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To Float or Not to Float…..

Pros:
-It can and does work.
-It can stiffen the fore end of your rifle.
-Debris wont enter the gap between the barrel and bedding.

Cons:
-More material is needed. This may cost more in money and time as well as added weight.
-If you need to change the barrel, you may need to buy another stock, or mill out the bedding for the original stock then rebed for the new barrel.
-This one is a guess, but I'm thinking your barrel won't cool as fast when it gets heated up. There's less air flow…so….

I have not tried this method of bedding. Mainly because I've not need to go to such measures to keep searching for a better group. It is a valid method though and I've even seen a how-to video from Brownells instructing on this technique of bedding.
 
I have 2 rifles that are full length neutral barrel bedded and they are both very accurate and consistent. And all my other rifles are full length floated. They also shoot very well. It's kinda funny the looks I get when I tell people I have full length bedded barrels and they insist it will never shoot properly! One of the rifles is a mountain hunting gun and I can crank anything at 500M when I need to (never had to, but can)! Consistent. Shoot that one day, put the rifle in the case, come back next day, dial scope, repeat. That is an example of consistency. And dependability.
 
Ltbullken said:
I have 2 rifles that are full length neutral barrel bedded and they are both very accurate and consistent. And all my other rifles are full length floated. They also shoot very well. It's kinda funny the looks I get when I tell people I have full length bedded barrels and they insist it will never shoot properly! One of the rifles is a mountain hunting gun and I can crank anything at 500M when I need to (never had to, but can)! Consistent. Shoot that one day, put the rifle in the case, come back next day, dial scope, repeat. That is an example of consistency. And dependability.
Click to expand...


You just described my hunt'n rifle! Short shot strings without a "cooling" break, give consistent, small (ish) groups. Remains consistent season to season…..year to year! memtb
 
50 plus years ago my custom rifle maker told me "son you free float a sewer pipe not a rifle barrel." That's about the time when you bought a new rifle you took a dollar bill and slid it between the stock and barrel and if it hung up you took the stock off and used a half round file to open the barrel channel until it was free floated. I still have 2 boxes of Brownells acurglass stock bedding kits on the shelf in my loading room. My how things have changed!
 
akmtnhnt said:
The fieldcraft came full length bedded from the factory. Forbes did that to his rifles to.

Idk anyone that does anymore. I wonder if the super thin pencil barrels do benefit from jt.
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I bought a Browning "pencil barrel" 22-250 barreled action in the 1970's. Floated it, full-length glass bedded it. Multiple load development attempts. The Salo L579 action now sports a custom Lilja medium heavy barrel after blueprinting. Finally shots like a 22-250 should. 1970's machining? Last barrel off a wornout reamer? Who knows?? My friend, master gunsmith, Dave Young, developed his "blocked" design when paired with a premium barrel provides the accuracy I demand. No more pencil barrels or full glass bedding for me, just one hole groups.
 
memtb said:
that is the question!

* Your mission, should you choose to accept it……answer the questions! 😉

It seems that I've never seen a post whereas "full-length" bedding is recommended!

My hunting rifle has "full-length" bedding, which was offered as an option when I had it built. I think that it shoots pretty good…..considering the " loose nut" behind the trigger.

* Am I the only one that shoots a rifle with "full-length" bedding…..it seems that way.

* Have any of you experimented with full- length bedding? If so, your results.

* If you have not tried it….Why? Are you simply following the path of everyone else, or is a "free floated" barrel always the best path to take?

Thanks for any and all responses! memtb
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Never tried fully bedding a barrel or bedding just the first few inches in front of the lug either. Bedding should accomplish securing the action in a stress free manner. And anything touching the barrel can change harmonics in a varying way due to a ever changing environment.This is what I believe anyway.
The only reason to bed in front of lug is if the barrel is super long and heavy, To support it, a one inch spot a couple of inches back from the end of the forearm. Supposedly, I've never had to do that or tested it. But it makes sense.
 
Last edited:
HRM Johnny said:
This has been a very interesting read so far. Thank you for starting it, Todd.
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You're Welcome!

I started this because, it appears that one of the first things mentioned in Accurizing a rifle is to free- float.

I've had both, but am pretty impressed with my "full-length" bedded rifle!

Hence…..my post! memtb
 
I run free floated on most of my bolt action barrels, but I have a factory lh m700 bdl 300rum that likes its pressure point, so that has stayed. My m700 lh 7stw is pretty much full custom other than the action itself at this point, but I've felt bedded the Shilen barrel even though it's a #5. I was worried about hogging out the stock enough for a free float. She'll dump 3 in an inch at 200 whenever you ask with a big chunk of felt hiding under the barrel most of its length.
 
memtb said:
that is the question!

* Your mission, should you choose to accept it……answer the questions! 😉

It seems that I've never seen a post whereas "full-length" bedding is recommended!

My hunting rifle has "full-length" bedding, which was offered as an option when I had it built. I think that it shoots pretty good…..considering the " loose nut" behind the trigger.

* Am I the only one that shoots a rifle with "full-length" bedding…..it seems that way.

* Have any of you experimented with full- length bedding? If so, your results.

* If you have not tried it….Why? Are you simply following the path of everyone else, or is a "free floated" barrel always the best path to take?

Thanks for any and all responses! memtb
Click to expand...

I have a couple of rifles that I full length bedded many years ago. At the time, I hunted a lot of brushy, woody and tall grassy areas, and I became tired of the debris that would fall into the tiny gap between the barrel and stock. Sometimes after a few days of hunting, I would remove the action/barrel and would be horrified by the amount and were the debris accumulated and the moisture it held had already begun to cause small pits of rust. I ended that!

Those rifles did have their handloads modified to improve their accuracy afterwards, and given they had walnut stocks, extreme temp changes did cause the impacts to change slightly. A more typical day temp swings had no impact on POI, and since the stocks were well sealed inside and out, moisture had little impact on POI.

Many of my wood stocked rifles have partial bedding that typically ends an inch or two in front of the chamber.
 
Laguna Freak said:
If I'm not mistaken, all NULA rifles are full length bedded. They are built to exact alignment and to deliver 1 shot on target. 2 at most. The idea being the skinny barrel never gets hot enough to deflect off the stock. Personally, I like my barrels to float fore of an inch forward from the recoil lug.
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My Forbes w/ Shaw barrel is full length bedded. I can send a 3 shot string on a 500M target with no problems.
 
i bought a savage 243 back in the early 80's that shot .5" out of the box. I decided to try bedding the barrel at the last 1" of the stock. Same load shot one hole and placed in the top 3 in club rifle shoots thereafter. It was the only rifle that i tried that on which liked it. The rest free floated.
With that said, i recently bought a cooper m21 used that shot .6 and it was only bedded from the front of the recoil lug forward about 1" under the barrel. I fully bedded the action and recoil lug and removed all bedding under the barrel. The same load immediately started shooting under .1
 

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