Para_packer

"Hi! You may recognize me from such posts as '300 win mag face-off'" You have to say it in that voice from the Simpsons (the guy on the sex ed video and stuff)
All joking aside, i will be picking up a Remington 700 BDL LSS this week and was wondeering about glass bedding and free floating a barrel. I know what each one is, technically speaking, but what are the benefits of doing each of these? What exactly does glass bedding do, besides provide a near perfect bedding surface for the action? How does that make a difference in accuracy? I feel like a dumb dumb for asking but all I have ever shot are semi-autos and 12 guage pump shotguns, not exactly anything one would glass bed or free float. Thank you for your understanding!
Para_packer

rick_reno

free floating the barrel can eliminate stress on the barrel - tho I should add I've seen guns that need some stress on the barrel to shoot good. Glass bedding the action ensures that movement on the action is minimized during ignition - I've done a bunch of these for friends and have never seen a rifle shoot worse after it was done. Some don't shoot better, but I've never seen one go bad because of bedding.

Power

Basically by bedding the action area of the rifle you keep the contact area totally locked together. In theory this helps prevent the action from moving in the stock and causing pressure points that could affect accuracy when shot. Same with barrel floating, you remove the stock from the equation so it doesn't touch the barrel and lets the barrel move any way it wants. Some rifles need to have contact but most modern bold actions like to have their barrel "free" and will perform the most consistantly that way. If the stock is touching the barrel it can bend it or move it. Also, if you use the sling during the shot you could theoretically move the barrel a tiny amount that would throw off the shot.

vangunsmith

Before i would even think of the options you are talkling about i would shoot you gun,like 200-300 rounds then see how it does.There are MANY factors to increase accuracy.With a new gun you have to settle the barrel in and the barrel needs rounds throught it to take out some of the stress when being made and settle it down. Free floating stock put out by some manufactors is done basically to cut down production cost. Free flaotating started years ago with some target shooters. These options are when nothing else works in accuracy. do what i said first then go down that trail.Hope this info has helped. vangunsmith

oldelkhunter

That would be the common sense thing to do

Vapodog

Amen to that.......except that it may only take 50 rounds to convince one to change something.

However, if the best you can do that way is a 3 to 6" group then bedding and floating the barrel can be a great help.....often bringing the groups to an inch or less simply by one or the other or both...Personally I'd float the barrel first.....then glass bed if more is needed.

guppyfood

A glass bedding kit from Brownell's only costs about $11. Now if you already have a dremel tool and a few hours worth of time the ability to follow directions and a few days for the bedding to cure you have very little to loose by glass bedding a rifle. The upside is that it will make your rifle more accurate the only downside is that it might not do anything at all but it will never hurt. Its about the best bang for the buck you can get other than recutting a crown to accurizing a rifle.

oldelkhunter

Not in my experience if a gun doesn't need a glass bedding it doesn't need a glass bedding. I have 2 rifles that went from pretty good shooters to horrible shooters because they were glass bedded and they were done by Gunsmiths. Barrels were free floated as part of the procedure and the accuracy went to hell.