Free float or bed ?

[Dougs136Schwartz]

I thought I would start a post on this subject . I have always been taught free floating will get your best accuracy . Sabotloader has made the point that not that long ago bedding your barrel channel was the preferred method for accuracy . Sabotloader has me thinking . What he is saying makes a little sense to me . Before all the laminate stocks wood stood a high chance of moving ( swelling and shrinking) but with all the glue they use in a laminate stock I highly doubt they do much moving . Knight kind of proves this point with their stocks . Every Knight rifle I have ever owned the barrel hits at the end of the stock . I have shot them this way and I have free floated the barrel . Anyone that knows me realizes I shoot a lot . I can't tell a difference both seem to have equal accuracy . Myself a free floated barrel seems to hold accuracy longer while the barrel heats up . A barrel that has a pad ( or makes contact at the end of the stock) seems to loose a little accuracy if I allow the barrel to get to warm. But what if I bed the entire barrel channel ? ?

One thing that I have noticed . A heavy barreled gun such as a Knight 500 is very load friendly . I can stuff about any load down this gun and it will shoot . Why is this ? I have a theory .(I definitely could be all wet !) I think it's because the Knight 500 has a bull barrel . Because of the bull barrel I have less barrel whip . Because of less barrel whip hitting a node is much easier or may not even be necessary . SOOOOO Sabotloader has me thinking ! ! What if I bed the entire barrel channel on a light weight fluted barrel ? Would the barrel channel and barrel then act like a bull barrel ??? I think with the laminate stock and the barrel completely bedded it might . My only concern. Is what the barrel will do when it heats up ? I honestly think it will shoot . Better ? Not sure . I need to bed a barrel channel to test Sabotloader theory . Just something to think about !

 

[GM54-120]

NULA full length beds all their rifles and they shoot amazingly well for light contours. Mine is wonderfully accurate and will shoot nearly anything ive shoved in it well. The stock though is a very rigid kevlar/graphite composite.

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

Hmmmm kinda proves my thinking ? Do you think that is why your NULA shoots so well ? I tried to have NULA build me a .45 but it was a no go .

 

[sbuff]

I had Doc bed my white thunderbolt, he preferred over floating he said .

 

[sabotloader]

I have always believed that free floating a barrel in a composite stock was the manufactures way of keeping costs down. As an example that first Remington 700ML's to come out all were made with the barrel resting in the barrel channel of the composite stock. Later versions of the same rifle came floated.

Barrels in a wood stock channel are certainly better off being floated than sitting on bare wood in the barrel channel. Bedding is or will provide more consistent accuracy over time.

All of this is related to 'barrel harmonics'

Just my thoughts...

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

Makes sense

 

[muzzlestuffer]

Full action bed way to go but it's easy at that point to float barrel at same time but if not shoot it without float and if it's accurate leave it if not float barrel afterwards.

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[Lee 9]

I believe that barrels are like people no two exactly alike, small differences in the alloy and the forming and cutting stresses still exist after normalization.

 

[1874sharpsshooter]

I prefer bedding. But that’s just my preference

 

[muzzlestuffer]

Don't forget different bullet weights/loads have different affects on harmonics where one bullet load combo doesn't shoot another will shoot perfectly I personally would rather float than not for this reason. I guess if some of us want to experiment we can take our guns that have been floated and put a wrap of 10mil or 20mil tape at the end of the stock and see how it effects accuracy that would be a good experiment worth checking out ?

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[sqezer]

I bed the action and 3" in front of the recoil lug. Then float the rest, somewhere there is a photo of how I do it. Plus I bed 3" of an arrow shaft in front of the recoil lug to help hold the ram rod in place.

 

[LarryBud]

I bed the action and 3" in front of the recoil lug. Then float the rest, somewhere there is a photo of how I do it. Plus I bed 3" of an arrow shaft in front of the recoil lug to help hold the ram rod in place.

This is my preference. I always completely disassemble rifles for cleaning. With the lug area bedded, returning the the exact same position a guarantee.

I now fill the ramrod channel with puttty bed over it and the dremmel out the remaining glass. Works pretty slick.

 

[tpcollins]

Years ago I stumbled across an article for free floating a barrel and decided to try it on my MK85. Since there was only one attachment bolt to hold the barrel in place, I had 2 towers made from 7074 aluminum and expoxied them into the stock while the barrel was suspended off the channel.

I used the rear trigger guard hole as a guide and then drilled and tapped a hole into the bottom of the rear tang. This gave me 2 points to secure the barrel. I just bought a Zeiss Conquest for it and hope to shoot it side by side with my zillion dollar Bone Collector outfit to see which groups the best.

(I was going to post pics but the files are too large).

 

[Dougs136Schwartz]

Lol I have some of those zillion dollar muzzleloaders also !

 

[Dirtfarmer]

Related but different.
I own a CVA Optima NW 50 cal inline ML. I was concerned about inconsistent torque on the forearm screw causing POI shift. An earlier thread covered that discussion and the group suggested use of a metal washer between the barrel lug and the stock to allow maximum tightening of the forearm screw without affecting pressure on the barrel due to the screw.
So, further thought about the hollow forearm took me to free-float the barrel by removing all the areas where the barrel touched the plastic forearm and there were many. I can now slide a piece of paper beneath the barrel without finding a pinch point.
In this case I think it would be impossible to bed the barrel of this break-open ML, but I think it's worth the time to float the barrel.