free floating fore end on Thompson Center need help

[S & W 642]

i need to know how to free float the barrell. I have a 7mm-08 ss encore. I use the rubber grips and fore end. I put  1 o ring on the screw but still cant get a dollar bill to slide. Also how tight should the fore end screws be or does this matter.

[Davemuzz]

Steemer1,

I took one of the spacers from an Uncle Mikes T\C sling swivel set http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=177496 that I had and Dremeled it in half. Then I took a file and contoured it to fit the barrel and front part of the forend, then "goop" glued it to the forend.

The barrel has very good seperation from the forend and it passes the "dollar bill" test with flying colors. I have found that using a rubber washer doesn't work well for me. When I get the barrel hot, the washer will have a tendency to "melt" under the pressure of the screw, and then usually break in at least one place. So, I find a solid spacer seems to work the best.

In order to do this I had to get longer screws. You can usually find longer screws at Brownells or if you have a local gunsmith, he may be able to help you.

Dave.

[Flash]

I never used nothing but faucet washers on my forends with excelent results for both Contender and Encore. I bought a box of longer screws from the hardware store. I believe they were 8x32 socket head cap screws and cost about $8 for 100 of them.