Barrel Floating Qestion Rem Bdl 308

Crashland73,
Since 1964, I must have played with 30 or more rifles in various calibers, including many on the Rem action. My experience is that each gun is an individual. Many, but not all, worked best with free floated barrels. Some, especially the bull barrels, needed a small pressure point at the front. My thought was it helped to support heavy weight barrel and reduce torque effect on action during firing. Playing with rear bedding, front bedding, pillar bedding action, etc. takes time and effort. It is easier and quicker just to free float barrel and go so that is the approach most often recommended.
As others have posted, I would suggest trying it as is first. If you are not satisfied, then you can free float barrel, pillar bed action (if not already done by factory), rear bed barrel, front bed barrel, experiment with more/less front barrel pressure, etc. until you find what you want or decide to try another gun. In any case, have fun.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

ps: Didn't notice but are you using factory ammo or handloads? Handloading is a full other dimension and is also lots of fun or headaches, depending on your viewpoint.
 
The ONLY Remington bull barrels that have a pressure point are the old varmint BDL's with wooden stocks and the new, laminated stock (eg., VLS) models. None of the "P" models or the VS/Sendero use a pressure point; they're free-floated.

I free-floated my .243 VLS with the use of a Dremel with flexible shaft and large sanding drum. Per a few others posting here, the pressure point won't remain constant under all weather and humidity conditions.
 
Pressure points in factory rifles help to minimize problems due to "factory bedding" woes. They serve to stabilize the barrel vibrations and any action movements. By doing so, they make the rifle more tolerant of ammunition variations, especially going between bullet weights.

A special case: In accurizing Ruger 10-22s with only one action screw, it's essential to have a forend pressure pad to stabilize both the barrel and the receiver, otherwise, everything teeters on the action screw. I developed a bedding system for the rifle that was published on RimfireCentral.com and the old Shooters.com. My tips helped to create the "do-it-yourself" 10-22 improvement craze that has escalated beyond belief.

When striving for tight groups, pressure pads can help, but many of the best bolt action target rifles have barrels that are free-floated. Literally all of the best RIMFIRE benchrest rifles are free-floated.

Free-floated barrels work best with very high quality ammunition. In centerfire, that generally means reloads that use cases fired at least once in the same rifle and have seating depth set according to the position that turned in the best test groups.

If factory ammo is to be used in a rifle, or you expect to change bullet weights without re-sighting, by all means keep your pressure point. But, if you're likely to shoot small varmints at long range with handloads and have a regular wood stock, the advantage of POI retention afforded by free-floating is BIG.

John
 
I use only reloads with it. I have no complaints so far with the way it is being haveing the forend with the point. I was just kindof bumfuzzled is all.
 
Wow! Freefloat I say, if it's wood

More than enough opinions already, but I can't resist. If you have a wood stock, it will change point of impact with temperature, humidity, and time. Maybe not a lot, but if you're picky, too much. Free floating has seldom made my 700s more accurate for a few shots, but for year after year consistency, you need it freefloated. Regarding three shot groups, a lot of rifles won't do well longer than that, but if you shoot A LOT of three shot groups, and they are all where you want em, including that first shot from a cold clean barrel, you are there.

cptmclark
 
It is definatly consistant on the 3 shot groups. I dont always do 3 sometimes I do 5 and sometimes if I take out the x with the first shot I quite there on that target and go to the next. And I do that quite often I might add. I wont do anything now. If it starts to vear off anytime, I will definatly consider floating it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top