Sporter Weight Barrels - Float or no?

[AzDak42]

So I have a couple of 700s that I've dropped into a B&C Alaskan stock and had very good luck. My desire to tinker though is slowly starting to make me want to play around with it.

The B&C Alaskan's have an aluminum block that the action is bolted into, it's a pretty solid setup. And while the barrel channel is clear, there is a bit of material at the stock tip that puts some upward pressure on the barrel.

Once in the stock with good triggers, these rifles shoot pretty dang well for a hunting rifle.

But I've read a bit about folks removing the tip and floating the barrel. For some reason, having consistent pressure on the barrel was supposed to be a good thing on a lot of sporter weights.

What do folks think.. Should I clear out the barrel channel and fully float it? Redhawkrifles floats theirs, which are stock 700s dropped into the B&C stocks... so I'm thinking it shouldn't hurt.

 

[PJGunner]

"Once in the stock with good triggers, these rifles shoot pretty dang well for a hunting rifle."

Bring a confirmed tinkerer myself I sometime wonder? Should I try this? What if it screws things up and the accuracy goes to pot?Then there are the times, rare I'll admit was I obey Murphy's Second Law. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it's a rifle I really like and it meets my standard for usable accuracy, I just may leave it be. I once bought a Ruger M77 RSI, the one with the Mannlicher style stock. The guy I bought it from sold it cheap because he was honest enough to tell my it was totally inaccurate. He was a reloader and said dhe tried just about every combo of powder and bullet that just might work and nothing but patterns. To make a long story short he was right. groups were 4 and 5". Sometimes I get stubborn and after two years work of experiments using what were considered accurate powders for the .308, I started working with powders considered not so appropriate for the cartridge. I ended up using W760 which it a bit too slow for use with 165 gr. bullets in the .308 but groups were a consistant 1.5". That's what I used for several years. One day I was thinking, "It looks like that metal cp is touching the barrel. I wonder what would happen if I relieved that contact slightly?" Well, I screwed up the couragae to take my Dremel and a Cratex tip and polish it out just enough that contact was gone. I took it to the range and groups with that load now run in the 1.25" range consistantly. I could take Mule Deer out to 250 yards with that rifle at 1.5" groups so the slight gain is just gravy. A 250 yard laser measured deer is the longest shot I've taken with that rifle and frankly with a muzzle velocity of only 2550 FPS, I don't think I'd want to shoot as something too much past that distance anyway. I figured on that RSI that if relieving the nose cap messed up accuracy, I could just buy another from Ruger. I dunno if relieving your forearm tip can easily be replaced with some glass bedding or not.
I do have a Winchester M70 Stainless Classic .338 Win. mag. that has the worst POS Tupperware stock I've ever see. Even relieving the tip on that one didn't help. Never saw a forearm on a rifle that flexed as bad as that one. I'm thinking of putting it in a McMillan stock, just have to save up the pennies to git-r-done. :lol:
Paul B.

 

[HeathSexton]

All mine are floated, even my pencil barreled Mountain Rifle and Titanium 700. It probably sounds crazy but the 1st thing I do is float, 2nd is trigger and bed if needed. After that I shoot them and that goes for Savage, Ruger, Remington, Winchester, whatever.


I have 2 B&C Medalists, one in my Win 70 7wsm and the other on my Mark V 300Wby. The one on the Win shot great and then accuracy fell to pieces. I pulled it apart and the tang must have not been formed correct because it was beat to pieces from recoil. After I bedded it accuracy was better than before. That may be one area to be careful of on the Medalists.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I have them both ways. It just depends on which way they shoot better. My Sako 85 .338 Federal came from the factory floated. My Browning high power .257 Roberts custom is free floated. My custom Model 70 .270 Win and my custom Mauser 7mm Mag both are fully bedded.

I can't say one way or the other, based on these rifles which way is better. Mine all shoot well. You have to find what your rifle likes and go with that.

 

[DrMike]

Each weapon system is an entity unto itself. I have some that are floated; I have some that are not. All mine shoot well, and that is the final criterion for determining whether to float or not.

 

[BeeTee]

Except for bedding the first 1-3 inches of the barrel forward of the action, I lean toward free-floating every rifle.

Differing thermal expansion rates between steel barrels/actions and even the best composite stocks mean the fore-end pressure could change. Walnut stocks can warp over time or due to changes in temperature/humidity. Action screw torque can alter barrel-pad contact pressure. In short, too many variables that can interfere with a longish shot that might just be a very important shot (aren't they all?).
BT

 

[OU812]

I have free floated every Remington 700 I have ever owned, and all shot much tighter groups more consistently after the free float. I did the same with my 340 which is in a B&C medalist stock and it too shoots very accurate.

 

[SJB358]

I have free floated every Remington 700 I have ever owned, and all shot much tighter groups more consistently after the free float. I did the same with my 340 which is in a B&C Medalist stock and it too shoots very accurate.

Same here, the only rifles that aren't floated are my Pre 64 338 and my M700 35 Whelen, both shoot well fully bedded, but I wouldn't fear them shooting worse being floated either.

 

[Razorbacker]

Well Bullet must be hunting Bears or something or he would have weighed in on this. He and I are of like mind on this Remington "pressure point issue. We have been lambasted elsewhere on the web over this.
But, in OUR EXPERIENCE it has worked well for us. I bought my first 700 in circa 80 something and my gunsmith, who was going to bed it highly touted it. I still have that one and it shoots great. I bought my 8MM RM used. It has the pressure point from the factory, built in '77.
They used to say that a free floated barrel was nothing but a cost saving measure by the factory. But things are different now i guess. Personally, free floating would be my last thought unless there was obvious weird stock contact with the barrel. Now my first 700 is full length bedded but free floated from the chamber area up to that upward pressure point near the end. My rifle is a .30 '06 ADL. I have no idea what Remington is doing these days or what they've ever done with a bull barrel, etc.
Obviously if you free float and things go to pot you could always reintroduce the pressure point.

 

[SJB358]

Easiest way is to use a credit card or something similar under the recoil lug to "fake float" it before you actually take out the pressure point. If it shoots like that, then it is probably worth the work to do the full float and bedding while your in there. If it doesn't shoot better, take the card out and tq it back to stock.

JD and Fotis taught me this trick a few years ago and I have done it to every gun before I jumped in a floated them. Worth the little time and effort involved.

 

[1Shot]

Been fooling with Rem. 700s over 35 years and it has come down to this. The first thing I do before I even shoot one is to free float the barrel and adjust the trigger to 2 1/2 pounds. Most will shoot really good with nothing else with the right load. Some, especially the wood stock ones need glass beading.

 

[Guy Miner]

First thing I do is go shoot 'em.

If it's "good enough" I leave it alone. It's usually plenty good enough.

Guy

 

[Horsethief]

I agree with shooting it first and finding out just how good it can be before making the barrel float. Every barrel is different and some barrels of mine do fine with a little contact on the fore end, but floating between the receiver and the end of the stock. Others are full floating from the receiver out to the end of the stock. You won't know until you go there.

 

[Oldtrader3]

My experience with Remington's has been to skim bed the action and stabilize the lugs so that they can not rotate from side to side. Once that has been done, they shoot pretty well.

 

[BK]

Easiest way is to use a credit card or something similar under the recoil lug to "fake float" it before you actually take out the pressure point. If it shoots like that, then it is probably worth the work to do the full float and bedding while your in there. If it doesn't shoot better, take the card out and tq it back to stock.

JD and Fotis taught me this trick a few years ago and I have done it to every gun before I jumped in a floated them. Worth the little time and effort involved.

I wonder if the aluminum bedding block would get wonky if you tried this?

 

[Oldtrader3]

I keep a peel able stack of shim stock in my tool box for just such occasions. It is worth the few bucks to buy a stack and have it, when you need it.

 

[BK]

Great idea Charlie!