Stop that Thomme, your flattering me to much, I only have ONE Mosin as for now
The purpose of bedding is to make the contact area between the receiver and the stock as large as possible.
most rifles only make contact with the stock at the two screw holes, far from optimal. when a rifle is fired, recoil forces are exerted through the receiver and absorbed into the stock. if the rifle only makes contact at a few points, all those forces make it go everywhere inside the stock. you won't get consistent harmonics in your rifle, thus accuracy suffers greatly. (shot to shot) consistency = accuracy.
If you bed your rifle, your receiver has a very large surface area. when the rifle recoils, all the forces that are directed through the receiver meet a very large contact area to direct the forces into the stock. thus the stock is able to absorb the forces of recoil much better. now, every time you fire your rifle, the recoil gets absorbed the same way over and over again with each shot = consistent shots. at the same time, because the receiver is bedded, it doesn't have any gaps in the stock to which it can move, the receiver will sit solidly in it's stock. thus also improving consistency.
If your rifle is bedded, shot to shot consistency will be much improved, thus it will give your rifle greater accuracy potential.
Bedding is sometimes also referred to as Skim bedding, because you put a thin layer of bedding compound between the stock and receiver.
pillar bedding works roughly the same way. because the pillars cannot be compressed as much as wood, once you torch it down to a specific pressure, it will stay that way and wont be influenced by weather changes that make the wood expand en contract.
normally the barrel is free floated.
when a bullet passes through the barrel, its vibrates harmonically. any interference with that vibration such as a stock pressing against the barrel, will interrupt these vibration. the vibrations will be slightly different with each shot, making each shot it non consistent with the previous. and remember, consistency is what you want. if you free float the barrel, there is nothing interfering with the vibrations of the barrel, making each shot as consistent with the other as much as possible. again it will give your rifle greater accuracy potential.
The wooden stock expanding en contracting is actually the worst enemy of an accurate rifle. this is solved by bedding or/and pillar bedding and free floating the barrel because the contact area will stay the same.
however, hunting rifles (or surplus rifles for this matter) often have thin barrels, and bedding the entire barrel will actually improve accuracy because the thin barrel is supported throughout the length it makes contact with the stock. this is because thin barrels (compared to bull barrels in match rifles) get so much vibrations from each shot, that it becomes bad for it's shot to shot consistency.
This is why people talk about "corking" your Mosin or wrapping a cloth around your barrel, so that the stock puts constant pressure on the barrel, making each shot a bit more consistent. (I knew about it Benogil, and I also have the Box 'O Truth under my favorites
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You will get the best accuracy in a rifle if you:
1: Pillar bed the entire receiver
2: Skim bed the entire receiver
3: Free float the barrel
However, I'm going to bed the entire rifle including the barrel channel. this is because of the handguard. if I would remove the material necessary to free float the entire barrel, I am not confident it would leave enough material of the handguard and front of the stock. I think the wood would become to thin to act as a functional stock front end and handguard.
I would like to know if anyone is going to free float the barrel (that's why I left this issue open in my previous post), but to me that is something to be reserved for a "sporterized" rifle where most remove all the front wood of the stock. by all means, it's your rifle and you can do with it what you want.
Still, later on I can still choose to free float the barrel If I want to, but this is the way I'm taking.
Now about the lock up time, the time it takes IS only a few milliseconds, so shortening that time will without a doubt improve accuracy because you reduce the time the rifle is able to move between when you pull the trigger and the primer in the cartridge igniting.
However, the question was if it would improve your accuracy significantly. My answer: no, there are a lot more things that will improve your accuracy potential FAR MORE, like bedding, free floating etc.
About the scope setup:
they both have about the same magnification, and will be equally accurate. I would go for the PU but that is purely because of aesthetics and availability. Accumounts: (
http://www.accumounts.com/) makes very good reproductions of both, but they are expensive. a lot of companies make PU-reproductions, do some googling. take the one you feel comfortable with and like the best.
I hope this answers all your questions, if you have any more, BRING IT ON
I love answering all.
All the best with your project and good luck!
Louis