Rem.700 30/06 2" groups. Free floated the barrel i.e. removed the "hump" at the front of the stock. Gun now shoots 6" groups. I want to once again put tension back onto the barrel with a shim between the barrel and the stock. What shim material do you suggest? Paper match books, plastic milk carton shims, epoxy ???
How much up pressure do you reccomend and how would you suggest to obtain the correct amount of up pressure required?

I’ve found that free floating a barrel needs to be accompanied with pillar bedding the receiver to give a good solid anchor point to support that barrel sticking out there all by itself.

Installing pressure points on a barrel is, IMHO, a long exercise in frustration since you will never really know what effect you will get until after its done...then you have to go back and add or subtract and try it again, and again, and again, until you get it right. Then the barrel heats up and it all changes again.

The best way to do this (if you have to) was the old group tightener device that allowed you to change the pressure with the turn of one or two screws rather than having to tear everything down,and even those were a pain because you still had to guess at where to place the device in the channel to get the best results.

you're on the right track.....you just proved that the contact between the stock and barrel is a major contributor to accuracy.

Are you sure the barrel is free floating all the way to the action or at least an inch or so from the action. Is the front swivel screw contacting the barrel? (bipod attachment)

Before I'd attempt to undo the good move of removing the pressure point, I'd glass bed the action or at least the area around the recoil lug.

Vapo:
All good advice especially the one about the swing swivel stud. Missed that one about 30 years ago on one. However you got me to thinking. The week prior I epoxied a one piece base to the top of the receiver. I am now wondering if epoxie seeped down into the front screw (thats the short one for us Remington guys) and is making contact with the barrel. Groups are erratic. I have created a random shot generator.

one-holer

One little bit of advice learned the hard way - if you decide to put in a barrel pressure point using a material of some sort, start right at the beginning with something that is stable and not subject to shrinking, swelling, warping, etc. Like plastic or metal. Don't use something like a matchbook cover. Reason? When/if you hit on something that works you don't want to mess with it, ever. If you use something like a matchbook cover it will swell up if it gets wet and/or will compress over time. Murphy's 8th law says if you hit on the correct location and thickness and then try and replace that matchbook cover with something more permanent it will never be the same.

Ray

I purchased a remington 700 sps in 7mm08 2 weeks ago and went to the range that weekend with remington ammo. It shot 3.5 inch groups which is partly the ammo's fault. I bedded the stock to one inch in front of the chamber and free floated the barrel. Bought more remington ammo and loaded ammo with 140 gr nosler ballistic tips and went to the range. It shot 2 inch groups with the factory ammo from sand bags. Good improvement. I then shot 3 groups of 5 shots each with my handloaded ammo. The largest group was .524 inches, the smallest group was .412 inches. MAJOR improvement. I let the barrel cool one minute with the bolt open between shots during a string and let it cool completely between groups. Bedding and good loads will definitely help.

Cheecako:
Poor people have poor ways. Funny you should say that. When I was about 8 I got a 1906 Winchester .22 pump from grandpappy. Ran out of rear sight adjustment. Put a paper match under rear sight and it was dead on. This lasted until I was about 18 or 20 years old. I never have found another paper match the same thickness as that first one.

one-holer

Yep, I know what you mean. They don't make anything the way they used to.

Ray

I did the same thing with my ruger 77MKII,270. It shot better for a while after floating then went to hell. I put a gob of epoxy in front of the recoil lug and another at the end of the stock then pushed the barrel and action into it. After it hardened I cleaned it up with a dremmel. It shoots MOA now.. I greased the spots on the barrel and action so the epoxy didn't stick.

Elkman2--You chicken. The bench boys would have ommited the grease and gone for a glue in. I'm gutless like you and always use a release agent.