Cummins, As Ruger #1 stated, the forend hanger does NOT contact the barrel. Before you do ANYTHING to the forend, other than to check to see if the mounting screw is snug, you ought to shoot the rifle with two or more different loads to see how it does, as is. If accuracy is unacceptable, then the next thing to do is to remove the forend and cut a shim to fit between the hanger and the forend to do a quick & dirty free-float job on it. You'll have to play with the shim thickness to make sure it's thick enough to free float it even at the tip of the forend, where there is usually a raised area to put pressure against the barrel at the forend tip.
Although, I've seen a couple of #1's that turned into shooters just by reducing the forend tip pressure, rather than eliminating it altogether. The purpose of the upwards pressure is to damp out the barrel harmonics generated when the rifle is fired. If you read up on Ruger #1 accurizing, you'll come across quite a few references to installing a screw in the forend hanger that pushes upwards on the barrel. The advantage to this system, rather than depending on the forend to bear upwards on the barrel, is that the pressure will remain constant and not be subject to changing due to small dimensional changes in the wooden forend cause by ambient atmospheric conditions (expansion, contraction, and warpage caused by humidity and temperature).
In addition, the screw can be adjusted to "tune" the barrel to shoot its best with certain ammo or loads. But, my personal preference, if it won't shoot as is, is to totally free float the barrel, rather than installing the adjustment screw. The barrel pressure adjustment screw is a last resort technique, IMHO.
I hope this helps rather than confuses.
