BuckRail and Other 3D Printed Moderator Durability

[GenXer]

The above review is for BuckRail. It's no secret that they have exceptional customer service. It's also no secret that stacked filament is not durable enough for prolonged field use.

There's a cheap and easy fix for that.

Order some industrial heat shrink of the correct size and install it over the moderator. Even thin heat shrink will greatly increase the durability. You can double it up if you feel the need.

I like to heat a baking sheet and roll the assembly on it to uniformly shrink the tube but you could still use a heat gun or micro torch etc.

This BuckRail tapered 1/2x20 has industrial 1.25" heat shrink over it.

I could throw it against a brick wall and it wouldn't break. Save yourself and Terry the hassle and put some over yours. I think it looks better this way too. Less like a "toy". It also slightly reduces the 'whispy' 'plasticky' ping from resonance that some of them have.

Thanks for reading. Make a great weekend.

 

[GenXer]

Here is another example of a BuckRail with heat shrink on my tethered 362/2260 pcp conversion. The 22xx moderaters from BR are really fragile when they are not wrapped. It now has 2 layers of thinner heat shrink which makes it very durable.

 

[MrP]

Clever - you are the first person I have seen suggest this, thanks for the tip.

 

[willy]

WOW" amazing"

 

[WIndOnYerGrape]

Can you flip it inside out so I dont have "YONGLI SOFT TUBE" down the side of muh sweet piece?

 

[GenXer]

Can you flip it inside out so I dont have "YONGLI SOFT TUBE" down the side of muh sweet piece?

Most heat shrink has adhesive on the inside but you can easily get heat shrink that has no writing on it. I personally don't care on that rifle as it was an R&D project for me and thats what I had on hand. Additionally it is on the bottom where it can't normally be seen and more additionally I'm not trying to to get any cosmetic awards with it. If I want to redo it with shrink that has no writing I can because it's readily available The top one posted has no writing on it anywhere. Let me know if you have any other important questions regarding this tip I've offered to help save people time and money.

 

[Firewalker]

I find the ability to just snap the Buck Rail off when dropped, a favorable result!

I have had 3 barrels sent to me to straighten and 1 of them was a drop repair where the moderator (FX) took a permanent 2° hook and the barrel had 0.201" runout, end to end.

If it had a BR moderator on it, I bet it would have been fine.

 

[MrP]

The fragility of 3-D printed moderators is something that everyone is dealing with when they are designing and testing their own. For me, I’ve always had to find some kind of housing, but it requires some purpose-made parts.

The idea of using a tough, but flexible membrane to hold things together is a great inexpensive solution for testing and prototyping. I can imagine for someone whose priority is styling, bling etc. it is worth spending a little money to make it look more fancy.

The idea of having a moderator that is designed to fail safe is an interesting one, however I’m not sure that is the case here or not with buckrail. I’ve heard great stuff about their products. I’m sure you all know how these printers work so the orientation of the moderator on the platform when printing will have a large impact on how it responds to a lateral force

Are there any moderators that are designed to fall off without stressing the barrel? And without destroying the moderator?

 

[GenXer]

I think firewalker was kind of making a joke, sort of. Even though, he's probably right.

That said it makes me cringe to even think about someone dropping a gun. Haven't yet in 40 years of hunting and shooting, knock on plastic.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

I think firewalker was kind of making a joke, sort of. Even though, he's probably right.

That said it makes me cringe to even think about someone dropping a gun. Haven't yet in 40 years of hunting and shooting, knock on plastic.

I've dropped a couple off the shooting rests when doing some zero work. Always when I turn my back I hear the gun tumble. Never once have I bent or damaged my moderator or barrel, just the expensive scope that was on top. Go figure!

 

[Hw9720]

Had to glue one back together also. It broke due to my fault not buckrails. Have 4 of Terry's only one I had an issue with, again my fault. To fix it was both ends chucked up in a lathe and had broken ends trued up and the re-glued. The shrink wrap is a great idea. was just discussing similar idea with someone yesterday.

tim

 

[GenXer]

I've dropped a couple off the shooting rests when doing some zero work. Always when I turn my back I hear the gun tumble. Never once have I bent or damaged my moderator or barrel, just the expensive scope that was on top. Go figure!

Never was a bench shooter until I got into airguns, specifically after buying my Mrod, but I leave it sitting on the rest sometimes and I know I shouldn't. Glad you posted this because I'm going to break that habit now. I'd be so pissed if it fell.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Never was a bench shooter until I got into airguns, specifically after buying my Mrod, but I leave it sitting on the rest sometimes and I know I shouldn't. Glad you posted this because I'm going to break that habit now. I'd be so pissed if it fell.

I ruined one of my favorite scopes and dented my walnut stock on my Kral jumbo. It scratched the donnyfl koi too. Bent the front objective downward at the scope ring. I tried to fix it, but it didn't work and it has a horrible wondering POI now. It became a spotting scope.