Has anyone here tried to full length bed your barrels? Or would this only be something you would try if "all else fails"? Is free floating the end all be all?
Gunsmithing Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
- Thread starter 264highlandhunter
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Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
My buddy bought a 270 hunting rifle that was full length bedded.
Shot like dogshit.
After sanding out the barrrel channel and floating it, it shot great.
Is free floating the "end all be all"? Maybe not, but it would take an act of God himself before you see GAP, SAC (etc etc etc) doing "full length" bedding jobs.
My buddy bought a 270 hunting rifle that was full length bedded.
Shot like dogshit.
After sanding out the barrrel channel and floating it, it shot great.
Is free floating the "end all be all"? Maybe not, but it would take an act of God himself before you see GAP, SAC (etc etc etc) doing "full length" bedding jobs.
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
Lots of smiths like their own methods of bedding and how far down the barrel but none that I can think of FL bed the whole tube.
The only reason I bed FL is on a wooden stock and when I do I tape 4 - 6 layers of 2" electrical tape on the tube from where I want to stop the "support". It seals the barrel channel and adds some rigidity and weight if you hog out the barrel channel. The tube is still floated except for the first 3" or so. On a glass stock this would be unnecessary unless you were filling it for a barrel channel that was oversize for the current tube.
Cheers,
Doc
Lots of smiths like their own methods of bedding and how far down the barrel but none that I can think of FL bed the whole tube.
The only reason I bed FL is on a wooden stock and when I do I tape 4 - 6 layers of 2" electrical tape on the tube from where I want to stop the "support". It seals the barrel channel and adds some rigidity and weight if you hog out the barrel channel. The tube is still floated except for the first 3" or so. On a glass stock this would be unnecessary unless you were filling it for a barrel channel that was oversize for the current tube.
Cheers,
Doc
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
The old Mannlicher stocks sometimes benefited from FL bedding. The bendy, flimsy, walnut stocks(if you were lucky) tended to flex a lot. Beautiful...but not the best for accuracy. Action bedding seemed to win out in the long run, but if you have a skinny tube, as factory rifles seem to be, then some fore-end pressure can help to settle down the vibration patterns. JMHO
The old Mannlicher stocks sometimes benefited from FL bedding. The bendy, flimsy, walnut stocks(if you were lucky) tended to flex a lot. Beautiful...but not the best for accuracy. Action bedding seemed to win out in the long run, but if you have a skinny tube, as factory rifles seem to be, then some fore-end pressure can help to settle down the vibration patterns. JMHO
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: doc76251</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Lots of smiths like their own methods of bedding and how far down the barrel but none that I can think of FL bed the whole tube.
The only reason I bed FL is on a wooden stock and when I do I tape 4 - 6 layers of 2" electrical tape on the tube from where I want to stop the "support". It seals the barrel channel and adds some rigidity and weight if you hog out the barrel channel. The tube is still floated except for the first 3" or so. On a glass stock this would be unnecessary unless you were filling it for a barrel channel that was oversize for the current tube.
Cheers,
Doc </div></div>
I was taught the very same technique when I built my first bolt action
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: doc76251</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Lots of smiths like their own methods of bedding and how far down the barrel but none that I can think of FL bed the whole tube.
The only reason I bed FL is on a wooden stock and when I do I tape 4 - 6 layers of 2" electrical tape on the tube from where I want to stop the "support". It seals the barrel channel and adds some rigidity and weight if you hog out the barrel channel. The tube is still floated except for the first 3" or so. On a glass stock this would be unnecessary unless you were filling it for a barrel channel that was oversize for the current tube.
Cheers,
Doc </div></div>
I was taught the very same technique when I built my first bolt action
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
Some short stiff barrels seem to work fine full length bedded but as the barrel becomes more flexible it seems to like float or contact pads rather than full length. . .
Frank
Some short stiff barrels seem to work fine full length bedded but as the barrel becomes more flexible it seems to like float or contact pads rather than full length. . .
Frank
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
303 Brit Enfields supposedly shoot better with "packing" in the stock, which is cloth around the barrel in the long wrap around stock. The guy who told me had a Boeing fellowship, so he was no dummy, and he had a Brit accent.
I shot one without packing, that as shooing pretty good, but the barrel made a buzzing sound for a few seconds after every shot.
Personally I don't want anything to touch the barrel of the rifles I built, not more than an inch away from the receiver, anyway.
303 Brit Enfields supposedly shoot better with "packing" in the stock, which is cloth around the barrel in the long wrap around stock. The guy who told me had a Boeing fellowship, so he was no dummy, and he had a Brit accent.
I shot one without packing, that as shooing pretty good, but the barrel made a buzzing sound for a few seconds after every shot.
Personally I don't want anything to touch the barrel of the rifles I built, not more than an inch away from the receiver, anyway.
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
I have a REM ti mountain contour in a factory ti stock that is fl bedded. I tried it floated, pressure and fl. The gun always shot well MOST of the time....after fl bedding it has shot well for 15 years or so. I know I can't get too serious about snugging up the sling or put a lot of pressure on it while on the bipod, but this gun shoots well like this. I shoot 5 shot groups under .5 moa pretty regular and always sub moa....and I think for a barrel that is light as a McDonald's straw.....that is a good deal.
I have a REM ti mountain contour in a factory ti stock that is fl bedded. I tried it floated, pressure and fl. The gun always shot well MOST of the time....after fl bedding it has shot well for 15 years or so. I know I can't get too serious about snugging up the sling or put a lot of pressure on it while on the bipod, but this gun shoots well like this. I shoot 5 shot groups under .5 moa pretty regular and always sub moa....and I think for a barrel that is light as a McDonald's straw.....that is a good deal.
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
I also have a 1903A3 that my grandfather sporterized, same deal the thing shot tidy groups till it quit, still trying to figure it out....
I think I finally shot the throat out of it...
Dave
I also have a 1903A3 that my grandfather sporterized, same deal the thing shot tidy groups till it quit, still trying to figure it out....
I think I finally shot the throat out of it...
Dave
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
About the only gun I bed the entire forend if the Ruger 10/22. The aluminum receiver and vee block is not strong enough to support the .920 barrels. I have seen too many of them with flared receivers to float the barrel. Now, I bed from the action screw to the end of the forend and float the back of the action.
Mauser 98 guns get a bedding pad under the chamber and floated the rest of the forend.
Savage 10 and 110 family, Rem 7 and 700, Win 70 get floated past the recoil lug. This has worked well for me.
About the only gun I bed the entire forend if the Ruger 10/22. The aluminum receiver and vee block is not strong enough to support the .920 barrels. I have seen too many of them with flared receivers to float the barrel. Now, I bed from the action screw to the end of the forend and float the back of the action.
Mauser 98 guns get a bedding pad under the chamber and floated the rest of the forend.
Savage 10 and 110 family, Rem 7 and 700, Win 70 get floated past the recoil lug. This has worked well for me.
Re: Thoughts on full length bedding a barrel?
I have one problem child 721 that I free floated, short bedded, FL bedded and finally full length pressure bedded before it would shoot. The pressure bed really tightened it up though. Everything else is free floated. All depends on the gun I think.
I have one problem child 721 that I free floated, short bedded, FL bedded and finally full length pressure bedded before it would shoot. The pressure bed really tightened it up though. Everything else is free floated. All depends on the gun I think.
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