Tightening a Loose Forward Handguard

I read the post about the "O" ring between the front handguard and the gas cylinder to improve accuracy. Howsome-ever.......

I had a loose front handguard and put a strip of felt between the rear of the front handguard and front of the rear handguard so the front handguard had no slack forward or backward. It worked.

I read somewhere there should be some slack, i.e., the front handguard shouldn't be firmly buttressed. The reasoning is it will cause inaccuracy in the shots fired because it may tend to distort (bend, slightly) the barrel due to heat expansion.

Can anyone corroborate this reasoning?

P.S. How do you do spell check?

Thomas

A few years back, DGR rebuilt a garand for me. It is super accurate, OK for competition and the handguard is slightly loose. Adding items to 'increse accuracy' may disqualify the rifle from competition shooting.

On a standard Garand the front handgaurd should have a small amount of play. The theory being that as the barrel heats up and lengthens it will change the barrel harmonics. Also you should have a small amount of clearance between the rear handgaurd and the front of the receiver. On a match rifle most people remove metal handgaurd support then epoxy and screw the front hangaurd to the barrel band while opening up the nose cap on the front handgaurd so it doesn't contact the barrel or the rear of the gas cylinder. This would disqualify the rifle from JCG match participation though.

Terry

My understanding is that you want about a credit card thickness of clearance between the receiver and back of the rear handguard, and about the same with the front handguard due to barrel whip. Correct me if I'm wrong gentlemen. If the handguards are pinched tight between the metal, then you not only run the risk of cracking a handguard as the barrel whips down and then back up, but the barrel is not able to return to the same place each time the rifle is fired. I can't remember if it was Gus or someone else, but a while back they explained exactly the different directions the barrel moves during its cycle of operation. I remember at the time thinking it almost couldn't be true. But of course I believed them. I'm certainly no expert.

I have a beautiful DGR-built Garand with a very slight amount of looseness on the front handguard. I am fairly new to the Garand game, and was concerned about this at first, but I've come to understand that this is the way it should be. My rifle is a tack driver.

A tight front handguard puts upward pressure on the barrel. As the barrel heats up during firing, it lengthens the barrel and relieves that pressure. Shots then hit lower on the target.