Anybody Actually Bed one of the Magnum Rugers? How would you free float the Barrel wwith the strap they put in the forend? I see Brownells now makes a Pillar with a precut angle.

I did a search and did not find any specifics about bedding.

You free float it from the recoil lug like any other glass job...tight bed the rest..

Also free floating the big bores is not a particularly good idea..I like them bedded tight from one end to the other...most shoot best that way in my experience and they hold together better....if not then simple scrape a free float from the forward recoil lugs front to the end of the forend....remember the recoil lug itself should only make contact on the rear surface of the lug, not the sides and bottom or the front..leave a 1/2" gap in front of the lug.

I also leave a pretty good gap in the front, maybe not 1/2", I've had pieces of wood, leaves, etc. fall in there on a hunting rifle when it's taken out of the wood. If this happens, it's hard to get it out of there if there's no extra room without taking it to the garage and using an air compressor. Believe it or not,in some parts of Wyoming, Alaska, and Africa, it's real hard to find the air compressor. I suspect that's why Ray leaves a little space.

Please---don't worry about free floating a big bore rifle. Glass bedding from front to back is perfectly ok, and helps strengthen the stock too. A 1/2" gap seems a bit much in mho. Instead just put some tape on the surfaces you want clearance on (one or two layers), release agent and do it.

If your rifle starts moving at all it will eventually break the stock, whether it is 1/2" or a 1/16".

Michael S.

Tradewinds,

I have a Ruger 77 Magnum in 338 Win Mag. I couldn't get this rifle to shoot. I was getting alot of verticle stringing, up to 6" with Nosler 210 partions. (No wonder it was on the used gun rack for such a good price!)

First thing I did was sand off the "up pressure" pad at the end of the stock. This helped tremendously and the groups were circular but still 2" or better. I then bedded the recoil lug and approx 2" in front of the lug and free floated the rest of the barrel length. I considered just bedding the whole barrel, but I would try the free floating first and if it didn't work, then I would go back to bed the rest of the barrel.

I didn't need to. After just bedding recoil lug and 2" in front of the lug, my groups came in to .75 to 1". I also scrubbed the bore, with JB's Paste, because it was building up alot of copper. I think this helped accuracy also. It still won't shoot the 210 Noslers that well, but with the 225 gr or 250 gr it shoots just fine.

BigBullet

Just did this little exercise. First started out with stock Ruger 77 (tang) in 338 that I picked up used but in mint condition. Loaded up some 200 BT's and 210 NP's with all sorts of powder and off to the range. Mostly working load development and best results were with IMR4350 and WLR primers - maybe 1.5" groups - wanting to do better I glass bedded the action and chamber section of barrel and added some bedding to the forend pressure point already there - my gosh the 210's went into clover leaf groups and the 200 BT's stayed at 1.5" or so. The I tried the new 225 Accubond and they were gorgious groups with IMR 4350 - as well. Then for some reason I removed the action from the stock to do something and when I went back to the range the next time - everything went to hell = 2-3 " groups with the exception of the 200 BT's which all of a sudden shot like varmint bullets. I noticed the scope was shifting in the rings but that wasn't all of the problem - don't know why but the action just never sat in the stock the same after I removed it once. So then I decided to remove all the bedding at the forend and just free float the barrel - and off to the range last Friday - and happy days are here again - the 210's are back to clover leaf status with RL19 or IMR 4350 - I'm out of 225 Accubonds but will try them soon again. The 200 BT's went to 3" - need to try a different powder. But just for info sake I did the same treatment to a 77/17 I purchased recently - with both the Hornady and CCI loads the rifle groups improved significantly by removing the forend pressure point and opening up the barrel channel - no more flyers - and this is the sporter weight barrel which is relatively thin - the action and chamber are bedded. 5 shot groups were in the 5/8" range - CCI's are better performers than the Hornady loading.