Rem Mountain rifle- free float or pressure point??
- Thread starter bcsteve
- Start date
Both my mountain rifles shot well with the pressure points, infact the first one I had a stainless/laminated version in 260 rem is the most accurate rifle I've ever owned. It averaged just under .70 with all the loads I ever shot out of it including the ones I disgarded.
With the best load using 125 gr partitions it shot well under an inch at 200 yards. I think the pressure point is good with the pencil barrel.
With the best load using 125 gr partitions it shot well under an inch at 200 yards. I think the pressure point is good with the pencil barrel.
- Location
- Vancouver Island BC
I have had more Remington rifles in my life than any other make of firearm,all of them have benefited from the removal of the pressure point and bedding the barrel channel under the chamber.The ones that shot good enough were left alone, but the rifles that didn't perform well got bedded and showed immediate improvement.
i went through some problems with a ruger a while back i free floated it and the group size went for a dump.this rifle was fine before i messed with it.it had alot of pressure on it from the stock and that stabilized and made it shoot well 1.5 and under .floating opened it up to 2.5 to 3 inches with same ammo .lots of hand loading trial and error and it is down again to 1.5.fiberglassed the pressure band back in and it is solid at under an inch.some rifles like float some like pressure trial and error will cost you time and money but it can pay off in the end with a better rifle.if it is a thin barrel i would try pressure band at the front of the stock and match it well to barrel contour.then try it out.
Went to the range this morning with the same unproven load that I had tried last time (44gr of H414 and 120 TSX). After the bedding job the groups shrunk in half which is not great but defenitively an improvement. Like I said, 3-4" shrinking to 1.5-2" is better but I'm hopping load tinkering will bring it closer to 1".
The battery in my digital caliper was dead when I worked up the first load and I loaded them to fit the chamber and the mag with no real consideration for OAL. I'm loading another batch now and I'll start with Barnes recommended 0.50 from land and see where this takes me.
I still have hope!
The battery in my digital caliper was dead when I worked up the first load and I loaded them to fit the chamber and the mag with no real consideration for OAL. I'm loading another batch now and I'll start with Barnes recommended 0.50 from land and see where this takes me.
I still have hope!
I have a 700 Stainless Mountain Rifle with a Tupperware Mountain Rifle profile stock.
I tried it for years free floated, and I sanded out the bumps in the forend. It would shoot well, but it wasn't totally consistent. I chalked that up to the fact that the Tupperware stock was too "floppy".
Then I pressure bedded it one inch behind the forend. I placed a layer of black electrician's tape over the bedding material once it was hard, so the barrel was not resting on something too hard and unforgiving.
The rifle now consistently shoots 1/2 m.o.a. for the first three shots with loads it likes, and this performance is very consistent.
On a number of rifles, I've found that forend bedding works. You just have to try it.
I think that forend bedding is called for when the barrel is unusually whippy, as in a Mountain Rifle contour, or when the stock is not particularly stiff, as in the case of the Tupperware. Another situation is when the barrel is a super-heavy contour, and its weight places unusual stresses on the receiver threads.
Of course, you have to start all of this by bedding the receiver area in the usual way, if you hope to realize any benefits.
I tried it for years free floated, and I sanded out the bumps in the forend. It would shoot well, but it wasn't totally consistent. I chalked that up to the fact that the Tupperware stock was too "floppy".
Then I pressure bedded it one inch behind the forend. I placed a layer of black electrician's tape over the bedding material once it was hard, so the barrel was not resting on something too hard and unforgiving.
The rifle now consistently shoots 1/2 m.o.a. for the first three shots with loads it likes, and this performance is very consistent.
On a number of rifles, I've found that forend bedding works. You just have to try it.
I think that forend bedding is called for when the barrel is unusually whippy, as in a Mountain Rifle contour, or when the stock is not particularly stiff, as in the case of the Tupperware. Another situation is when the barrel is a super-heavy contour, and its weight places unusual stresses on the receiver threads.
Of course, you have to start all of this by bedding the receiver area in the usual way, if you hope to realize any benefits.
With a new bolt action hunting rifle I start by bedding the action and floating the barrel. If this will group under 2 minutes with hunting bullets, I consider it good enough and should be reliable.
If it does not group well, I try a forend pressue point.
I test 5 shot groups with match bullets and a 20X target scope, to reduce test errors.
In a hunting rifle I rank reliablity (repeatability) over absolute accuracy, so prefer a floated barrel in wood stock. Wood changes with time and moisture and the zero can shift with a pressure point. Not an issue with a synthetic stock.
If it does not group well, I try a forend pressue point.
I test 5 shot groups with match bullets and a 20X target scope, to reduce test errors.
In a hunting rifle I rank reliablity (repeatability) over absolute accuracy, so prefer a floated barrel in wood stock. Wood changes with time and moisture and the zero can shift with a pressure point. Not an issue with a synthetic stock.
604shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Neither here nor there.
If you have been reading my comments over a couple of years, in many of these threads, you will notice this is nearly exactly what I have been saying. I point out that in the glory days of shooting, starting after WW 2 and ending sometime in the early 1960s, this method of bedding was nearly universal.
I have added that the amount of pressure on the barrel should be about six pounds, for the average sporting barrel. That is, a spring scale should register about six pounds as the barrel is pulled away from the bedding point.
When shooting was in it's hay-day, there were at least six, glossy US magazines of very large circulation, all with well known gun editors. Every facet of shooting and reloading, was hashed over and over again, by world class shooters and ballistitians.
I now notice that Limbsaver, the maker of the space-age material butt pad for guns, advertises a ring of the famous material, to place around a rifle barrel as a dampener on the barrel. They claim near fantastic results, but it would be interesting to try.
