Unusual M39 shim under front barrel band

Irons78

Irons78

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Hi all - see pics of an unusual shim on an M39. It appears to be a cardstock of some sort. It's applied to the right side of the barrel and extends a few mm above the junction of the main stock and handguard and to maybe "7 o'clock" on the bottom the barrel. As a result, the barrel is not free floating under the front barrel band. The rest of the barrel is free floating within the channel all the way back to the receiver. Anyone else ever seen this shim type on an m39?

https://imgur.com/a/dDTjtfS
https://imgur.com/DMNqlbR
 
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How does the barrel sit in the stock with that shim removed? It should be perfectly centered and fit the contour of the channel with a few pounds of up-pressure from the forend tip. That's how any Finn short rifle I've ever owned was bedded (also Soviet PU Snipers). That shim may suggest a bit of forend warpage with someone playing with shims to try and improve grouping?

milsurpo
 
Not M39, but Lee Enfield - WWII instructions to armourers is available - I think they wanted 0.030" clearance around the barrel (so from main stock AND from hand guard) except where front of receiver is solid to main stock and several pounds "up pressure" at forearm tip. I believe target shooters improved on the basic military bedding, AFTER the War. I think with "mid-bedding" and "packing", the complete "free floating" of the barrel went away. One of my more accurate 243 Win was epoxy bedded solidly from rear receiver tang to front of forearm (a Remington 788). Many very accurate rifles have "smoked and scraped" fitment of stock to barrel - so "free floating" is only one way to get a very accurate set-up - but "free float" is probably the quickest and the least manual labour involved. But that "solidly bedded" also relies on the stock wood not taking on or giving off water - shooter does not want that stock to warp - "bedding went sour" - from the days when GrandPa cut down the tree; Dad dried it, GrandSon carved it into a stock - so "decades" of prep for a rifle stock
 
milsurpo said:
How does the barrel sit in the stock with that shim removed? It should be perfectly centered and fit the contour of the channel with a few pounds of up-pressure from the forend tip. That's how any Finn short rifle I've ever owned was bedded (also Soviet PU Snipers). That shim may suggest a bit of forend warpage with someone playing with shims to try and improve grouping?

milsurpo
Click to expand...
With the shim removed, the barrel has more clearance on the right side than the left - I'm not sure if there is very slight warpage, or if the action is not seated perfectly in the inletting. The barrel is completely free floated from the handguard ring to the fore end, and then there is some slight resistance, however the paper strip will pass through...its like there is just the slightest contact of the fore end and barrel. The only shim in the inletting in a square metal piece just after the stock crossbolt. When the barreled action is in the stock (no action screws), there is a good 3mm or so of horizontal movement. So I suspect the action screws are absorbing the recoil - an issue to address. I think shimming the recoil lug recess is in order to take up the play.

PS - I found that posting from June by Smith Sights and it's starting to make sense.
 
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