Do you guys have walnut, synthetic, or laminated forends? I bought a laminated stock set from EA brown Co. I tried the stainless washers at first. One under each barrel lug. No trouble at all with the factory screws. After taking the forend off a couple times the loose washers seemed to be a pain in the butt.
After a little thought I got out the old sandpaper and opened up the barrel channel. Wasn't too big of a job. I opened it up so the only contact between the barell and the forend was at the barrel lugs. Open the channel up so you can slide a dollar bill between the barrel and the forend. The only place it should bind up is at the barrel lugs. Then make sure you seal the wood back up with some type of varnish or sealer.
Being that my gun is a muzzleloader when I was through I had to make up a liitle washer to put under the screw head. Seems the screws were long by a thread and bound up the ramrod. This was solved by handmaking plastic washers out of a plastic laundry detergent bottle. I drilled the hole slightly smaller than the screw then theaded it on. Used it between the head of the screw and the forend. Worked perfect.
The results of this project. It seemed to tighten up my group size but only slightly. The point of impact was about 2 1/2" lower after I floated the barrel. The windage didn't seem to change at all. There must have been a pretty good amount of upward pressure on the barrel prior to floating it.
All in all the project seems to be worth the effort.
