Harmonically Tuned Ammunition
Background
No one knows when “tuning” cartridge ammunition to match the harmonic properties of an individual rifle barrel’s vibration was discovered, or by whom. It’s likely that the discovery was made in the early to mid-20th Century. This obscurity is undoubtedly due to the secrecy in which the ammunition-tuning process was originally held by the US military. Today, however, a Google search of the term “rifle tuning" returns about 25,700,000 results in less than a second.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order in 1956 to form the US Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia. One of its (public) missions is to ensure that US Olympic and US Military international competitors dominate world shooting. The unit, called the “USAMU Shop,” utilizes three soldiers to hand-make on average a total of 3,000 rounds of ammunition per day. By hand, it takes one trained technician one day to make 1,000 cartridges, so you can understand why such ammunition has been so expensive. Each ammunition cartridge is loaded with a weight of propellant uniquely suited for each individual rifle. “All it takes is one round with the wrong powder charge to lose a national title.” Staff Sergeant Douglas E. Mitten said. “That’s how important it is for us to be here doing our job.”
Today, Ranger takes Harmonic Tuning to the next level.
Our exclusive patented technology enables the sale and distribution of mass-produced Harmonically Tuned Rifle Ammunition to retail consumers, as well as delivery to US military personnel through military supply chains, at a cost no more than inferior brands. While custom-made harmonically tuned ammunition isn't new, the means of manufacture and distribution is completely new: Mass-Production. It's what Ranger alone has; and it's the most powerful impact the ammunition industry has seen in more than 100 years.
US Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning. Click photo to learn more.
Barrel Harmonics Explained
When a round of ammunition is discharged through a rifle barrel, the barrel exhibits vibrations that perturb the trajectory of a projectile as it exits the muzzle. Minute variations in the physical form of the barrel, as well as the interaction of off-axis attachments including the rifle stock, scopes, flash guards, and other masses, significantly contribute to the alteration of the barrel’s vibration, thereby modifying the waveform dynamics of any specific rifle. These waveform dynamics are collectively referred to as “barrel harmonics.”
Production Methodology and Practical Use
By means of sequential, precisely graduated, and standardized propellant loads, acceleration of a projectile is modified so as to change the interval between the firing of the cartridge’s primer and the exit of the projectile from the barrel. This enables synchronization of the projectile to cause an instance of harmonically attenuated vibration; thereby significantly improving accuracy. This is evidenced by the significant and substantial reduction of random scatter in target groupings of successively fired projectiles.
Harmonic synchronization must match a particular rifle’s unique barrel harmonics. This is why, until now, custom ammunition had to be painstakingly made to achieve the effect.
The manufacture of different classes of ammunition differentiated by precisely graduated increments of propellant, but where all other components are identical, is Ranger’s mass-production methodology. The purpose of such a plurality of classes enables users to ascertain the optimal load of propellant for a specific rifle. Attenuation of the amplitude of harmonic vibration increases as an absolutely optimal propellant load is approached.
Utilizing Ranger's patented high-precision mass-production techniques to produce the minute variations in propellant loads in otherwise identical classes of ammunition is cost effective to Ranger, but represents an almost insurmountable barrier to potential competitors.
Vibration that deflects projectile trajectory is dampened by the right load of propellant.