Hi,

I have a Weatherby Vanguard with the fiberguard stock. I am thinking about removing the pressure pad in the stock so that the barrel is completly free floated. I have done this on a Remington 700 and it did improve accuracy but Weatherby claims that the guy is designed to have the pressure pad and that removing it could hurt accuracy. The gun shoots pretty good but as soon at the barrel gets wam my shots really start to creep high. I am waiting about 10 min between rounds.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Never seena rifleshoot worse with a Free Float...

That said, a pressure point is only slightly simpler to replace than it is to remove.........

They come with a pretty stout barrel that would be ok for removing the pressure point. I would bed the action if I did that and that action is probably the easiest action in the world to bed. What kind of groups are you getting now and with what type of ammo?

groups are usually abour 1 to 1.5" at 100yrds with Accubonds. There are some floaters that open the groups up after the first 3 or 4 shots. Thefrequent stray is what wories me. I'll also be trying TTSX.

Free float the barrel if you wish,then experiment around with different pressures on the barrel if it don't shoot better free floated.

Try it if it don't work with a bit of epoxy you can put it back. I free float all of mine.

Been bedding actions and floating barrels for 40 years and have seenone that shot the sameafter the barrel was floated: The gunwas a Remington 700 in .22/250 that made 2" groups at 100 yards. Cured the problem with a short piece of dowel mortised into the fore end. The gun then made .5 inch three shot groups at 100 yards.

falcon.....I've also been doing the same kind of work as you for about the same length of time...But you've got my curiosity aroused. Could you explain to me just what you did with the dowel? Create a pressure point? Did you set the dowel in horizontally or vertically? I've had to re-create pressure points before, but always used a different approach. Interesting......

Why don't Rifle manufactures free float the barrel to begin with if it is known to improve accuracy?

Some manufacturers do free float barrels and some don't-it all depends on the brand.