Skout Epoch Barrels made of ? Aluminum

[chas1969]

Skout Epoch Barrels made of ? Aluminum !

I called yesterday and asked how they rifled their barrels and they waffled/did not answer (button, cut or fx style). Then I called today and they used extruded aluminum. What it your thoughts on Aluminum barrels. I don't have any concerns with FX liners like some do but they are steel! These are thin like FX barrels but made out of extruded aluminum straws. No polishing and how many rounds until coating is gone??

 

[Lewis]

I can confirm that they are light weight and non magnetic. Likely aluminum of some kind. I have several thousand rounds through the .30 cal long barrel shooting many types of pellets and slugs. So far there has been no change in accuracy or performance. I have cleaned it with pull through patches about every 500 rounds.
No complaints from me so far.

If it ever becomes an issue, I don't know of any other manufacturer that so readily adapts to requests, including creating a housing and machining adapters for your favorite barrel or liner of your choosing.

 

[Airgunmann]

I'd be careful as far as cleaning or polishing them if they are in fact aluminum

 

[Scotty1]

I'd be careful as far as cleaning or polishing them if they are in fact aluminum

They have an extremely hard coating on the surface, I’ve polished mine no problem.

 

[Airgunmann]

I suppose it depends on what aluminum it is as well

 

[Motorhead]

I tried to polish ... 400 grit Carborundum Paste did not even touch the coating they use.

 

[broekzwans]

The one I tested looked very rough on the inside, and yes they are aluminum barrels.

Accuracy wise it was still doing very well but I did not like to see the inside finished like that

 

[Healthservices]

From what I remembered it had a special coatings it's a nickel Teflon-coated barrel. Here is the quote from the site.

Allen

 

[EPG]

That is cool barrel technology. I have been thinking this was coming for a while - perhaps even carbon fiber barrels with a dura coating.

Extruded aluminum is much stiffer than steel. Saw this back in the 1970s with tennis rackets - i.e. Wilson T-2000 (steel and too flexible for most players vs. Head Pro which may have been 7075 extruded aluminum - stiffness provided great ball control).

It would seem to me that a stiffer barrel would offer accuracy advantages due to reduced harmonic flex - while also being lighter weight, which would be an advantage in the field.

How has Epoch barrel accuracy compared to steel barrel accuracy with pellets?

-Ed

 

[denovich]

I tried to polish ... 400 grit Carborundum Paste did not even touch the coating they use.

3M Diamond lapping film cuts like nothing I've ever used. I use it mostly for touching up hand planes and chisels... but I've used it to polish tungsten carbide to very good effect. If you can keep from damaging the film, it is incredibly long lasting.

I have also used diamond pastes (available rather cheaply from Chinese sources) for polishing and sharpening... I have a progression of 10 or 20 different grits in syringes from what seems like gravel down all the way down to nothing. Works great on a dremel polishing felts or spread on MDF (to polish flat pieces). I have also used it on a bore cleaning mop to polish up a pretty ratty looking barrel. It worked great but you have to worry about the possibility of grit getting embedded or into areas you don't want.

 

[boscoebrea]

They have been coating aluminum pistons for decades, which see a lot more abuse than rifle barrels...nickel is hard.
I see no reason to polish a coated barrel, but I can learn why polishing would help.
It would be interesting to see how an aluminum barrel is treated .
I did see how a rod was "exploded" in a barrel and the hard fragments attached themselves to the inside of the barrel,or maybe I am having a flashback of a Monster movie.....

 

[chas1969]

broekzwans, Your barrel looks like a cobblestone road. The coatings are well founded to be tough, but to problem is that barrel construction is by extrusion. How smooth is extrusion? And before the extrusion of the barrel no one smoothed out the barrel on boekzwans's barrel.
Steel has its own quality.

​

 

[Barnamwam]

Man, I would not be lapping or using any abrasive on these barrels. I had, in the past, a couple of revolvers and 1911s with a Ni Teflon coating and it seemed like I could play a game of street hockey with them without scratches. Just leave that texture alone 'fer "chrissakes! It's teflon! the coefficient of friction between Pb and Teflon has got to be low. Doubt it? Clean the bbl with a soft patch, shoot a tin of pellets, drag a patch thru again and see what you get. Show me a picture of the dirty patch and I'll take all this back.

Regards,

MB

 

[Motorhead]

There appears to be RANDOM Flecks of something adhered to the bore / coating, like small grains of grit / dust ??? You push a pellet threw with a rigid rod and you can absolutely feel it. Being whatever is the impurity now part of the coating applied can't see it wearing away as it is HARD as the coating itself.

Now said ... weighted against a conventional steel barrels bore it is indeed ROUGH ! ... But in actual shooting these plated / coated aluminum barrels they do shoot well tho

 

[subscriber]

That mottle pattern looks almost like etch marks from before the nickel Teflon coating was applied. As ugly as it looks, providing there is an even bearing surface for the projectile to glide over, the texture may not matter. This, providing there is no raised edge to the texture that can shave the projectile; or a long gap between high areas that the projectile can fall into and either "crash" or yaw.

If you think of the mottle as hone marks in a engine cylinder, then they may not be as upsetting. If the mottle fills with lead flakes and grouping ability drops off after a few dozen shots, then this texture is a functional problem.

If the mottle runs all the way down the barrel, end to end, what I am suggesting is more likely. If it is only at the muzzle, then it seems much more like a defect, that should not be explained away. What does the breech end look like?

Part of me wonders if what you see is large patches of Teflon impregnation next to "bald" patches, so, the Teflon rich bits have less friction than the Teflon poor areas; hence the uneven friction. It is very hard to tell from one image.

 

[subscriber]

Why not ask skout-airguns to comment on this thread?

Skout-airguns

www.airgunnation.com

 

[Scotty1]

Here is a still shot from a bore scope.

 

[subscriber]

That bore looks even in its unevenness. Probably an artifact of the nickel Teflon coating. Not glossy, but is it rough? If it shoots well and does not foul, then there is no real problem; other than a lack of visual appeal.

 

[subscriber]

Why not ask skout-airguns to comment on this thread?

Skout-airguns

www.airgunnation.com

So, I took my own advice and sent a PM to Skout Airguns, inviting them to comment on this thread. A few more of you should do the same; for encouragement.

 

[Skout-airguns]

So, I took my own advice and sent a PM to Skout Airguns, inviting them to comment on this thread. A few more of you should do the same; for encouragement.

Hi,

Our barrels are made of an alloy and the coating that we apply to them is extremely hard and wear-resistant. The surface unevenness that you see is just the coating, but we have found that it does not have any impact on the performance of the barrel. if you have any other questions please let us know!

- Luke