Limbsaver Barrel De-Resonator

Limbsaver has been well known in the archery community for making vibration absorbing products that work very well.  Recently they came into the firearms industry with some very effective recoil pads.  So effective that they are now standard on many new rifles, and just about everything from Remington.

Limbsaver has come out with something new for rifles, called a Barrel De-Resonator.  This is a soft rubber grommet that slips over the barrel and gives the weapon a very George Jetson, almost Flash Gordon kind of look.  The idea behind it is pretty simple, to pull the vibrations out of the barrel during firing to make each shot more consistent. 

How it works is the same way these things work on bow limbs... it reduces vibration and shock by transferring the energy and motion into the soft rubber which resists the motion at first, then captures it and contains it.   In a bow, it makes the bow smoother and quieter during the shot. 

This should theoretically work on the barrel of a rifle.  During firing the barrel of a rifle acts as a tuning fork.  Vibrations travel back and forth across the length of the barrel and this can make shots inconsistent.  To battle this, barrels are made free floating, where nothing touches the barrel.  Or they are made heavy and fat, thus reducing these vibrations by shear mass and rigidity.  Or they are full bedded or bedded with a pressure point near the end of the stock's fore end.  The idea is to let the barrel resonate as free as possible with the hope that it will resonate the same way every time.

The problem with barrel resonation is that it is effected by just about everything.  Heat, humidity, air pressure, the way you are holding the rifle, where your sling is mounted and if you are pulling on it, the bullet weight and shot velocity will also play an important roll in resonation.  So being able to pull some of that vibration out of the barrel would be a huge help in shooting.          

The question is, does it work.

The test platform is my trusty Remington 700 Stainless BDL in 7MM Remington Magnum.  For testing I picked up a couple boxes of some cheap 160 grain PMC ammo.  Each box was only twelve bucks, so I thought, what the heck.  It beats blowing through my good stuff that I use for killing things that cost more than twice that.  The scope in a Nikon Buckmaster BDC which is zeroed for 300 yards.  The target is 200 yards.

I first fired a clean group without the de-resonator on the gun.  In the group above, you can see the three shots and at the top is a hole made by splintered wood, not a bullet hole.  This is not a bad group for 200 yards for a guy that is on some pretty heavy pain killers and shooting through heat waves.  I'll take this sort of accuracy any day. 

To start out testing the de-resonator I slipped it on all the way back to within an inch of the stock.  The shot group is actually slightly bigger.  So far I'm not impressed.   If this was it, I would want my money back.  But they say that you have to tune the de-resonator by putting it in different positions to find the sweet spot where it works the best.  So we will do that.

Oh for the love of... I'm so not impressed.  This is with the de-resonator placed roughly in the middle.  Again, I'm about to ask for my money back.  After this one I fire a couple more groups just to verify that this is what the gun is doing.  I'd be better off having not have tried this out at all at this point.

Then I moved the de-resonator out further, to within 4 inches of the muzzle.  And this is when something happened.  Now, understand this... this is with cheap ammo that I have always considered to be crappy...

I shot several other groups after this to verify it... This is it.  The Limbsaver Barrel De-Resonator actually works.  In the above photo that is a three shot group with two shots through the same hole.. other groups were nice clover leaf patterns. 

I'm pleased as can be.  For a rifle to shoot this good with crappy ammo... I am not just pleased, but I am thrilled.

I can't wait to find some more coyotes now!

So, to answer the question... Yes, it works.