I have been an avid precision shooter for years, mainly LR shooter with bolt rifles. I've always tackled my own work on stocks, such as bedding and so forth and have been able to tweak about any rifle to get the most accuracy out of it.
Not too long ago, I got back into the wonderful world of 'Tenders and shooting them at longer ranges. Mainly with my 6.5 JDJ, 7 TCU and .223 barrels. I purchased a custom grip and fore-end off of DaveD and added her to the pistol and was as pleased as punch. I got to reading on getting the most bang-for-the-buck out of the 'Tenders and it always came back to hanger bars. Made perfect sense to me, you float a rifle barrel to get the best outta the harmonics. In turn, makes sense on the 'Tenders too.
I looked at the various hanger bars offered, most of them required one per barrel. read several more articles on pillaring the fore-end, that too made sense, I do the same on my rifles when I bed them. That got the wheels to turning........
Mind you, I've always been very adept at thinkin' "outta the box" and had a good knack for building a better mouse trap. On a side note, when you grow up on a farm, you learn how to adapt things to make them work for you. At that, I got to thinking on how to improve on what I have. Mind you, the hanger bar idea sounded good, minus the fact, they don't give them away and they ain't real cheap. Pillaring sounded good too, but my fore-end would require different length pillars. Not a problem mind you, but more of an inconvience.
Next came an epiphany over a cup of coffee one day. I'd worked all night, the wife and kids were visiting the in-laws and I sat in silence sipping my coffee. Mind you, total silence is in short supply with a set of 2 1/2 year old twins
. I thought to myself, ya gotta mod the forearm for a hanger bar and buy one for each barrel. Likewise, gotta mod it for pillars too. I thought to myself, "Why not make a hybrid bar for the forearms itself?". Made perfect sense to me, all the benefits of a hanger AND pillars. Plus, ya only have to have ONE of them vs. a bar for each barrel OR a set of pillars.
I set out then with a set of calipers and got my measurements. A trip to the hardware store later found me with a piece of square, mild steel stock. Transferred all the measurements over to it and got to work. With the bar completed, I set the forearm in a cross-slide vise and milled the channel out for my bar. In the end, my bar was epoxied into the forearm. It gave me the rigidity of a hanger, floated the barrel like pillars and it was a one-time deal.
A little ingenuity goes a long way. Hoping to get her to the range and see how everything turns out for accuracy testing.
Here she is with my Super 14 .223 and 2x6 Simmons.......
Hanger bar installed.....
Close up of forearm, note, no contact with the barrel save for the bar......
