Instructions

THE UPTA TUNER SERVES TWO IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS

FINAL TIPS

1. Extending the front iron sight location away from the shooter for improved aiming

Remove the bolt from your rifle and install either a chamber safety flag or some other device that acts as a second method of establishing that your rifle is unloaded. Slide the small alignment collar onto the muzzle of your rifle, with the pin facing forward. Do not tighten the Hex screw at this time.
The tube was aligned with the collar before shipping. If for some reason they have been taken apart or the front two clamping screws on the collar have been loosened, they may have to be aligned again. If necessary, start by loosening the two front clamp screws on the collar. Then make sure the tube is inserted into the collar all the way. It may be difficult to move as the clearance between the collar and tube is smaller than between the collar and your barrel. Next align the dovetail with the top flat of the collar. This can be done by eyeballing it or for more precise alignment, with a level. Once the tube is aligned with the collar, lightly tighten the front two collar clamp screws so the tube doesn’t rotate in the collar. If not already on the tube, install the two threaded tuner sleeves with the engraved dial facing the clamping collar. Install your front iron sight onto the top dovetail of the tube. Slide your tube onto the muzzle of your rifle, pressing it all the way on. It’s important that the tube sits flush against the end of your barrel, without any gap for the expanding gases to escape through. Install your rear sight as you will use it in competition (usually with the windage in the middle of its range). By bore sighting, rotate the tube so the front sight is aligned with your rear sight. Lightly tighten the two rear collar screws so the tube clamps onto your barrel. Shoot a shot at your target. If necessary, loosen the two rear collar screws and rotate your tube until your shots have zero windage. Remember, to move shots to the left rotate your front sight to the right… Once everything looks to be in place, tighten all the Hex screws in the collar, clamping the system in position. It is important to use 20 – 40 inch pounds (2.25 – 4.5 N-m) of torque. Never use more than 50 in-lbs (5.6 N-m). It is possible to distort the inside of your barrel by over-tightening the Hex screws. This will seriously degrade accuracy and cause premature failure of your collar screw threads. Always use a torque wrench when installing your tube. Slide the smaller alignment collar up to the rear of the main tuner assembly, sliding the alignment pin into the hole in the collar. Leave a slight gap between the alignment device and the collar. About the thickness of a couple of pieces of paper. This will ensure that the rear of the tube sits flush with the muzzle, not the alignment collar. Tighten the Hex screw with the same torque used in step 5 above. This will act as your locating collar for when you remove the tube for cleaning or travel. Remove your rear iron sight and install your scope. Remove your tube. From a solid rest, fire three 5-shot groups at 50 yards. This establishes a baseline level for your rifle in terms of Point-of-Impact and accuracy. If the groups are inconsistent, fire a few more until you see a common group size.

INITIAL SETUP

Remove the bolt from your rifle and install either a chamber safety flag or some other device that acts as a second method of establishing that your rifle is unloaded.

Slide the small alignment collar onto the muzzle of your rifle, with the pin facing forward. Do not tighten the Hex screw at this time.

The tube was aligned with the collar before shipping. If for some reason they have been taken apart or the front two clamping screws on the collar have been loosened, they may have to be aligned again. If necessary, start by loosening the two front clamp screws on the collar. Then make sure the tube is inserted into the collar all the way. It may be difficult to move as the clearance between the collar and tube is smaller than between the collar and your barrel. Next align the dovetail with the top flat of the collar. This can be done by eyeballing it or for more precise alignment, with a level. Once the tube is aligned with the collar, lightly tighten the front two collar clamp screws so the tube doesn’t rotate in the collar.

Slide your tube onto the muzzle of your rifle, pressing it all the way on. It’s important that the tube sits flush against the end of your barrel, without any gap for the expanding gases to escape through. Install your rear sight as you will use it in competition (usually with the windage in the middle of its range). By bore sighting, rotate the tube so the front sight is aligned with your rear sight. Lightly tighten the two rear collar screws so the tube clamps onto your barrel. Shoot a shot at your target. If necessary, loosen the two rear collar screws and rotate your tube until your shots have zero windage. Remember, to move shots to the left rotate your front sight to the right…

Once everything looks to be in place, tighten all the Hex screws in the collar, clamping the system in position. It is important to use 20 – 40 inch pounds (2.25 – 4.5 N-m) of torque. Never use more than 50 in-lbs (5.6 N-m). It is possible to distort the inside of your barrel by over-tightening the Hex screws. This will seriously degrade accuracy and cause premature failure of your collar screw threads. Always use a torque wrench when installing.

Slide the smaller alignment collar up to the rear of the main tube assembly, sliding the alignment pin into the hole in the collar. Leave a slight gap between the alignment device and the collar. About the thickness of a couple of pieces of paper. This will ensure that the rear of the tube sits flush with the muzzle, not the alignment collar. Tighten the Hex screw with the same torque used in step 5 above. This will act as your locating collar for when you remove the tube for cleaning or travel.

Keep the bloop tube clean. They have a tendency to collect fouling from the barrel rather quickly, and it will stick to the inside of the tube. A 12-gauge Hoppe's boresnake works great for cleaning the inside of your tube.

If you are having trouble with the tuning of the device or have any other related questions, feel free to send us an e-mail (upta@uptagrafftllc.com) and we will help work through the issues.

ADJUSTING THE TUNER – INITIAL

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?

Setting up the Upta Tuner should take you about 45 minutes to one hour or so at your local shooting club. There are a few important things to keep in mind when setting up the tuner:

Try to select as close to as ideal conditions when setting up your tuner. High winds or gusty conditions will make it very difficult to see changes during the Adjustment stages. Uncommonly cold or hot conditions will also affect the tune of your rifle, and thus affect the tuning setup. Avoid the initial tuning of your rifle in these extreme conditions. Start with a clean barrel and foul with a minimum of 10 rounds with your main competition ammunition. Practice ammunition may require a different tuner setting, so it is best to setup using the ammunition you intend to compete with. If possible, tune with a high powered scope on the rifle, and from a sturdy rest. A front tripod rest and rear bag setup similar to what is used in Benchrest shooting is ideal.

Loosen the two tuning sleeves and move out to the half way position (.25”). Fire two 3-shot groups then move the fine sleeve out to the end of the scale (.5”) tighten and repeat. Keep in mind that this will result in very small changes, so you will have to be very precise in your shooting technique and pay close attention. There should be a pattern with the group size, getting smaller at one of the settings. Make note of that setting, and return to it. On a fresh target, fire three shots and then make one full rotation out with the sleeve (.050”) and repeat three times. If the groups improve then continue on, working back and forth on finding the right spot. If the groups became worse, rotate the sleeve in the negative direction using the same method. At this point you should have found the ideal tuner setting for the bloop tube. Write this setting down for future reference.

After you have established the right tuner setting and iron sight windage zero and are pleased with the performance, based on a few trips to the range, you may want to take a small bit of Lock-Tite (blue) and place some on the alignment collar’s Hex screw. This collar should never need to come off the rifle, and keeping it in position is important.
Keep the bloop tube clean. They have a tendency to collect fouling from the barrel rather quickly, and it will stick to the inside of the tube. As this fouling builds up, it will slowly change the tune of your barrel. It also results in a more turbulent air flow inside the tube, disrupting bullet flight.
If you have more than one lot of good ammunition, that has a velocity difference of greater than 15 fps, test both lots at the same time in your rifle and make any necessary fine tuning adjustments. Many benchrest shooters will use this velocity difference to refine their tune, and for the most part it improves overall accuracy and provides you will a larger window of accuracy for velocity deviation.
There are many ways to tune a rifle. This is just one of them.

UPTA BLOOP TUBE instructions

UPTA TUNER instructions

With the setup complete, rotate the two tuning sleeves all the way in to the -0- zero adjustment marks and lock the two together. This is done by rotating the smaller sleeve against the larger sleeve. Friction between the two rings will lock them into place. Install your front sight and all front sight accessories as used in competition. This includes spirit levels and riser blocks. If you use different riser blocks for different positions you either need to establish a tune for each front sight configuration, or you can “store” any blocks not used in the current position on the bottom tube dovetail. The easiest way to make sure you get your front sight and risers in exactly the same spot every time is to place them flush with the end of the tube using a straight edge. Moving your front sight along the dovetail, and adding or removing riser blocks has the affect of changing your rifle’s tune. Fire two 3-shot groups. These groups should have a POI somewhat lower than your original 5-shot groups from section A above. If you have additional tube weights, clamp one onto the tube close to the collar. Replace the front sights in the same location as before. Fire two 3-shot groups. Re-position the weight to the middle of the tube and repeat, then again up near your front sight and repeat. One of the areas should show a better grouping. Return to that spot and fire two 3-shot groups, then re-position the weight 1” forward of that spot and retest. If the groups worsen, move the weight 1” behind that spot and retest. By this point, you should have the best groups printing and the weight may now remain in place, allowing you to begin adjusting the fine sleeve adjustment.

2. Allowing the shooter to adjust the harmonic tune of the barrel for a maximum level of accuracy in that particular rifle

ADJUSTING THE TUNER – FINE