floating barrels

[jacob rankin]

my friends,,,would it hurt the accuracy to put filler in my stock,and let it touch the barrel... the action has been bedded,and the barrel is stuck out there and about 1/8 of an inch from the barrel,,anywhere... can i fill in the stock and let it touch the barrel,and make it control better,,..it looks like if i can make the stock touch the barrel,, it will give me more control ?

 

[Mike Bryant]

Jacob, about the only time I've seen full length bedding a barrel do any good over having it freefloated is when it's a pencil barrel contour and those things are a law unto themselves. If your rifle is not shooting well, I'd suggest checking your bedding with a dial indicator between the barrel and forend or you can rest a finger between the barrel and forend. Loosen off usually the front guard screw and check for movement between the barrel and forend. If there is over .002" of movement between the barrel and forend of if you can feel movement between the barrel and forend in the absence of a dial indicator, then the bedding job isn't good. I've had lots of bad bedding jobs come into my shop usually done by do it yourselfers. Having the action setting in the stock stress free is the key to having a good bedding job. Just having the stock bedded with epoxy doesn't guarantee that you have a stress free bedding job. Sometimes the bedding has to be redone several times to get a good bedding job. Hopefully it's right the first time, but sometimes you may have to redo it a few times to get it right. A bad bedding job will easily hurt the inherent accuracy of the rifle meaning that it won't shoot to it's potential.