Bedding a portion of the barrel

[Wylie Custom]

I am moving a 300 WSM from a Manners mini chassis system to Manners with a Wyatt’s box, so that I can feed the longer rounds that shoot amazing. I have a Remington varmint contour barrel and a Stiller predator action. I was told by my smith that 1.5 inches of the barrel needs to be bed along with the action to support the barrel. I have been running the gun in a chassis which free floats the barrel and it shoots amazing. I most likely will never shoot faster than 20 rounds in 20 to 30 minutes with this rifle.

My question is: Will I see better, same or worst accuracy bedding the barrel for 1.5 inches? Also, does anyone have actual experience where bedding 1.5 inches of the barrel caused accuracy issues and they were fixed by removing the bedding?
Thanks

 

[Petey]

Re: Bedding a portion of the barrel

Disclaimer: I'm not a gunsmith, but wnroscoe covered this very topic in his excellent how-to bedding post:

I've never liked bedding under my barrels. I've hung a 30" Heavy Palma, 27" LV, 26"LV and on and on off a Remington 700 with no ill effects ever. I've even huing a 1.250"x30" off a Stiller SS Viper with the same results. Bug Holes. This varies between smiths but it seems that if the bedding is kept under the flat at the breech there are no ill effects to the accuracy.

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[doc76251]

Re: Bedding a portion of the barrel

Been bedding Winny's for a long time and I have done it both ways. I personally prefer bedding out about 2 - 3" past the receiver but that is my own personal preference. I would submit that if you are going to hang a can off the front you may wish to consider doing this as you may see less POI shift (or not). 2" wide electrical tape is an excellent tool to stop the bedding and support the tube while bedding. I have also used it to "fatten up" the barrel when I had to fill in the barrel channel on a stock that was inletted for a straight contour.

Make doggone sure you mic (measure) the recoil lug and ensure it is flat and even (or tapered). I had one w/ a fat bottom that caused me to pull my hair out as it would chip off the bedding on the flat when you pulled it out. After the 8th attempt at bedding that thing I finally checked it. I was a dumba$$ but the lesson was well learned.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Wylie Custom]

Re: Bedding a portion of the barrel

Ok thanks, sounds like there is no real advantage or disadvantage to either method.

 

[Hbb6601]

Re: Bedding a portion of the barrel

I like putting about 1.5 " of bedding in front and have had great luck. The only thing that I don't like about doing that is if you are just starting to see a little throating and want to reset the barrel ahead back into rifling that isn't throated you have to re-bed from the recoil lug forward after you Drexel tool the old bedding out. Doesn't happen a lot but a little bit of a pain. I seem to get a ton more rounds out of he barrel doing this and maintain great accuracy.....

 

[will67]

Re: Bedding a portion of the barrel

I've read that you may have to adjust your hand loads because bedding further up the barrel could change the barrel harmonics.