Free float your barrel?

NUK SOO KOW · #1 10-02-2009, 10:16 AM

How many of you do this to your hunting/target rifles? I have a REM 700 xcr 270 and a 700 VTR in .223. Both synthetic stocks. Whats the best way to do this? Just sandpaper? A dremmel perhaps? Thanx

catnthehat · #2 10-02-2009, 10:28 AM

You can sand the barrel channel down by using sand paper and a dowel.
it is not good practise , or to use sand paper without a backer with it, otherwise you cannot get an even surface.

Cat

Dick284 · #3 10-02-2009, 11:30 AM

Do not go headlong into making any hard to reverse procedures on your rifle.

Take a couple business cards or similar material and shim your action so that in effect your barrel is free floated, bolt it back up and shoot it to see if things improve or not.

It's a real bugger to hog out a barrel channel to only find out your barrel and action prefers 4 oz of for end pressure to shoot at it's best.

Matt L. · #4 10-02-2009, 11:26 PM

Aren't the majority of new rifles already free-floated?

euro · #5 10-03-2009, 06:25 AM

Bed the action before you start cutting out the barrel channel.Extend the bedding about an inch past on the barrel where it meets the receiver.Bedding the action will raise the action out of the stock,and create a uniform fit.Be sure to remove scope and rings,you are starting from scratch. Hope This Helps

roger · #6 10-03-2009, 07:31 AM

on my hunting gun (weatherby) it was shooting what most would call a 'shotgun pattern'.
i full floated it, then pressure point(s) ,then bedded it,then finally bedded the reveiver and the first three inches of bbl.

then i found out that i had been over tightening the receiver screws causing undue pressure on the bbl and myself as well.

either way it outshoots me now, but not a good confidence builder and wasted 200 rounds in the process.
like the boys have said, try the non destructive methods first...but
a rat-tailed file with a piece of 24" wood dowel for a handle will get the majority of the removal done fast then finish up with sandpaper.
food for thought....more like marshmallows or beef jerky food for thought

Matt, I think that most new guns are free floated for effiecient assembly purposes.

PoppaW · #7 10-03-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roger

on my hunting gun (weatherby) it was shooting what most would call a 'shotgun pattern'.
i full floated it, then pressure point(s) ,then bedded it,then finally bedded the reveiver and the first three inches of bbl.

then i found out that i had been over tightening the receiver screws causing undue pressure on the bbl and myself as well.

either way it outshoots me now, but not a good confidence builder and wasted 200 rounds in the process.
like the boys have said, try the non destructive methods first...but
a rat-tailed file with a piece of 24" wood dowel for a handle will get the majority of the removal done fast then finish up with sandpaper.
food for thought....more like marshmallows or beef jerky food for thought

Matt, I think that most new guns are free floated for effiecient assembly purposes.

I am used to a ruger that likes to be as tight as I can get it. My weatherby wasn't shooting as good as I thought and I read this. Just maybe too much torque. I will check it out. For the record I only free float if needed. Most end up needing it. All Weatherby's like a good float, that I have seen or heard of. I have three floated.

Dick284 · #8 10-03-2009, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt L.

Aren't the majority of new rifles already free-floated?

Nope.
lots of N. American stuff still has a pressure point.

Dean2 · #9 10-03-2009, 08:44 AM

As Dick rightly says, many have a pressure point, right from the factory despite it being easier to build the guns free floated, becuase they often shoot better with pressure. A rule of thumb that seems to work for me, but is not perfect, is the lighter and thus whippier the barrel the more likely it will benefit from a pressure point or fully bedding the barrel. Heavy barreled guns almost always shoot better floated. Also, almost all guns, light or heavy barreled, benefit from having a good job done on glass bedding the action as it smooths everything out, is very water proof and evens up torque on the action.

For hunter weight or lighter, I take the gun as is, work up a good shooting load and see what it will do out of the box. If it shoots well I bed just the action and don't mess with the barrel channel.

If it won't shoot as tight as I like, and doesn't have a pressure point I use the old business card part way down the barrel trick and try agian, sometimes adding as many as four or five folds of card. Saw a fellow at the range last weekend who did this to a Corlane's built 25-06 with a floated barrel. Went from 2" groups at 100 yards to 9 shots in literally the same hole and the tenth just on the edge of the same hole. He was a very happy camper.

If that improves the group I have actually started bedding the action and full length of the barrel as a starting point. Ultra Light Arms does all of his super light guns, no matter which custom barrel you order, fully bedded and they shoot great. Not a universal fix but something to think about.

catnthehat · #10 10-03-2009, 08:54 AM

We're kind of off track here, the OP asked about removing the barrel channel material, not how why and "start from scratch " bedding and accurizing systems!

I don't think you can do this in a few statements on an open forum.
I did do this once ( gave detailed instructions) to a member on shortmags.org,
he put in a CD and it was quite substantial, and LONG!!
Once I started into it, I realized just how much we do from memeory and how much we take for granted, simple stuff like cleaning your sandpaper with a crepe cleaning block - many people have never heard of this .
Accurizing and bedding has taken up whole booklets!

Cat