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How much gap between barrel and stock?
- Thread starter Cholla
- Start date
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It has a radial muzzle brake installed.
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
I'm with you. I've run Sendero barrels in varmint channels, there's NO question about free floating there. Just looked at my comp rifle, it's got about 1/8" clearance most of the channel length.
.020 on a stiff stock
.030+ on a tupperware
.030+ on a tupperware
If you can run a dollar bill down it your good i go all the way to recoil lug
I bed the action and about 1-2" past the recoil lug in a wood stock. I used to gage it with a $100 bill but with today's economy I'm using 5's, 10's and 20's now. It really depends on how rigid the stock is. All you "need" is for the stock not to contact the barrel past the shank during heavy use. Too much gap creates a catch all for mesquite leaves, hooded sweat shirt strings, nylon pack straps and Mars dust. It can also lead to corrosion under the barrel. Not enough gap can lead to scope swaps and load data/component questions and a lot of head scratching.
I measured three business cards at .045". Three ten dollar bills measures at .0095". That's a pretty big range. (I am fresh out of $100 bills and I didn't want to risk tearing my $1000 bills.)
All bills are .0043 thick 1$ and 100$
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I remember seeing dollar bills sticking up around rifle barrels at gun shows as a kid. Seems like every booth had 4-5 rifles displayed that way to show that the barrels were free floating.
jbenevides89
Well-Known Member
I bedded the first 3/4-1" of mine. I think it creates odd pressures at the shank as the action screw torque changes with temps, heat, or just general disassembly and tuning the gun. I since have ground it out and it seems to do better for me. My thought process is that area is not touching on a chassis gun, why should it touch on a stock?
Hugnot
Well-Known Member
Attachment shows GunLine barrel scraper tool (multiple scraping disks)
Many pro smiths use this tool. It, when applied with the wood grain (like not against or across grain) will make for nice smooth level surfaces with a minimum effort. The tool may also be used on plastics like "tupper ware", epoxy, & steel reinforced epoxy. Each hardened steel disk having square sharp corners is separated by rubber washers enabling the sharp edge to flex & scrape into the surface.
My thinking:
Wood swells & contracts with heat & moisture (water) and to maintain an adequate separation of barrel & stock enough space must be provided to allow for stock movement caused by warping & swelling caused by less-than-ideal environmental conditions like using the piece in a steamy jungle after a performing stock work in a dry room & shooting at the local range on nice days. Sport guys needed to shoot the Bongo in the Congo. (I know this guy who got everything except a Bongo in the Congo)
A new trend is rifles is to have a naked barrel completely hanging out there without any stock within .25 inch or more away from the barrel like ugly M-Lock or Key-Lock pipe like fixtures surrounding the barrel -this might show that no barrel/stock contact is needed, or a big gap would serve.
Lightly compressed 3-layer high quality paper towel will measure .035. Yes, this will suck up water & when moved along barrel & stock & will clean out any crud. A light puff of WD40 or moisture (water) displacing spray will serve to clean & dry without staining the finished stock inside. C-M steel rusts. A gap will help barrel cooling.
Laminated & plastic stocks excluding the "tupper ware" type are very stable but can use a .035 gap to allow cleaning. I have epoxy glued wood strips into "tupper ware" stocks to make them stiffer.
What to bed:
I like to epoxy bed the tang, receiver ring, recoil lug, & 1-2 inches of barrel shank in a single application. Rifles having the front screw threaded into the recoil lug benefit from this. Applying 60-inch pounds of torque on a .25-inch bolt/screw having 28 threads per inch can generate over 1200 pounds of force, enough to flex a receiver. Having this force applied thru a recoil lug located at the end of the receiver without a stabilizing support of a strong epoxy bedded barrel shank just in front of the receiver is likely to flex the action - like bend it down - not desired for good accuracy. The wood stock being subject to compression by screw tension & the added area under the barrel shank would provide more surface area for support. I like J-B Weld Steel a 2-tube package will bed a stock for less than $10.
Guns with pipe like forends don't need this - barrels just hanging out from receiver, no front receiver screw. The nice GunLine barrel scraper is a natural for inletting round Rem 700 receivers - possible to do a good job in minutes providing rough inletting is extensive.
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dennisinaz
Well-Known Member
If you are bedding stuck that a dollar bill (~.005") is your defining gap, your barrel will likely slap the stock under recoil and this doesn't do good things for accuracy. Consistency is the name of the game, big gap is best
