Today PROOF announced their new PXT (PROOF Exponential Twist) barrel technology which promises to double the barrel life even with high pressure ammunition. PXT has also been shown to enhance precision and reduce torque during the recoil cycle.
The concept comes from an accelerating twist rate demonstrated on medium and large caliber barrels and combines it with radius rifling to enhance precision for any projectile. This is said to also result in dramatic improvements in high pressure /high velocity cartridges.
Originally developed for Medium Caliber Cannon projects in 2018 with a contract award for further development in 2021, the work was applied to small caliber challenges.
For the last 18 months, PROOF has been providing barrels to partners in the commercial and defense space including OEMs and IWTSD as well as exercising a CRADA with Army Research Labs. Over this period applications increased to include Short Barreled Rifles, Designated Marksman Rifles, Sniper Weapon Systems, and Belt Fed Machine Guns.
SureFire ICAR 6 ARC
In particular, a great deal of work was documented with testing of 7mm BC Peak Alloy case technology which showed barrel life of up to 2X that of conventional rifling. Working in conjunction with next generation defense grade alloys (GNB-200 and ARMAD) along with nitriding and chrome replacements will provide what PROOF describes as “a future proofed design with improved dispersion and longevity.”
Hunting rifle with PXT
Testing as many cartridges as they can find, PROOF claims they have seen as good or generally better performance than any of the current, conventional styles of rifling.
SureFire ICAR 6 ARCs
Shooters who have fired rifles with PXT barrels claim a fundamentally different shooting experience than conventional constant twist rifling. This is because Projectile kinematics (position, velocity, acceleration) are dramatically different than in constant twist, improving the resulting felt torsional forces and reduced jump.
M60 test platform with a GNB-200 PXT barrel.
Features:
- Exceptionally long throat life with very uniform jump to rifling during the extended life of the barrel
- Barrels don’t chase the lands on the more aggressive cartridges of today: 80KPSI 6.8×51, over bore 300NM or cartridges like 22CM
- Lower projectile structural stresses
- Reduced jacket damage
- Reduced engraving forces
Understandably there has been some very vocal concern over barrel life when firing high pressure cartridges. They aren’t going away and I only expect their use to increase as we become more comfortable with increases muzzle velocity as well as the reliability of optimized firearms. The new PXT barrels may be the answer and have an added benefit of even higher velocity and accuracy.
This new barrel will also likely be an enabling technology at least for some offerers for the recently announced USSOCOM search for the Hypervelocity Improved Capability Assault Rifle (HICAR) firing high pressure 5.56mm ammunition.
As of now, the technology is so new ammunition is not yet optimized to take advantages of the PXT tech. It will be interesting to see which ammunition manufacturers will step up to take advantage of these new barrels and even further increase velocity and accuracy.
For more information visit www.proofresearch.com.