[51colt]

I have had shooting with a strut i made from a small flashlight it worked pretty well for me but now i want to try something new. I have been reading old PU posts. I am going to use tubing 1/2 electrical conduit it is cheap 2.00 for 8 foot and looks kind of like my stainless barrel. I am going to remove paint from my TacStar flashlight mounts and polish them out white and finish them in clear and use new stainless screws. I am going to try a plain tube as well as ones filled with silicone, expanding foam, rubber hose and any thing else i can think of.

I bought two barrel mount single rails on amazon for ten dollars shipped to play with. Last time i was at the range i took off the muzzle break and strut put a piece of rubber hose on the middle of the barrel and clamped the rail on it. It was not as good as my strut but it worked pretty good. Next time out i want to just the rail no hose tight to the gas block to see what it does.

I am hoping to find some thing that works good with out using a muzzle break.
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[tri70]

I don't know if you might want a release agent on your barrel to be able to remove if needed. I have thought of the same idea but ordering ss tube that would be oversized. I have a UTG rail on my mini 6.8 now that works well.

 

[51colt]

Here is a pic showing the single rail with a hose mounted. The larger tube is 1/2 electrical conduit and the smaller piece of stock is 1/2 solid aluminum rod. I also found a sks set screw smith muzzle break i was given to me years ago. I am going to make a collar for it to fit my Mini. Tri what would be a good release agent to use?
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[51colt]

Heres a pic of my new strut i put together today. I maid it out of 1/2 conduit. now i have to go to the range for testing.
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[tri70]

Nice and simple! Did you use a rubber type glue inside the tube?

 

[TLuker]

Looks good!!! And I like the idea of trying different materials in it. Each should change the harmonics and possibly be a way to tune it?

Personally, I would love to see a gas block with an adjustment rod extending out so that it also serves as a strut, just like on the M14. I have an adjustable gas block and my strut almost lines up with the adjustment screw in it. It wouldn't be that difficult for some one to just go ahead and connect the two.

 

[masterPsmith]

I don't see it secured to the gas block....

Jim..

 

[51colt]

tri, I hid not fill this one. I have a idea for the end but for now i want to leave it open. I want to see if it cools faster open and if it makes a difference. I am making two more to day i am going to fill these.

TLuker, When i was looking around the old strut threads on PU their was a guy that drilled and taped his gas block for his strut. So it can be done. I will see if i can find the pic for you.

masterPsmith, It is a sung fit on the gas block. I am going to add two set screws today.
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[51colt]

I took the new strut for a spin today nothing to wright home about my best group @ 50yd was 1 1/2 inches average groups were 2 inches with a scope and no muzzle break. next week i will have three more struts to test.
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[51colt]

I finished the struts and i am ready for testing. I filled one with hi-temp silicone, one with expanding foam and one with rubber stoppers. I am also going to try a mini mag light and and a clamp on rail with a hose.

I also did some work on my Mini i re-torqued the gas block using my new torque wrench. re-installed my scope with ruger rings (the scope sets much lower now) using this video http://www.firearmstalk.com/forums/f65/scope-setup-video-67924/ and installed a new muzzle break.

 

[hawkguy]

impressive, 51! thanks for taking the time to experiment with all these variables. i have always regretted that i didn't do more testing "before and after" with my strut. now, my mini shoots well enough that i am afraid to do anymore tinkering.

as i recall, many posters got varying results simply by paying close attention to where they placed the clamps on their struts, basically seeking a "sweet spot" to get the best results controlling barrel vibrations. i just followed the general directions and got good results.

i also seem to remember that kevin of accu-strut mentioned using some sort of "dampener" in his struts early in production, but came to the conclusion that there was not enough accuracy benefit to add the extra weight. if you get a chance, you might bend kevin's ear (nest engineering) over at the peeyew..smart guy who has done a bunch of testing with struts.

i have also always wanted to see if someone was willing to test how well struts act as a heat sink....i noticed a very different level of heat after i installed my strut. i would be curious what the difference was.

have you ever had problems with the strut slipping from recoil? i had to loctite mine! good to go after that!

well, keep it up. interested in your results...

 

[51colt]

have you ever had problems with the strut slipping from recoil? i had to loctite mine! good to go after that!

I have always used Loctite on my strut but with all the testing i have been doing i have torquing the strut screws at eighteen pounds with no Loctite and my strut has been staying put.

I installed a larger gasport bushing, new muzzle break and strut my Mini shoots like a different gun i don't if this is good or not yet. I tested the strut with no filler with a bolt on the end and another strut that was the same but filled with Hi-Temp silicone. The strut tube with the silicone shot much better. My mini shot two inches higher with the silicone filled strut? Moving the strut clamps all so makes a big difference. There is a lot of tuning that can be done with the strut clamps. This week i am going to try two more strut tubes.
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[tri70]

Finding the sweet spot position does take time, also you want to use your 'go to' load when testing. The position may not be the all around best but you know that when you are out with a tuned load/gun set up, you will hit whatever you aim at.

 

[51colt]

It has been a while scene i posted on how my strut is coming along. To be honest it has turned to be a lot harder than i thought. After adding a new strut and muzzle break everything changed pet loads no longer shot as well as they used to. I wanted to start out with a clean gun so i cleaned it well with Hopes Elite and removed all the copper. That was a mistake it seems my Mini likes a little copper fouling to shoot well. Went back to using Breakfree to clean and keep the copper fouling in check and not remove it all. After i got my mini shooting good again i did a lot of testing moving the clamps around lots of new hand loads. After i went as far as i could go with the 5 inch struts i had to start over with a 6 inch strut. After a lot of testing my Mini liked the rear clamp 1 inch from the gas block and the second clamp 2 inches from the first clamp. With this set up my Mini is a lot less sensitive. Below is a pic of a target i shot with test loads i was able to shoot a lot of 1 inch three shot groups at a 100yd. I tested with three shot groups to save ammo. One group stood out 24gr BLc2 55gr nosler BT 2.250 COL i was able to shoot a 3/8 three shot group. Next week i am going to take two boxes of this load to see what it can do.
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