- Joined
- Jan 3, 2003
- Messages
- 20
Should the front sling swivel stud protrude through a wood stock and press on the barrel? I always thought you should be able to slide a dollar bill between the barrel and stock from muzzle back towards the action.
When bolt action wood stocks are made at the factory they are usually set up so the barrel fits tightly in the wood and some upward pressure is supplied by the wood to the front of the barrel.
Rifles were built in the 1950's with free floating barrels. And precision free floated barrels getting best accuracy was championed by the short range benchrest folks and those shooting NRA high power match rifles through 600 yards in the 1950's long before precision long range shooting became possible with good, heavy large caliber hollow point bullets in the 1960's.Free floated barrels started being built in the 1960's for the sole reason to reduce production costs.
Why does that bedding have to extend an inch further under a barrel in a given receiver to the end of the chamber (its mouth) for different cartridge case lengths? A given caliber barrel chambered for a .308 Win. would need its bedding pad half an inch shorter than that of a cartridge case half an inch longer.The really important part is for the receiver bedding to extend into the barrel channel as far as under the whole chamber area and no more if floating helps.
No, they're not free floated. Neither are M1 and M14 barrels. They're all fixed to the gas system that goes back to receiver and bolt parts. M1 and M14 rifles have several pounds of barrel pull down pressure at the stock ferrule so they're definitely not "free floated" at that area. They are "pressure fitted" according to the 'smiths at the USN match conditioning unit that built their Garands for competition.I've often wondered if ARs are considered free floating due to the gas tube making contact with the upper half of the receiver.
"...a free floating barrel will whip and vibrate the same for every shot..." There's absolutely no way to guarantee that will happen. The only thing that is guaranteed is that if a barrel is touching the stock on one side or the other or is inconsistently touching, the shot will not go where you want it.
Free floating barrels guarantees nothing. Some rifles just don't like it. And there's no way of telling without trying it.
The really important part is for the receiver bedding to extend into the barrel channel as far as under the whole chamber area and no more if floating helps.
Well, nobody's disproved it. As long as no external force moves the barrel, it'll whip at exactly the same frequency and harmonics thereof for each shot....a free floating barrel will whip and vibrate the same for every shot..." There's absolutely no way to guarantee that will happen.
What competitive shooting discipline does that?Our point is if the guys chasing accuracy (the target shooting guys getting paid for very small groups)
Wrong. So darned wrong. That's the worst place for bullets to exit on average which they will because of muzzle velocity spread. Same for the stop between the downward and upward movement at the bottom of its swing. In both instances, half the bullets will be shot out in the wrong direction. Can you figure out why? And it is done to change the resonant frequency the barrel whips at; nothing else... which is why the harrell tuner, and like devices, are so common in 22 bench shooting.. so that you change the balance and weight of that barrel tip so that the bullets exit (ideally) at the stop between the upward and downward movement during the oscillation.