What the heck is a hangar bar???

[mamerch]

What is it?  Why do I need it?  Where can I see a picture of one?
Google'd it and didn't come up with much... at least without diggin' for a while.

thanks in advance,
mamerch

[skb2706]

It is a short piece of square bar stock that bolts to the existing dovetail nuts on a TC barrel. Basically it keeps the foreend from contacting the barrel....free floats the barrel. Works very well.....I'm a believer.

[DropTheHammer]

I am relatively new to the T/C world and just recently met a hanger bar for the first time.  A hanger bar is a great method of 'freefloating' your contender/encore barrel off the forend.  Other effective but not as 'elegant' methods of doing this are "pillar bedding" or using washers between the barrel posts (contender) and forend wood.   Some drill out the holes in the wooden foreend where the barrel mounting posts fit and glue in aluminum spacers countersunk to the barrel studs to give an even space between the forend and barrel.  

All that being said, I recently ordered a target forend for my G2 from Georgia Jim and went with the hanger bar option.   Jim uses a Bullberry style hanger bar.  Not sure if he resells Bullberry's or makes his own.  They are not very difficult to fabricate from square key stock if you have a way to mill steel.  I made one just for kicks using a Bullberry HB as a pattern with a carbide 1/4" mill bit in my drill press and a cross vice.  

Its not worth going through the hassle though as you can order them from Bullberry for around  $5 or $6  ea. for both pistol and carbine stud spacings.

I have a picture of a HB that GA Jim sent me at home that I will post later if needed.

[DropTheHammer]

[DropTheHammer]

Here is another picture from Jim's website of an alternative to the hangerbar where you use countersunk metal inserts for wood to barrel spacing.

[mamerch]

DroptheHammer,
     In you pictures, it looks like the bar is attached to the barrel.  If the bar is attached to the barrel and the forend attaches to the bar, how does this "free-float" the barrel?  I see that there wouldn't be any extra contact other than the screws.  I was thinking that this was something that attached to the frame and there was no contact at all with the barrel.  Enlighten me please....

mamerch

[DropTheHammer]

I think (a veteran can chime in anytime and correct) the concern is the wood contacting the barrel further on out toward the muzzle, especially when the barrel heats up or if the wood swells resulting from environment change.   The hangar bar is way stiff enough to support the spacing on out to the front.  

Truthfully, I have the same question as you as to the real value of this on a 10" bbl configuration, which is what most of mine are.  I do like the H-bar and countersunk spacers idea just for the fact that things are kept the same spacing wise when I change out barrels and forends to different configurations.

I also know that on rifles when you bed / freefloat them that you typically bed the action and sometimes the barrel out 4 or so inches and then free float from there to the end of the forend.

[mamerch]

free-floating should prevent all pressure on the barrel.  I haven't used the hangar bar and I'm not a world-class contender brain but it seems like you would still be getting pressure on the barrel from forend being pushed up when you lay it across a rest.  Maybe all it really IS supposed to do it prevent those extra pressure points like you said from the barrel heating up or the weather changing.  Still looks like something I might be interested in.  I looked at Georgia Jim's website and I understand it better now.  Maybe it's a solution looking for a problem, who know's?

mamerch

[skb2706]

Hanger bar keeps the barrel from contacting ....at least directly....the foreend wood. I like the setup and if you use it on one frame/barrel its much easier to use it on all. One of the things that I found out from Bullberry is that they are also trying to eliminate any wood contacting the actual frame of the gun. All of the barrels I have .....have hanger bars. I have never shot any of them with a hanger bar on them so I have no clue how they shoot without.

[Keith L]

I think lots has to do with how hot your barrels get when you shoot, and also how you go about changing barrels.  I have hanger bars on all my centerfire barrels, and on none of the rimfires.  I can shoot rimfires all day and not heat the barrels.  The bull barrels on the rimfires are far less likely to be changed by differing torque on the barrel with changing the forestocks.  And I think the difference even on the centerfires is not noticeable by the average shooter.  I know I can't tell, but have the hanger bars so I use them.

[KYODE]

i would consider myself an average shooter and i have noticed considerable differences in shooting 100 yard groups from sandbag rests.
 possibly as far as plain ol 100 yard huntin accuracy, it may not be as important to free float the barrel. :?  
so far, i've mostly spaced the forearms from the barrel using ss washers. it works pretty good for me on standard factory forends.

mamerch........the hanger bar is thick enough that it spaces the wood from the barrel. the wood only contacts the bar........not the barrel.


under ideal conditions........possibly a fee floated barrel may not help a lot. maybe if your load is fine tuned with the barrel "touching wood" it may shoot good enough to suit you. maybe if you have a set method of installing and torquing the attachment screws, it won't affect accuracy as much :?

floating RIFLE forends to keep from touching wood and affecting barrel harmonics is age old stuff. some people shoot factory standard rifles for deer hunting etc and probably never notice, or need a difference.
however, varmint hunters or target shooters lookin for the ultimate accuracy and tightest possible groups will likely be lookin to be sure the barrel is free floated as much as possible.

heck........all it takes is a lil testing to see if you like it or it helps ya any.

[mamerch]

now that I've figured out how it works, I just have to figure out IF it works.
I like the idea of no wood touching the barrel.  I have a couple of rifles that are completely free floated.  They don't touch anywhere but the receiver.  This, I understand.  
     The hanger bar is still touching the barrel, via, the bar.  This still puts pressure on the barrel.  In the TC's defense, there really isn't any way around this.  There isn't anyway to attach the forend to the frame, so I guess the hangar bar is as "free-floated" as it gets.  My guess is that by opening the barrel channel on the forend you would achieve much the same result or by using a composite forend that doesn't swell and shift you would get the same thing.  The only exception is whatever stress the wood can put on the two mounting points if it swells or shifts in that area.  Well, anyway, thanks again for the information.  Guess I'll have to try it both ways and see what the gun likes...

mamerch

[KYODE]

let us know how your testing works out :wink:

i reckon the bar is attached to the barrel, but i look at it as it is attached "solid" and steel to steel wouldn't  be as affected as wood to steel.
 if the wood touches unevenly, or only rubs on one side of the barrel......then.....well you get the idea. the wood could be tighter on one side of the barrel, possibly due to uneven tightening or a less than perfect barrel channel in the wood itself.

probably another one of those things not etched in stone for all of us. one just has to suit himself. :wink: