I've heard of pillar or glass bedding and heard of floating the barrel. What are the differences here?
The purpose of bedding is to eliminate any relative motion between the action and the stock. As a general rule, this helps improve accuracy.
The purpose of floating is to eliminate changes in Point of Impact due to the barrel being pushed off center as the barrel heats or as the stock changes shape, however slightly, due to changes in ambient temperature or humidity. While floating the barrel generally helps maintain a more consistent POI, it sometimes does so at the expense of accuracy.
My first centerfire was a Ruger M77 in 7mm Rem Mag in 1982. When I tried to sight it in, even though I didn’t let the barrel get hot, the POI kept shifting up and to the left. The barrel was pressure bedded with a bump in the wood under the barrel at the tip of the forearm. Floating the barrel permanently eliminated that problem. Accuracy may have decreased, although it hasn’t hurt anything from a hunting standpoint and the rifle still shoots under MOA.
Since then I have floated all my barrels but have never bothered to bed an action.
One guy told me, of which I'm not sure if I remember correctly, that to float the barrel you have to remove excess wood around the stock near the barrel so you can slide a dollar bill down without it touching. I've also heard some people say a dollar isn't thick enough and 2 one-dollar bills should be used instead.
If I can get a single dollar bill to go, I’m good. If you find over time that you can no longer do so you need to remove more of the stock.
How do I float the barrel of my Remington 700 .270 with synthetic stock? I tried sliding a thin piece of regular paper and noticed I don't have sufficient room to do it. Also, I have yet to fire this gun as I just bought it, so I'm a newbie with this model and caliber... as well as synthetic stocks.
You will need tools to remove the action form the stock, sandpaper, a round cylindrical object of an appropriate size, and some polyurethane to seal the freshly exposed wood. I have everything already lying around so I figure a few drops of poly and a sheet of sandpaper.
For the cylindrical object I use Hi-Liters, permanent or dry erase markers, whatever is handy.
1. Determine where the barrel touches the stock. Usually this will be a bump at the tip of the forearm.
2. Remove the stock.
3. Make a “U” shape with the sandpaper and place the marker in the bottom. Sand the barrel channel with this tool.
4. Replace the stock in the action and see if a dollar bill will slide all the way to the action. If not, repeat steps 1-3 until successful.
5. Remove the action form the stock and seal the wood with polyurethane. Allow to dry.
6. Replace the stock and verify you can still slide the dollar bill under the barrel to the stock. If so, DONE!
I'm starting to think floating and bedding are different. In fact, now thinking about it, it is. LOL! I think it's a job for a gunsmith to do, right?
I'd appreciate your feedback and replies please.
Snareman
Bedding is something I’ve never had done but they do make good kits for it. If you’re not handy with your hands you might want to let a pro do it.
Floating the barrel is very easy, no reason not to do it yourself.
