I have a Ruger M77 MK2 in 22-250 that for the most part shoots pretty good, however I have found that depending on how hot the barrel is it tends to make the groups a little erratic, so this to me means that I could benefit by floating the barrel, I was wondering what the right way or any tips there are on doing this, I know in priciple it is very simple, I just don't want to mess anything up, also is it better to float till you can slide a business card or dollar bill between the stock and the barrel

If your going to free float it any way glass bed it while your at it. I bed the action then start sanding the barrel channel until I can run paper the whole length to the barrel. I have had best luck bedding the action then about 2 to 3 inchs of barrel in front of the action. If it is a syt stock I use a dermel tool and sanding drum.

To adequately float your barrel, it takes more than the thickness of a dollar bill. Your barrel under recoil will move more than the thickness of the bill, sometimes a lot more, depending on pressures and barrel geometry. Lighter barrels obviously move more than heavier weight ones.

The dollar bill trick is great at the local gun store for the salesman showing off his varmint rifles as being floated, but unless you've got about .020-.030" of clearance under the barrel, you really don't have it floated completely.

But with all that said, there's a lot more to properly floating a barrel than just removing some wood under it, and making it look like some hack job from the factory. You don't need to be able to throw a cat under there, and excessive clearance on either side of the barrel is not necessary either, it just looks like crap.

I'll probably catch hell for telling you my procedure, but here goes:

Get yourself an acraglas gel kit from Brownell's. prepare the action bed as directed for glass bedding....no need in going into that. Then, wrap the barrel about 2 inches back from the forearm tip with enough turns of electrical tape to allow enough clearance around the barrel, as you desire. typically, this will be about 3 wraps...but maybe 5... just try and see what it looks like. Now, with the barreled action prepared as per the directions, set it in the glass and tighten the action screws and let it set up. When the glass is set, your barrel should be floated permanently. Clean the residue off and remove the tape. Good luck.

triggerguard is correct on this. i had a stock made by McMillan for one of my rifles. when i asked them about free floating the barrel, they told me that they get a clearance of 1/32 inch. 1/32 equals .031 inch.

[ 12-02-2003, 20:44: Message edited by: bill smith ]

I use a method similiar to Jumptrap except I use aluminum foil duct tape. This tape is .003 thick and a dollar bill is .09. You can use as many layers of this tape as you want to produce an even precise clearance. The glass in the forend also waterproofs and helps stablize the forend. For some additional stability inlet one of two lengths of fiberglass fishing rods under the barrel channel and when you glass, it bond the whole thing together and give a very stable forend.