Free Float Remington VL .243? or Not?

[OldSavage]

I shoot with a guy who has a Remington VL in .243 Winchester and he is not getting the accuracy he wants from this specific rifle. The barrel has a pressure point on it, and he has been told before that these rifles shoot better in this configuration rather than free floating.

He has also been told that the pressure point helps to support the heavy barrel, but I do not believe this to be neccessary as my Savage LRPV has a heavy barrel and is completely floated.

He wants to get this thing shooting better as my Savage is showing him up right now and he doesn't like loosing to me, or Savage's for that matter.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[sunray]

"...my Savage is showing him up..." Savage rifles will do that.
Remington's do tend to like a floated barrel, but it's no guarantee. Floating the barrel may or may not improve accuracy. It'd be best to bed the rifle and try floating the barrel. If it doesn't work, putting the pressure point back in is not hard to do. A bit of bedding material an inch or so aft of the end of the forestock will do it. The pressure point is there to control the vibrations of the barrel.
The ammo he's using matters too(so does the trigger). His rifle may not like the ammo he's using as well as a different bullet weight or brand of ammo.
After all that, it could just be him. Can he shoot your Savage as well as you can?

 

[lejarretnoir]

Also that Savage barrel might be alot better than his Rem barrel? You'd be surprised how much difference that makes. It has nothing to do with brand/or action. That's why precision shooters put custom barrels on their rigs in order to get the best accuracy. I've seen alot of Rem 700 barrels put 5 shots into.2" also @ 100yds.

Lately Savage has gained respect with the good barrels they've been installing. That's good for us the consumer. It makes the other mfg's take notice.

 

[OldSavage]

He's shooting handloads with various powders, powder quantities, bullets, and bullet weights. He is just not happy with the performance and would like to tighten the groups up a little.

He shoots my Savage as well as I do but has trouble getting used to the light accutriger (6 oz). He is a better shot than me so the human error factor does not seem likely.