Free float vs. pressure bedded Rem 700s

[John828]

Anyone out there free float their 700s versus staying with the pressure point at the front of the stock?

Background: I bought a Remington 78 a few weeks ago, and the accuracy isn't as good as I would like. Barrel is clean, scope is tight, so now I am thinking about taking some sandpaper to the barrel channel. Any other ideas?

 

[Detritus]

It kind of depends on the stock, and to some extent the individual rifle whether free-floating will help or not.

a stock that is stable, has good contact with the receiver (preferably bedded in some manner), and at least moderately stiff free-floating should work well.

If the stock is overly flexible (like the plastic stocks on most of Remington's budget priced rifles), and/or does not have firm stable contact with the receiver, it pretty much won't matter what you do to the barrel channel, the rifle will never shoot up to it's potential.

My personal experience is with a 700 SPS-V that came in that god-awful injection molded black plastic POS stock that Remington ships their baseline SPS models in. Which has neither pillars or bedding block. If I babied it and shot it like some finicky benchrest rifle I could get a 1-1.5" group out of it. Widened the barrel channel to a free-floated condition, groups became more consistent.. at 1-1/4" every time.
Bought a new stock that was both rigid and had a bedding block (B&C A2) and now if I have a group larger than 1" it's me not the rifle.

 

[jmr40]

With a standard weight or heavy barrel free floating almost always helps. Never hurts. In rare cases some thin barrels shoot a little better with pressure.

 

[gamestalker]

I have an SPS with a weak stock, that rifle wouldn't shoot better than 1" out of the box with any of my hand loads. I floated the barrel, but the stock was just so flimsy that it didn't help at all, way too much flex. So I glassed the fore end to stiffen it up, kept the barrel floated, and now it shoots one ragged hole. 7mm RM, stainless, 26" barrel, Leupold 3.5x10x40 VXIII, Zee rings. If I had to do it all over again, I would just buy another stock, still might if accuracy ever goes south on it.

GS

 

[John828]

I have heard the new synthetic stocks were flimsy. This one is set in an ADL wood stock. I think I am going to just sand off the pressure point at the forearm and then test it free floated. Then I can work backwards with shims if accuracy favors pressure.

 

[climbnjump]

With a standard weight or heavy barrel free floating almost always helps. Never hurts. In rare cases some thin barrels shoot a little better with pressure.

Yes, in fact in Weatherby's FAQ's can be found this Q&A:

Why are some Weatherby® rifles “free floated” and some are not?

We have found through our testing that barrels having a smaller outside diameter than our #3 contour require upward pressure to help stabilize the barrel for increased accuracy. Our free floated barrels have enough rigidity in the barrel for them to be free floated.

 

[mr.trooper]

Why are you so sure the problem is with the rifle?

 

[tuj]

change the ammo first. try a lot of different high-end offerings in different weights before you blame the rifle.

 

[gamestalker]

If it were me, and I've done it with every rifle I own, I free float them. I have several wood stock 700's, all have been free floated, and they shoot some pretty impressive groups that they wouldn't prior to all the pressure being relieved. But with a cheap synthetic stock, if it flexes, you are in for some other options to obtain good results, in which replacing the stock is the best and easiest solution.

GS

 

[itsa pain]

With a standard weight or heavy barrel free floating almost always helps. Never hurts. In rare cases some thin barrels shoot a little better with pressure.

That is what I have found on many rifles and never saw floating the barrel made it worse. Also someone said it will not make a difference of cheap flimsy synthetic stock I have foung the opposite. Savages I have had after I relieved the stock to float the barrel with flimsy stock shot very good but when I put a bipod on the front swivel the stock was pushed up touching the barrel so I had to relieve it until it cleared

 

[Andrew Leigh]

I have heard the new synthetic stocks were flimsy. This one is set in an ADL wood stock. I think I am going to just sand off the pressure point at the forearm and then test it free floated. Then I can work backwards with shims if accuracy favors pressure.

John,

just to relate my journey on removing the "bedding dimples". Although a different rifle and calibre the principle remains. I have a .375 Sako and I decided to remove the two dimples at the front and to bed the action as is my habit on all rifles new to me. I believed that the pressure on the barrel would alter due to variable moisture levels depend on seasonal changes, which can be extreme this side of the pond.

So off they came and the rifle was even worse. We were stumped, we removed the bedding and re-bedded, this time also pillar bedding, still no joy. I remarked to my shooting buddy that is sounded like I was being slapped by a wet fish every time I let a shot go, he said he also thought the rifle sounded funny almost as if we had a cracked stock for which the Sako's had a bit of a reputation for, but no the stock was good. We developed new and different loads believing the problem to lay with the loads. At one point I had been loading with powder A and my mate had knocked together some rounds of his favourite recipe with powder B for me. Strangely one powder induced the sound the other not, both loads recorded the same speed.

After plenty of downrange dollars we established that the barrel channel had insufficient clearance / relief. The one powder was actually recoiling more which was both apparent to my shoulder and visually apparent to my shooting buddy, it was this that made us realise in fact this "noise" was the sound of the barrel making contact with the forearm.

We used the "noise" as a guide to figure out how much to remove, and then we removed some. The raised points at the front had previously kept the barrel from whipping but once removed, the barrel was making variable contact with the forearm. We started working the channel and as the clearance increased the results improved. We eventually took the barrel out to 1.5mm clearance (0.060") before she settled down.

Now you may not have to go to that extreme, the barrel channel relief is based in three factors, the barrel profile (how heavy the barrel is), the calibre (how severe the recoil is) and then finally the rigidity of the forearm. In my case I had a light barrel, heavy calibre and slim forearm.

My CZ550's in 6.5mm and 30-06 have barrel relief of circa 0.040" for a point of reference on lighter recoiling rifles.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have free floated both my Remington 700s but both are small caliber rifles.

The first is chambered in 221 Remington Fireball. It's accuracy was never bad but I wanted to see if it could be improved and it was to be a mind expanding project. I glass bedded the action and free floated the barrel and did improve the accuracy. This rifle has a wood stock.

The second is a light varminter in 17 Remington. It never shot great and accuracy would go to pot after a few rounds as the barrel heated up. This one, I only relieved the barrel channel in the synthetic stock. Accuracy greatly improved to under an inch MOA but the heating issue is still there. But, I get a few more shots out of the gun before I need to let it cool.

In both cases, I made sure the barrel was free from the stock by running a piece of paper of card stock down the barrel between the barrel and the barrel channel.

Just two data points but I hope it helps.

 

[John828]

Thanks for the replies. I sanded off the pressure pad two nights ago and sealed the wood. I am going to the range Tuesday with temporary shims if needed.

 

[witchhunter]

I have bedded all of my 700's and all have improved, some more than others. Even the new SPS. I'm a believer in bedding and trigger on any new bolt action right off the bat.