Free floating barrels on bolt rifle

I hope everyone realizes the barrel will start bouncing off any fore end touch point before the bullet leaves its muzzle. How much external resistance there is to the fore end bending will change the fore end pressure on the barrel. Barrels start wiggling as soon as the bullet leaves the case.

How you hold a rifle resting on bags atop a bench effects fore end contact point pressure on the barrel. As does sling tension in field positions.
 
Having a pressure point in a wooden stock's forend may yield great groups, but the group center may vary with stock moisture, temperature, sling pressure, and the way the forend is rested, especially in the field.

What makes a great hunting rifle is one that shoots about 1 to 1.5 MOA and retains zero regardless of hold, temperature, moisture, sling pressure, etc. The scope must also
retain zero regardless of power setting. The scope mount system should also be very strong, so as to not move if bumped.
 
My most accurate 700s are mounted in Magpul Hunter stocks. They have a full aluminum bed and the barrels are floated. One shoots .2" and the other shoots .5".
 
Early Remington 40X target rifles had Al Freeland's patented tuning screw touch points in the fore end at 4 and 7 o'clock. Using a battery and wired light bulb, each screws adjusted to just touch the barrel, bench rest test groups were shot then clicks counted each screw click tighter. Best groups click count was recorded as tested.

Accuracy went south when the rifle was slung up in position. Fore end bending changed screw contact pressure force. Same thing when fore end bent from wood warping from temperature changes.

Back the tuning screws out then leave them alone. No more fore end touch points. Best accuracy thereafter.
 
I would agree with your friend , Remington's are easy to change triggers , parts are easily changed out , some models are free floated . It comes down to what Remington your looking at and what your using it for .
 
It is absolutely true that a wooden or even some synthetics can shift aim point during wild changes of environment. Plastics shrink a bit in the cold and expand some during high temps, as do hot barrels. There is a reason that any hunting trip should begin on scene with a three shot zeroing group to see if it is still spot on. Same for the scope, a weak connection from steel to steel in the mounting system can cause some variation, but that is a whole lot smaller if the system is nice and strong and it's not jarred to the point that it can flex or move the thing just enough to relocate the crosshairs.

It is my understanding that the standards of scope manufacture hold the reticle in place by nothing but springs and pressure pins. We wouldn't allow that on a space shuttle. These things are somewhat prone to shifting a bit after the first shot when sighting in, and I have had that happen on some $100 scopes in the past.

It was plainly said by Picher that a hunting gun must be reliable above accurate as long as accuracy is still within acceptable parameters. My gun storage place has constant temps, but the humidity varies, and honestly, I very rarely take a rifle out and find that it is still within an inch or two on target at 100 yards.

So, as he said, will a 1/2" loss in group size make it worth having a rifle raise point of impact when you reach the woods and try to land a trophy without a range finder? 300 yards should give you a 3" spread with an ordinary 1 moa rifle, but that 3" hit zone that you have will have another 3-4 inches in uncertainty if you go to the field and the cold, dry air in western nebraska from the musty and cool basement in Missouri. that is going to make any good shot on a pronghorn a lot more uncertain. Add in errors in wind and distance judgement and you are going to have the possibility of sending a round through the bottom of the belly instead of into the heart region.

So, as picher said, it's a lot better to have the certainty of a 1-1.5 moa that is almost dead certain to retain accurate zero than to chance that the zero may have shifted 2 inches or more off of point of aim without you knowing. Take your 1.5 MOA rifle and add 2 inches, for example, and your possible point of impact (with a perfect shot taken) extends to about a possible 5" radius even as near as 100 yards. (obviously an extreme case.) Out to 300 yards that uncertainty puts your shot in serious doubt, and if you have enough error in wind or elevation calculation, it's going to be nothing but a matter of luck.

So, IMO, any and all rifles should have a solid action bedding and a free float barrel, and if the accuracy or the rifle is so week that you can't get an appropriate sized group for the range that you expect to hunt, get a better rifle or scope. At the longer ranges of 300 and up every kind of user error is increased. You have to compensate for that by ensuring two things. That the rifle and ammunition combination is indeed accurate, and that the zero will remain dead on.

Where I hunt in Missouri, distances are going to be short in wooded areas. I don't need to worry about having a tack driver but a free floated barrel that may cost some accuracy is not worth the risk of throwing the round into the hillside.

I also feel that my efforts are better spent on setting up loads meant getting good terminal results for accuracy is not as important as. Bed the barrel if you don't mind a shift of impact, such as a range only rifle. You can easily test whether accuracy will improve by experimenting with paper shims.

Free float any field rifle, bed the action. Do whatever you want to if range accuracy is your only concern.
 
Take your 1.5 MOA rifle and add 2 inches, for example, and your possible point of impact (with a perfect shot taken) extends to about a possible 5" radius even as near as 100 yards.
Click to expand...

I'm not getting this. A 1.5MOA rifle shoots a 1.5" group. That 1.5" distance between the shots farthest apart. This ALSO means when sighted properly, all shots will be approx. 3/4" (or less) from the point of aim.

Ok, add 2 inches. Now its a 3.5" group, with a radius of 1.75". NOT 5".

A 5" radius means a circle 10" in diameter.

Where (and when) I grew up temp during deer season ran from below freezing to well below zero. Amazing how warm a calm sunny 25dgree day can feel when you're used to wind and 15 or more degrees less...

Anyway, one of the lessons some folks learned was that if you're going to hunt "in the freezer", store your rifle in the freezer. Same goes the opposite way, in the heat. There's more than a bit of difference between Kentucky woods and 7,000 feet up the side of a rock in the Cascades. tec.

Point is your tools become "acclimated" to the temp/humidity they're in, and when that changes, so do they, a little bit. One deer camp I knew actually had a cabin, with wood stove, rather than a tent...luxury!! but we were cruel, we made the rifles stay outside. :D

Free floated barrel? sure, why not? HAD to do it to one of my rifles. Moved from a humid place to a dry one, and noticed after a few months, that the wood stock had warped, and was now pressing on one side of the barrel.

It was my fault, though, I had not properly sealed the stock when I refinished it a couple years previously. Didn't matter where I was, but did after I moved to a much different climate.

Free floating (with a properly bedded action) isn't a cure everything thing, but it is a cure some things, and keep others from being a thing, thing. ;)
 
A friend of mine once got a rifle in trade that he didn't want It was a commercial FN Mauser in .270 Win. with one of the thinnest soda straw barrels I've ever seen. Stock was some kind of wood but definitely not walnut. I'm thinking beech or something similar. He let me have it for $75. Now looking at this rifle, the bedding was quite sloppy for something from FN, and the free floating on that skinny 24" barrel has to be seen to be believed. Well, I glass bedded the action and about the first 2.5" of the barrel and hoped for the best. That rifle will do .375" to .50" all day long as long as the barrel doesn't get too hot. If I space shots about two minutes apart I can put 5 shots slightly under an inch. I'd restock it but I'm afraid I would lose the accuracy Whatever the stock wood is, it's very light and the whole rifle with scope, sling and a full magazine weighs exactly 7 pounds. Just one case that proves what? In theory that rifle should not shoot that good, yet it does. All I know is it's a keeper.
Paul B.
 
the bedding was quite sloppy for something from FN,
Click to expand...

While everyone, FN included produces the occasional "less than perfect" or even real lemons, its not impossible the rifle wasn't stocked by FN.

Unless there's some marking on the stock indicating the maker, one never really knows.
 
What is the objective of bedding the barrel chamber area in front of the receiver?

Won't that still transfer some inconsistent fore end bending forces to the barrel?
 
I first heard of free floating barrels in an article in Guns & Ammo written by Ross Seyfried. His point was that a floated barrel was more consistent than a gun with a tightly bedded barrel especially if the stock wasn't sealed and was prone to movement with temperature and humidity. But he never said a floated barrel was more accurate. He stated he had 100 year old rifles with fully bedded barrels that were very accurate and never changed POI.

Most of my rifle barrels have been floated and the action bedded. I did this because I wanted consistency. My rifles will stay between an inch and 1 3/4" in grouping. Good enough for me and where and how I hunt.

Now I mostly hunt with open sight lever actions and still kill the deer I shoot at. As I get older I am less prone to worry too much about one inch or less groups. Super tight groups have never gotten me more game. Better hunting skills are what made the difference.
 
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