Is there an Advantage or Disadvantage to a Carbon Fiber Barrel?

Rockrivr1

Rockrivr1

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As I continue down the path of looking for a new (ish) hunting rifle I was looking at a Howa 1500 that came with a Carbon Fiber Barrel. The rifle was lighter than others I was looking at, but I'm not really up to speed on Carbon Fiber barrels. Are they good? Do they last as long or wear out quicker then standard barrels?

Thanks
 
IIRC, from the tuber videos I've seen about such things, they are lighter and have better heat dissipation than traditional barrels. I seem to recall some additional benefits, but am not 100% on those. I'm sure a quick googler search (or for tuber videos) will give you enough material to review.

Also, IIRC, the working part of the barrels is the same for others. Meaning the rifling. They have a steel core with the carbon fiber wrapped around them.

I think Vortex Nation, or maybe it was Brownells, had a video going over one brand of CF wrapped barrels that was better than others due to the process used.
 
Rockrivr1 said:
As I continue down the path of looking for a new (ish) hunting rifle I was looking at a Howa 1500 that came with a Carbon Fiber Barrel. The rifle was lighter than others I was looking at, but I'm not really up to speed on Carbon Fiber barrels. Are they good? Do they last as long or wear out quicker then standard barrels?

Thanks
Click to expand...
hunting rifle for hunting? Carbon Fiber all the way. Hunting rifle for shooting targets? Go with a heavy barrel. Weight is your friend when you are shooting supported.
 
Carbon Fiber barrels are breasts injected with silicone, just a fad. The liner is still steel and the carbon fiber is close to 3 times more expensive than steel.


One tip I would offer would be to ask if the barrel was made with out of shelf life Carbon Fiber........I have seen somewhere this could be a problem.........
 
clampett said:
Carbon Fiber is really strong. That's why they use it to build deep sea diving submarines.
Click to expand...
I tried to make that subtle joke.

Strength all depends of what is being measured. I have used Carbon Fiber for enforcement in many Epoxy formulations. The raw material itself is easily 10 times more expensive that other reinforcing materials. Tensile, elongation excellent. Bend it, it snaps like a pencil. Carbon Fiber is never used alone. It's always bonded with a resin. Fiberglass resin is tripped with Peroxides. Carbon Fiber is encapsulated with Epoxy Resins. The rifle barrels have steel liners wrapped with Carbon Fiber then encapsulated with a resin, usually Epoxy for its heat tolerance.
 
I would go with the heavier barrel and try to lose some weight in the chassis and optics part of it. If your going to put a bipod on it, try to go light there too.....Im assuming with that caliber, youll be distance shooting, so accuracy matters......
 
I would think the issue would be the steel to Carbon fiber/epoxy interface. I can see separation after a significant number of rounds. As mentioned, carbon fiber would be good for a hunting rifle where the shooters would fire only a few rounds per year.
 
BTSDOG said:
I would go with the heavier barrel and try to lose some weight in the chassis and optics part of it. If your going to put a bipod on it, try to go light there too.....Im assuming with that caliber, youll be distance shooting, so accuracy matters......
Click to expand...

Probably won’t put a bipod on it. This will be a hunting rifle that I’ll be hauling around. Most I’ll probably add is a sling.
 
Rockrivr1 said:
As I continue down the path of looking for a new (ish) hunting rifle I was looking at a Howa 1500 that came with a Carbon Fiber Barrel. The rifle was lighter than others I was looking at, but I'm not really up to speed on Carbon Fiber barrels. Are they good? Do they last as long or wear out quicker then standard barrels?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Depends what your goal is. Hunting (as you mentioned), good. PRS? Not good. Not necessarily because of the strings of fire, but because you want extra weight anyway.

Also depends on who you get the CF barrel from. If it is a proof barrel, good to go. There are other companies that are good, but also others that aren’t (don’t relieve stress/apply the fiber correctly).

CF barrels will be lighter than equal contour steel barrels, but won’t be quite as rigid.

CF barrels will be more rigid than equal weight steel barrels.

But you can absolutely get a lighter weight steel barrel, but it won’t be as rigid.

I’ve heard conflicting things about heat soak vs the CF drawing the heat from the chamber.

I’ve also heard conflicting things about fliers. Some people have experienced fliers after N number of shots in a session, some haven’t.
 
IIRC, one of the major shotgun manufacturers, (many) years ago, had a composite barrel. Probably fiberglass, as it was before carbon fiber.

It didn't last as the barrel was too light, and threw the balance off.

Upshot, try before you buy, if possible. Weight savings are always good, unless you hate the rifle.
 
PappyM3 said:
Depends what your goal is. Hunting (as you mentioned), good.
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i would not even think twice, if i was getting myself a hunting bolt gun, that i would carry on the hills - of course i want a carbon wrapped barrel.
the only question would be which rig from what manufacturer to go with, what is most reputable now and what is not so hot.

and, heat soak for a hunting rig that never fires a lot in a row - not an issue.
 
MisterHappy said:
IIRC, one of the major shotgun manufacturers, (many) years ago, had a composite barrel. Probably fiberglass, as it was before carbon fiber.

It didn't last as the barrel was too light, and threw the balance off.

Upshot, try before you buy, if possible. Weight savings are always good, unless you hate the rifle.
Click to expand...
that is a good point, but with carbon you can allow yourself a longer barrel with a lower weight, and that _should_ take care of the balance as well.
at least one would think that a gun designer would think of that, but, of course, who knows.
 
Only advantage is lighter weight and heat dissipation at the sacrifice of worse barrel harmonics. The benefit is hunting. They are still steel lined barrels. If shooting for precision, a heavier profile barrel will help with harmonics.
 
I don't trust carbon fiber. It had a life cycle like anything man made and ocean gate comes to mind.
 
Quality CF barrels such as those made by Proof Research are highly accurate and light. If you have the money for bells and whistles you won't go wrong.

If you want to have more money for hunting trips, ammo, or better glass? Simply go with a quality old school steel barrel hunting rifle and develop a good hunting load for it. Dad's old 7mm Rem Mag model 70 was a ~1.75 MOA rifle with most factory hunting loads. He took plenty of elk and caribou with it at ~300+ yards. With some load development it is a ~1 MOA rifle on a cold bore.

7mm-mag-smk-jpg.143693


After I installed a Timney trigger, it shoots ~.8 MOA groups. It's pretty light and will turn your shoulder black after ~10 rounds or so. I would not want anything lighter. Sometimes the old school solutions are the smartest decision.
 
From what I can recall, a fluted barrel could be a good middle step between a heavy steel and CF wrapped barrel. The fluted barrel will still be rigid but have better heat management/removal properties. Especially when you start off with a heavy barrel. Black Hole Weaponry offers different fluting options for their barrels. There are other barrel makers that also offer fluted versions. IMO, worth looking into.
 
Fixxah said:
I don't trust carbon fiber. It had a life cycle like anything man made and ocean gate comes to mind.
Click to expand...
I have to wonder how much carbon fiber has advanced even over the past ten years. I'm pretty sure fiberglass had pretty significant changes in it's early decades.

IIRC, from the video I watched, the method used to wrap a carbon fiber barrel has significant impact in how to functions. Mostly for the harmonics. Again, this is running off memory, so there's a fudge factor involved. 🤪
 

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