Free Float, Glass Bed, or Don't Mess - M77 Sporter?

I

Idlechater

New member
Hey Gang:

I am venturing into the brave new world of glass bedding my M77. While I am at it, I am considering the potential benefits of free floating or glass bedding the barrel. In it's current factory configuration it is shooting 1.0 to 1.5 MOA. This is an older tang safety model in 30-06 caliber.

I have been reading that floating the barrel really only benefits a bull barrel. Not sure I understand why. I have also read that the sporter barrel seem to perform better with 3 - 5 lbs of upwards pressure (pressure bedding - which is how my stock came configured from the factory). Thus - does anyone have any real world experience with the M77 sporter type barrel and free floating? Will it help or hurt my guns accuracy?

Also, what about glass bedding the entire length of the stock. What are the pro's/con's of doing this. Would it improve accuracy or just be additional work? I'm assuming that if I were to do this I would also want to float the barrel. If that is the case, then really what does this do for me over a non-glassed floating barrel. If I am not supposed to float the barrel, then when the barrel heats up, doesn't this just cause problems?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm completely new to this and don't want to make any critical mistakes with my trusty ol' gun.

Thansk.
 
I have a M77 MKII. I went to the extreme with mine. I had trouble with the stock warping some and decided to cure the problem. I bought a laminated stock blank and made a new stock. I decided to float the barrel (sporter type) and bed the action. I do not regret my choice. After working up some loads the rifle likes I can shoot .25 to .5 inch groups (off of the bench) at 100 yds. The thing to remember when doing stock work is you can always fix it if it doesn't work. In your case I would glass the reciever area and float the barrel. Make the gap clearance along the barrel channel large enough to slide a business card freely along the length of the barrel. I wouldn't glass the barrel channel. Did that once and spent many hours of sanding to fix that mistake.
If floating the barrel makes it shoot worse, all you need to do is just rebuild the "pillow" on the end of the stock. Leave the spacing along the sides of the barrel. That will help prevent any warping from changing the POI. Use some cellphane and a 5 or 6 pound weight to determine the pressure applied to the bottom of the barrel. Sand the new pillow until the weighted cellphane slips out from under the barrel.
I hope that this helps some.
Earl
 
Elksniper:

Thanks for your reply.

Are you clamping the rifle upside down and by the stock using a weight tied around the barrel when testing the pressure pad?

Interesting that we have the same name... Not that many Earl's in this world...
 
That's how you do it

You of course need to know the exact weight you want on the tip. Use that weight and let the epoxy set up and you will have that much tip pressure when you are finished.
 
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