What do you mean by stress relieving the barrel? I'm not too worried about it, just curious as to why it may occur. It's not as significant with my hunting ammo.
During the process in which a BBL is made...especially hammer forged bbls.....uneven stress due to the way the steel molecules lay within the bbl build up ( at this point maybe one of the"pocket protector" gang could better explain stress). BBL makers take steps...some times multiple times , to relieve this stress.
As your bbl heats up when you shoot it, uneven stress can cause a bbl to bend as it heats up and swells. It will bend the same direction every time. It happens faster the thinner the bbl is due to the fact that the lighter bbl heats up quicker.
Like I said, there are guys here who could better explain "stress" in a bbl. All I know is that heat induced stress is a "thing", and I have seen it first hand it in the past...and ALWAYS with a factory tube..never with a custom.
First thing you need to do is test and make sure.
There are two cures. One: replace the bbl. This is the way I would go...UNLESS....the guns shoots very good. Two: Take the bbl off and have it stress relieved. They used to "freeze" them to fix them. I am not sure what the current process is now. I remember 300 Below Inc. from years ago used to do it for around 50-60 bucks. Don't even know if they are stil in buisness anymore.
As far as a bedding job.....I would do that too.....every thing I own has been bedded. If you are going to do this anyway, you may as well get it done first. That way when you test again, bedding will be ruled out as the culprit to your 2 and 1's. Money well spent!!!
As always, my .02!
Tod