HELP - Freefloating Barrel on Browning A-Bolt II - Sort Of

W

whitefish

New member
Last year I bought a new Browning A-Bolt II in 300 Win Mag. Its a Classic Hunter with a 26" barrel. When I received the gun, I noticed that the forearm had warped into the barrel - hence, no free-floating barrel. I called Browning and they said to send off to the local Browning certified smith. So I did.

I got the gun back about 2 months later and everything seemed fine. Went moose hunting this fall, and guess what, now the barrel is touching the forearm again. I carefully removed the stock from the barrel to see what the gunsmith had done to correct the problem. Essentially, he added(?) epoxy forward of the recoil lug, just forward of where the barrel screws into the receiver. So....

Is this acceptable? If bedding was added here, one would think that the recoil lug and receiver are no longer bedding properly (the barrel and receiver was tight to remove). It appears the the bedding forward of the recoil lug was placed to "push" the forearm away from the receiver.

Is it reasonable to expect a wood stock to remain free floated on a factory barrel? I could have materiall from the forearm removed so that the barrel free floats again, but there is that questionable bedding job again.

I ask this, because before I get on the phone with Browning again, I want to know what I should expect. Personally, if a manufacturer claims a product to be something (free floating barrel), then I expect this to be the case. Otherwise, fix it or give me my money back. No?

Again, if no amount of repair by Browning or their certified smiths will fix this problem, then I want to know this as well.

I'm new to the FiringLine, so if I'm in the wrong forum, let me know.
 
Wood can warp as you found out. However that fix is not something I would do. The typical way to glass bed a rifle is to either glass the entire action or the action plus about 2" of the barrel This stabilizes that entire section of the stock and reenforces it too.In that process you may scrape away wood under the receiver and of course you would scrape away wood in the forend channel to free float the barrel. The barrel channel should also be varnished to prevent moisture problems. It looks like the smith took short cuts .Do it properly and accuracy and stability will be there forever.......Welcome to the forum !!
 
Thanks Mete,

Part of my problem is deciding whether I should have this fixed by Browning under warranty - I did once and it didn't work. The rifle was glass bedded at the factory, and the forearm was cut at the factory such that the barrel should have free-floated, but didn't. The correction the local gunsmith provided (under warranty) kind of worked, but only temporarily. If no amount of repair will fix this problem, Browning may have to replace the stock. Right?

If the answer to the above is no (i.e. even if fixed, will still warp), then I will probably look at having the gun professionally bedded.

Moreover, if the quality of fix provided so far under of warranty is any indication of future repair, I'm not certain I want this fixed under warranty again. :rolleyes:
 
Are you in a hurry to use it ? If you knew a good gunsmith who would do it as I mentioned I'd let him do it and forget about Browning. Let the gunsmith do it late summer which will give the wood a chance to stabilize.The other option is to request a new stock ,maybe a synthetic one if you worried about warping now !! :)
 
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