Free floated barrel

[HORN-HUNTER]

Whats the diff. in a floated barrel & non ?

[cayugad]

My understanding is the more points of pressure on a barrel in relation to the stock barrel fit, the more inclined they MAY be to effect their over all accuracy potential. Although there are a lot of rifles without a floating a barrel that are outstanding shooters.

The Black Diamond by Thompson Center is free floating for example. Take a dollar bill, and you can slip it between the barrel and the stock all the way to the first locking lug. My Knight Disc on the other hand can not do that, but the accuracy is still exceptional. Although I might point out on the Disc, the stock to barrel fit is excellent. You actually seat the barrel into the stock, almost like it was bedded.

I am not a target shooter so all I can say is, the Black Diamond I have is a great shooter. But then so is the Knight rifles, Whites, even my CVA...

[zuren1cs]

I did some reading on the subject recently and cayugad pretty much hit it on the head. Guys that go to the n-th degree to float their barrel (if the gun didn't come that way) and other such modifications (glass bedding)are those who think a 1" group at 100 yds.is too sloppy and they want better accuracy. The argument is after every shot, there is the recoil and associated vibrations in the barrel. A free floating barrel will come to rest in the same place each time, every time. A barrel that has points in contact with the stock can come to rest differently each time it is fired, theoretically affecting accuracy. I believe glass bedding puts a good portion of the barrel in contact with the stock, so it never has the opportunity to move. These are people that want 1/4-1/2" groups at 200 yds. or more. I'm not a high performance, long distance competition targetshooter so I didn't see the point in continuing the research or looking into having the modifications done. I have a ML on order so I can't comment but my non-floated .270 Win will shoot a 1" group or less all day long. If my bullets are landing close enough to the cross-hairs tokill a deer, I'm happy. Just depends on what you want!