If you have synthetic stocks, which I assume you do since it was once an handilite, you might want to look into getting the survivor forend. It's harder and can be "opened" up a little with sandpaper and a dowel to "float" it. You could try sanding the standard synthetic forend but it is probably too tight to fit loosely around the barrel without alot of sanding, and I don't know if you can remove enough material to "float it", and if you did it would probably be really flimbsy.
Here's a pic of EK long range's bull barreled 223 with a survivor forend (pic from the nef gallary on the nef misc forum)
Another option, as wlscott said, is to get another set of wood or laminate stocks. They'll be heavier than the synthetic stocks, which might not be a bad thing, especially if this is a bench or varmint rifle.
later,
scruffy
