okay, makes sense. but more what im interested in is the idea of changing bedding lengths, this should changes the harmonics of the barrel, how much I have no idea, could adding an inch of bedding change your sweetspot from 2900fps to 3000fps with the addition of a couple g of powder of course. or is that wayyyyyyy off reality. would it work but only make a difference of 25fps (sweetspot change).....? also im not sure about the change in length not changing accuracy while using the same load, its almost impossible, the only thing I can see is the 1 1/4 barrel was stiff enough to nearly nullify the amount of harmonics the barrel even had like an 17hmr going through a 1.25 inch barrel wouldn't do much now a 338 lap is a different beast
Any change you make in the bedding will start the whole game over from square one. Unless you get lucky.
Up until the last decade, most of the North American firearms makers made up their stocks, wood or composite with a bedding block to add upwards pressure on the barrel, about 5 cm from the forend tip.
For the most part, this worked pretty well.
These days, everyone is looking for the one hole shooting, off the shelf rifle. We won't go into the foolishness of that. Again, some people get lucky.
If you decide you're going to fool around with the bedding on your rifle, get a mentor to help you out or go onto the internet and Google Glass bedding a rifle action.
It has to be right or it won't work. It isn't difficult but if you have a short attention span, which I doubt, or you're impatient, it is easily screwed up.
Your 338 Lapua is no different a beast than any other rifle. The receiver should be bedded properly and about 5cm in front of it, under the barrel. There should be enough room around the barrel from the bedding to the tip of the forend to allow a thick sheet of paper to slip through easily, without the stock touching the barrel at any point.
Usually the heavier barrels react better to a good bedding job better than a slender barrel.
I had a Rem Mod 7 in 243Win with a pencil thin barrel. Lovely, light little rifle. The tightest group it would shoot was 3 inches at 100 yards. It didn't matter what load I used or bullet weight.
I scraped out the bedding that was there and redid it. No difference, with a free floated barrel.
Finally, I added two pressure bolts into the forestock. I added about 6 pounds of pressure by turning the complet rifle upside down and hanging that much weight from the barrel and tightening up both of the bolts until they just touched. The rifle settled right down and the groups shrank to 1 1/2 inch. I added pressure incrementally to each screw until I managed 1 1/8 inch 5 shot groups.
That rifle was actually very dependable. It behaved come hell, snow or high water. It was a good rifle and a good friend wanted it for his daughter. She shoots the cheapest ammo she can find on sale and maybe cleans it every three boxes. Never cleans out the copper and the rifle still shoots consistently into less than 2 inches, if she does her part right.
She won't let her father reload for the rifle and she won't let him clean out the copper fouling. As far as she's concerned, she never shoots past 300 yards and hasn't missed anything she's shot at yet. It isn't broken, so leave my rifle alone.
