I have several rifles I have added barrel bands to and they are clamped in the tank and shroud. With silicon grip, other than my max 1 I've struggled with accuracy. I'm not blaming the issue on this but is there a standard some of you more experienced folks go by, or more trial and error. I like support but if I need to modify the band to allow the barrel to free float I will. What's your opinions?
It, of course, depends on a lot of things. One thing that I did to my Gen 2 Marauder, that has really worked well, was to bed my barrel band with JBWeld. There is no pressure on it, nor is there any play. I can and have picked the gun up by the barrel and it doesn't lose zero, never has.
Here's how I did it: I stood the gun with the barrel straight up, on the floor, and the barrel band on it like normal but I prepped the shroud where the barrel band is with a release agent. I use Brownell's Release agent that you put on with a q-tip, let dry, and put on a second coat and let dry again. It's good stuff, I've never got a part stuck using it. You could also put some Frog tape on the shroud beneath the band and put some release agent on it too, to make clean up easier. I used JBWeld SteelStik first to make a 1/8" x 3" piece to make a ring of it to wrap around the shroud and came up from the bottom to plug the barrel band, not fill it. You only have about two minutes once you mix it it to get it in there, SteelStik hardens fast. You want to do it fast so that it doesn't harden and put any pressure on the barrel. Try to do the stuffing with thin plastic strips cut from something like an old credit card and try to push on the band not the shroud when packing it in or you might scrape the release agent.The barrel should always float centered where it wants to be in the band. If you used tape on your shroud remove it now, right when you get done stuffing the SteelStik in there.. You won't be able to pull it through the band afterwards if it's left on. This will only fill the bottom and may not even go into the recessed ring inside center of the barrel band. After about ten minutes time, being careful not to tweek it's position, just unscrew your shroud just enough to make sure it isn't stuck. An 1/8th to a 1/4 turn should do it. Once you're sure it isn't stuck let it cure for a couple of hours and then unscrew your shroud being careful to pull it off as straight as possible so that it doesn't bind. Once it's off put release agent on the shroud again. Phase two requires using the original JBWeld which is a lot better product but takes four hours to set. The plug you made with the SteelStik version of JBWeld will hold in the original version JBWeld that you work down into the barrel band any way you can, from the top this time.. I used a tiny rubber spatula and the strips from old credit cards to push the epoxy down into the band. Fill the band up. This next part is important to get right. At room temperature original JBWeld sets up at four hours, hard enough to check that the part won't be stuck, so be sure to twist your shroud again, enough to make sure that it isn't stuck, then retighten it and leave the gun with the barrel pointed straight up with nothing touching the barrel for a day. Sometimes I recheck that it will unscrew again a couple of hours later.
I generally think free floating is best for ultimate accuracy, but there are times that I don't want to worry about losing my zero all the time too.
