Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

I was checking my new mountain rifle and found that there is one area that I can' t run a dollar bill passed. It is right at the front sling swivel area. The stock is raised there and there is two rub marks on the barrel.
Should I free float it ?
Should I leave it ?
Pro' s and con' s ?

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

Have you shot it yet?

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

A pressure point on the barrel may not be a problem as long as it is a consistant one from shot to shot.
As WV Hunter asked: Have you shot it? If it shoots good leave it be.

Just be consistant in your shooting method (sling, bipod etc.) and your groups should not move.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

Don' t touch it! All Remington 700 Mtn. have a small crown on the forearm near the swivel area. How good of groups are you getting from it and what caliber is it? ...[:o]

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

If it were my rifle I would make sure the entire barrel is free floated.
You will get your most consistent accuracy that way. Especially if it is a wooden stock.
Make sure there is enough clearance so when you shoot from a rest the stock is not touching the barrel.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

Exactly. Those rifles are pressure bedded since the barrels are so thin. Sometimes this helps with factory guns. But on most heavy barrels, I don' t see it help but maybe hurt. Go shoot it and then move from there. I had a BDL in 300Win Mag with synthetic that had that factory pressure point as it should when it left the factory. When I took it out and completely free floated, groups got worse. Not by much. If someone pressure beds a gun correctly and equally on all sides, then it actually cuts down on the vibrations a barrel sees and maybe makes ultra lights less finicky to load or temp changes.

I spend some time talking to Melvin Forbes from New Ultra Light arms custom guns. All his ultra lights seem to be extreme tack drivers. He showed me alot on how he tunes his guns to be pressure bedded. Learned alot.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

The mtn rifle has a pressure point susposedly to help with the thin barrels,and from experience they do help.
I had one in 260 and a 260 in a ruger.I didn' t think the rem was shooting like I wanted so I had a gun smith to glass the action and float the barrel when I got it back and tried it it shot worse.The ruger shot better even before so I sold the rem and kept the ruger.
I have the mtn in 30/06 and it wasn' t shooting to what I wanted so I decide that I would take out the pressure point and it shot worse,so I put the pressure point back in and it once again shoots good,and now have worked out a load that shoots less than an inch.
Wished I would have tried putting it back in the 260 but by the time I thought about it I had allready sold it.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

Are the rub marks symmetrical? That is, are they at the same place on each side of the barrel? If so, I would shoot a number of groups with the rifle before free-floating the barrel. Regardless of what a lot of people seem to think, ALL barrels don' t shoot their best when totally free-floated! Some require some upward pressure from the forend near the forend tip to dampen vibrations to give their best accuracy. You can ALWAYS free-float your barrel if it isn' t giving satisfactory accuracy the way it is now bedded.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

If I am not mistaken a lot ,(if not all )Rems. have a pressure point about 2" from the end of the forearm.If they all have it it is there for a reason.

RE: Rem 700 barrel free floating ?
 

I have a .280 mtn rifle that I did free float many years ago. Afterwards, it shot 1/2" groups. Maybe I got lucky. ???
I agree with the others...some guns don' t need floated, and it can sometimes do more harm than good. Shoot it and see how it does, before doing anything.