Guys,
I dont really get on here any more but there have been a number of people ping me about this particular thread asking me to say a few things. I will preface my comments with the fact that I am the developer of the Adaptive Tuning System (ATS) barrel Tuner which by the way has more PRS Wins and Top 10 than any comparable tuning device. It also allows you to use your existing muzzle brake, or suppressor of choice and does not require any added gunsmithing in order to use it.
Onto answering a few things here and hopefully providing some general food for thought.
- Can you handload and get great groups - Yes
- Can you use a tuner and get great groups - Yes
- The average user of the ATS tuner will have their groups dialed in within 20-30 shots with 20 being average. How many rounds does it take you with handloading? - All Im saying here is that from a loading perspective, you will use a lot less components using a tuner than what you will with handloading techniques. My load technique these days is to pick the powder charge that gets me the speed I want, seat my bullets at 75k and then I use the ATS tuner 100% for groups.
- If you travel for events where you may fly, or drive long distances to get there, there will be environmental changes that affect your rifles performance. They may be minor, they could be major. A tuner allows you to dial the rifle back in at the event where you otherwise could not. There have been a significant amount of ATS installed at the range, the day before a PRS match because a competitors rifle was not performing the same as it was when they left home.
- If you use factory ammo, tuners are a godsend as you can have the ability to improve group sizes you otherwise could not.
- Here is a simple mental visual I use for describing how tuners function. - If you have a rope and you crack it like a whip, you will see the waveform it makes. Now if you were to tie a tennis ball to the end and do it again, how is that waveform affected, what if you tied a softball, etc. Now what if you tied the softball 1ft back from the end, 2 ft back, etc. This is an easy way to think about how tuners function.
Onto tuner weights.
- I think everyone would agree that adding weight to your rifle can affect its performance both good or bad so what is a good weight? Clearly a sticker adds weight but isnt going to do anything from a tuning perspective but we dont want to add pounds either.
- Every barrel will be different but the weight needs to be able to have a noticeable impact when moving during tuning. Go too light and you'll have inconsistencies in tuning and inconsistencies in the rifle performance day to day. Go too heavy and you can see similar issues.
- You also have both static weight and dynamic weight. i.e. movable and non movable weights. A muzzlebrake would be static, the rotating tuner weight would be the dynamic weight. Both are good but if the movable weight is too light, then expect inconsistencies. It may allow you to tune it that day at the range but you should expect inconsistencies day to day and to be retuning frequently. A 1oz weight imo isnt going to do much for consistency.
IMO, a tuner should allow you to clearly see on paper a pronounced change in point of impact relative to aim point as well as shape. This can typically be done with 2 shots per tune setting with the ATS. You are not just looking for whether a group gets bigger or smaller but your looking for patterns. I pride myself on the fact that every ATS user has been able to user our tuning approach with almost identical pattern results. Some other tuner mfgs have even tried to copy our tuning approach but just tell you to look for groups opening or closing. That doesnt work because not all tuners have the same weight, tuning weight thread pitch, design, etc so 2 settings on one tuner may move the weight a different amount than 2 settings on another and that doesnt even account for weight or other design differences.
If you dont believe in tuners then feel free to continue use your current method but most that question them probably dont have experience with them to make an informed decision one way or another. Yes tuners work on Airguns, 22's, Gas Guns, Centerfire, etc. We have tested the ATS on all of them with great success. There will always be those random barrels that just dont shoot well and a tuner probably wont help them either. With that being said, Ive tracked the performance of the ATS and with 99.998% user success rate, and the # of Wins and Top 10's the ATS Tuner has under its belt, Im pretty comfortable saying the ATS tuner works as do tuners in general!