Barrel pressure vs free float
- Thread starter okie24
- Start date
That's the age-old question, whether your rifle prefers a pressure point or a floated barrel. Some rifles, especially sporter weight barrels shoot better with a pressure point, some don't. The only way to tell for sure is to try it both ways. If your barrel prefers a pressure point it's fairly easy to build one into the stock with a rubber shim or bedding compound.
However, once you sand the ledge out of a barrel, you're never going to get that ledge back. Yes, you can glue in a shim, but that original ledge is gone. If you're getting the accuracy you expect, leave it alone. If you're like the rest of us and are always tinkering iwth a rifle, there are lots of things you can do. Bed the action, bed the chamber, change stocks, add pillars, they're all options. Play with different bullets, powders, primers. Seat them deeper, or seat them longer. Once you start tinkering the options are truly limitless.
However, once you sand the ledge out of a barrel, you're never going to get that ledge back. Yes, you can glue in a shim, but that original ledge is gone. If you're getting the accuracy you expect, leave it alone. If you're like the rest of us and are always tinkering iwth a rifle, there are lots of things you can do. Bed the action, bed the chamber, change stocks, add pillars, they're all options. Play with different bullets, powders, primers. Seat them deeper, or seat them longer. Once you start tinkering the options are truly limitless.
I have glass bedded the m700 270 wsm and had the barrel free floated. It was shooting 3/4" to 1" groups at 100 yds. I shot it that way for about a year. Then one day it started shooting 2" groups. 
So I finally tryed putting a little pressure under the barrel with a peice of waterhose. It shoots 3/4" groups again.
Its enough to make a man go crazy.
So I finally tryed putting a little pressure under the barrel with a peice of waterhose. It shoots 3/4" groups again.Its enough to make a man go crazy.
What's the question ?
If those two rifles prefer a pressure point in the forearm , what exactly is the question . You would have already floated them to arrive at the conclusion that they prefer a pressure point ! My M70 .243 prefers to be floated , sporter weight barrels can go either way , but thin lightweight barrels generally prefer a pressure point ! Until an action is properly bedded , you really don't have much to work with , without a solid foundation to work from .
If those two rifles prefer a pressure point in the forearm , what exactly is the question . You would have already floated them to arrive at the conclusion that they prefer a pressure point ! My M70 .243 prefers to be floated , sporter weight barrels can go either way , but thin lightweight barrels generally prefer a pressure point ! Until an action is properly bedded , you really don't have much to work with , without a solid foundation to work from .
Last edited:
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
A change to bigger groups likely would come from (maybe) a buildup of copper fouling (happened to me; solved by cleaning) or a change in the bedding of the receiver from (maybe) humidity. Just guessing.
I have improved groups sizes by first free-floating and then using a strip of kitchen wax paper to build up a shim. Maybe at most five pounds of pressure to open a gap to set it in place. My opinion about this is that it acts as a damper to barrel vibrations and promotes consistency. That was my uncle's idea, forty or more years back, and it has worked for me on several rifles...
I have improved groups sizes by first free-floating and then using a strip of kitchen wax paper to build up a shim. Maybe at most five pounds of pressure to open a gap to set it in place. My opinion about this is that it acts as a damper to barrel vibrations and promotes consistency. That was my uncle's idea, forty or more years back, and it has worked for me on several rifles...
I believe in free-floating, which maintains point of impact regardless of hold and rest changes. Wooden stocks tend to bend with humidity level fluctuations, requiring seasonal re-sighting.
Glassbedding flexible factory synthetic stocks requires special techniques. I like pillar bedding, but also imbed reinforcing steel cross-wise in the bedding area to prevent stocks from widening, even splitting under stock screw tension. I use pieces of common bolts in routed slots near the forend screws. That stiffens bedding areas very well.
A few years ago, I did the cross-wise bolt trick on a Rem. Model 7 stock that someone had split by over-torqueing the front screw. It worked so well that the rifle now shoots 1/2 minute groups with factory ammo.
Inexpensive pillars for sporters can be made from 1/2" steel tubing available from hardware stores and Home Depot.
Glassbedding flexible factory synthetic stocks requires special techniques. I like pillar bedding, but also imbed reinforcing steel cross-wise in the bedding area to prevent stocks from widening, even splitting under stock screw tension. I use pieces of common bolts in routed slots near the forend screws. That stiffens bedding areas very well.
A few years ago, I did the cross-wise bolt trick on a Rem. Model 7 stock that someone had split by over-torqueing the front screw. It worked so well that the rifle now shoots 1/2 minute groups with factory ammo.
Inexpensive pillars for sporters can be made from 1/2" steel tubing available from hardware stores and Home Depot.
I'm with Pitcher on this one. Hunting in the NW usually means you're getting rained on and you're stock is warping or swelling. Small group size isn't accurate for hunting purposes if point of impact moves. A little bigger group in the same place every time is what I want, and what I get with glass bedding and free-floating.
