbon fibre seemed like a great solution.
I was pretty excited to open the tube when it arrived from Brian in a large, foam-lined box. The tube is pretty typical carbon fibre with a nice weave that glows in the sunlight – very cool! The tube is glued in place using industrial adhesive and looks just as straight as my old tube.
The aluminum dovetail on the end is finished nicely and the dovetail itself isn’t too wide – both of my Gehmann front tunnels, all of my riser blocks and the Nesom front sight slid on easily.
The slick part – for me, anyway – is the mounting block set-up. Brian’s used a pin on a locating collar to ensure that the tube mates consistently every time it’s installed on the barrel. And if you’re shooting scope, you can flip the tube over and the pin nests inside a groove in the underside clamp. This will ensure consistent weight and balance when shooting any sight matches.
Installing the tube was a piece of cake. Brian takes your muzzle OD and adds 0.002” for a snug – but not too tight – fit. Levelling the tube was easy: I just mounted a front tunnel with bubble level and very carefully rotated the tube until everything was centred (my rifle was mounted on its bipod on my kitchen table).
Here’s how it looks all put together. I’ve mounted my Nesom front sight on a 14 mm Gehmann front riser block to give me the height I need.
The only downside, of course, is that it makes the rifle really long. I’ve really got to be careful moving around in position so I don’t smack the muzzle on the floor.
But I don’t feel the muzzle is being drawn down, either, so I’d say the light weight of the carbon fibre works just the way I hoped it would.
The only concern I have is possible warpage from the muzzle blast. Carbon fibre is tough but it is just fancy plastic, after all. Brian says he’s put thousands of rounds through his tubes and hasn’t noticed any warping, and he says that it’s okay to clean it with a regular 12 gauge shotgun brush.
I was hoping to make it to the March match in Winnipeg and provide an after action review of the tube but it didn’t happen. With April around the corner though, I should be able to make it outdoors for some testing in a couple of weeks and will post a follow-up once I’ve put some rounds through it.
If you want to add some bling to your rifle, send Brian an email at carbonfiberblooptube at gmail.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment