I have a Rem. 700 XHR the barrel came non floating with a considerable amount of pressure contacting the very end of the forearm, I relieved all pressure points and now have the barrel floating. I have always had best results with a free floated barrel. This rifle did not impress me at all with 120gr Partitions. Three shots @ 50yds was about 1.00". I hope this helped it tremendously, my next step will be bedding the recoil lug area. What do you guys think on this subject?

I free float all my rifles then glass bed the front of the action the the chamber area of the barrel.

I free-float all my barrels and pillar-bed all my actions as SOP, have always gotten good results if the barrel was good.
Regards, Joe

Just an update on what floating the barrel did for me, 3 shts at 50yds were 1.00". After I floated the barrel 3 shts are now touching each other. Measured @ .375".

Well good , now you can take the training wheels off and back up a ways to get a true read on what you have ! Floating a sporter weight barrel will almost always improve accuracy . Skinney barrels , not so much !

Floated the barrel on my new Vangard Series 2
25-06. Did wonders for groups. (definitly was not MOA). Groups less than an inch at 200 yards, now. Have found floating to be the first option toward better groups.

I have always had rifles with barrels that were floated and with bedded actions even if I did it myself. I used to do more long range practicing, but in the last 3 years not so much goin on due to the primer scare and high prices. Now I find myself trying not to eat much paper but more meat. I have always had a rifle that would shoot .500"-.750" groups, if not I would trade it in on another or have it rebarreled. This one came out better than I thought, so for now it is a keeper.

Over the years I have purchased various new and used bolt action rifles. The accuracy of most have ben improved by giving them a tune up which included some and a few all of the following: clean the barrel, glassbed the action with about one inch of the barrel, freefloat the rest of the barrel, adjust the trigger pull to 2.75 thru 3.0 pounds, lapp the bolt locking when only one lug showed any wear, and recrown the barrel when it had the sligest dings in it. Mount a good quality scope site with AO on the rifle. To get the best accuracy from a rifle it must be fed reloaded ammo . Testing of the rifle and ammo must be off a bench rest with the target first set at 100 yards. If you can not get smaller groups after the tune up ,the barrel may be bad. A few other things that were found : wood under the bolt handle kept the bolt from fully closing,another was that the wood cut out for the action was to deep so the the magazine box kept the action from setting into the wood stock as it should.

When I buy a new rifle, I won't even take it to the range until I've floated the barrel.

Since its almost universally accepted that a floating barrel is better, why do many wood stocked factory rifles (i.e. Remington 700) still have a pressure pad at the end of the forearm?

quote:

Originally posted by GunCat:
Since its almost universally accepted that a floating barrel is better, why do many wood stocked factory rifles (i.e. Remington 700) still have a pressure pad at the end of the forearm?

Three reasons

1) A institutional indifference for their standard rifles shooting to their best accuracy.
2) Expense.
3) Aesthetics and to prevent customer complaints over poor looking inletting.


The factories know that all things considered a floated tube shoots the best over the long haul. Remington floats all the tubes- both hunting and target on their custom shop rifles and even their standard lineup guns with Bell and Carlson stocks. So does Weatherby.

Browning ,Winchester and Sako have gone to it on their standard bolt rifles and Single shots, and since they have done so, their rifles have a very good rep for accuracy.

The reason why companies like Ruger , Remington and Weatherby still have bedding pads in their wood stocks is mostly due to the nature of making and selling wood stocked factory rifles.

Wood moves after it is machined. Mostly due to internal stresses in the quality grab bag that is factory stock wood. Factory rifles are not usually stocked with carefully air dried high quality walnut that is flaw free in the forend area and selected for best grain layout.

Besides the wood itself, it takes time to hand fit a barrel channel gap which is small enough that looks good and yet is large enough to prevent the wood ever touching the metal.

Even if Ruger and remitting wanted to Dick with it, they won't do it due Too many complaints of poor barrel channel inletting would likely surface due to the wood moving to one side or the other before it gets into the costumer's hands. "bedding pad" arrangement's in their barrel channels acts a a self aligning V" block. It FORCES the wood to LOOK like it is bearing evenly along the barrel channel.

That is just the problem. While it looks nice and consistent cosmetically, it usually IS forcing a crooked barrel channel straight-thus it places stress on the barrel one the first round is touched off an the barrel heats up. It also leaves the barrel's POI up to the "wood gods" from one day to the next. Not a safe bet if a consistent POI is needed..

The bottom line is this- not ONE modern top accuracy world record has been set by a non floated barrel in a long time. Target and Tactical marksmen trust their lives and treasure to free floated tubes.

About the only time you can get by with a stock touching the barrel and still have decent accuracy is on a Single shot rifle with full contact stress free inletting. Even then, best accuracy will usually be obtained by resting the rifle closer the the action and the POI from day to day may not be consistent ..

As for me, I don't care how pretty or otherwise finely inletted a stock is. If I want the first round to go where I aim ,that tube will be free floated.

I'm glad I'm not part of the 'universal'agreement about free floating barrels. I have always totally bedded both the action AND barrel on all my rifles. I have no complaints about the accuracy of any of them.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
I'm glad I'm not part of the 'universal'agreement about free floating barrels. I have always totally bedded both the action AND barrel on all my rifles. I have no complaints about the accuracy of any of them.

That is why I said "almost universally" accepted...

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
I'm glad I'm not part of the 'universal'agreement about free floating barrels. I have always totally bedded both the action AND barrel on all my rifles. I have no complaints about the accuracy of any of them.

Do you think many of them would complain, or at least too loudly? Corse there are always people who drown out everything else you hear.

To me, the pure accuracy comparison is almost secondary, for the reason that some barrels shoot better one way and other barrels shoot better the other way and 'it is what it is'.

No, for me the deciding factor in a hunting rifle is the possible/probable/inevitable change in a barrel-bedded rifle's POI caused by wood moving when the weather changes or when the shooter uses a shooting sling.

It's for that reason that all my personal hunting rifles are free-floated and pillar-bedded. On a moment's notice I can grab up my 'road-ready' 270 or 30-06 and be totally confident that they both will always shoot to their previous zero unless dropped. One's been doing that for 12 years and the other's been doing it for over 40 years.

Made a BELIEVER outa me!
Regards, Joe

For those who float, how much clearance would you recommend for a light barrel, such as the one found on the Winchester Featherweight?

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
I'm glad I'm not part of the 'universal'agreement about free floating barrels. I have always totally bedded both the action AND barrel on all my rifles. I have no complaints about the accuracy of any of them.

I am not a member of the "universal agreement" group either.

I'm not gonna get into this "blondes or redheads" argument. Will simply note that I just read an article saying that NULA is currently producing rifles which are bedded all the way from the tang to the muzzle end of the forearm.

I have shot many bolt rifles both free-floated and/or bedded full length, and have never had any trouble getting or maintaining accuracy with either method. So, for me, it is an issue which really is a non-issue when it comes to the bottom line.

quote:

Originally posted by John55:
For those who float, how much clearance would you recommend for a light barrel, such as the one found on the Winchester Featherweight?

My personal rule of thumb is two business cards, approx .025" +/-.

Thanks