barrel bedding a 6.5x55

[Rick65Cat]

I have a 1913 6.5x55 Swedish mauser that I recently did an action bedding job on. It shoots much better than prior to the bedding job. After shooting a 1 and a 1/2" five shot group at 100 yrds, I loosened the front screw and put two business cards between the barrel and the very end of the stock. Then shot another 5 shot group and tightened the grouping even more down to 1 inch.
The rifle is in a military stock that was sporterized, and the barrel cut back to 18 1/2".
Now I've read countless threads about "free floating" the barrel, but when it shoots better with the barrel tight to the stock...whats a guy to do?

Thoughts?

 

[eastbank]

stop chasing the unicorn and start hunting with that rifle.it seems we all chase the MOA or better unicorn, but the plain fact is if your hunting rifle will put three shoots into a 1-1.5 group at 100 yds, you have one hell of a hunting rifle on you hands. two of my to go deer rifles are at best 1-1.5 " three shot groups from a cold barrel and i,ve killed a ton of deer with both. now if you are shooting field mice it may matter. eastbank.

 

[Rick65Cat]

Ok, thanks.

 

[mrh477]

I'd think you have to shoot it a lot both with the barrel floating and with upward pressure on the fore end before you can determine which is better. It takes a lot of rounds to really understand the accuracy of a rifle. So many people go to the range, shoot a single MOA group and then claim they have an MOA rifle. But that isn't entirely accurate. It isn't an MOA rifle unless it shoots those groups CONSISTENTLY. There are enough factors at play that I'd venture to say you need to shoot at least a couple boxes of ammunition before you can be confident in the capabilities of your rifle.

With that said, since the barrel is free floating now, leave it as is. Shoot the rifle a lot. See how it performs over time. 1.5" groups at 100 yards is fine for a hunting rifle. If, after you've put enough rounds through the rifle, you want to experiment, then start messing around with upward pressure on the barrel.

Point is, it takes time and a lot of ammunition. A single group means nothing.

 

[Newtosavage]

I have/had the same question for my Ruger 77 RSI (full length stock). I found it shot better groups with some up pressure on the barrel from the stock. However, I really need to heed eastbank's advice and just leave well enough alone, now that I have it consistently shooting 1.5" groups at 100 yards and 4-5" groups at 300.

It's hard for me to stop tinkering though, because I want it to shoot as accurately as my Savage rifles do. But I know in my head that I should just leave it alone and go hunting. I carried a Win. 94 30-30 for many years that was a 1.5" gun on it's good days. I lost count of how many deer and hogs I killed with that gun, so I know how deadly a rifle can be even if it's not an MOA gun.

 

[eastbank]

i have a ruger # 1 in 35 whelen that i,m itchen to get a load worked up for and i hope i can get it to shoot 225gr bullets at 2500-2600fps into 1.5" three shot groups. its a A and pretty light. eastbank.