Someone PMed me with a question about bedding barrels and I decided to answer them here so every one could get in on the discussion.
The rifle he asked about was a Rem 700 LSS in 708, but this applies to all of them.
There are several ways to bed rifle barrels, all of them will work on most barrels and none of them will work on all barrels.
I know that every one has heard that free floating is the way to go when bedding a barrel. The magazine writers heard it from the bench rest boys and have been preaching it as gospel ever since. There is a slight problem that they forgot to mention. To keep the bedding from changing from match to match, the bench rest boys use a minimum contact bedding between the stock and metal. They get some very amazing accuracy this way. What nobody ever mentions is the number of brand new barrels that they also throw away because they won't shoot accurately free floated. Most of these barrels can be made very accurate with a different method of bedding.
I have had barrels that would only group 3" free floating, shrink the group down to less than .5" when they were bedded all the way out to the forend. I have also had barrels that were just the opposite. I've seen barrels that would only give accuracy when there was upward pressure at the forend tip.
When some one asks me if they should bed their barrel, I tell them to check it out and see how it shoots. If it ain't good enough, then the right method of bedding it may help things.
Over the years, I've had some smart boys tell me that they had discovered the perfect way to bed all rifles, I figured they had a few more lessons to learn. I know a few of them got taught some of those lessons by a rifle barrel that didn't act they way they though it should.
I probably glassed 100 rifles a year for 30 years, and I still can't tell you which method will make all of them shoot. There were some I never did get the accuracy out of (but not many)and there were some that challenged some of the established rules for getting accuracy.
When synthetic stocks came along, they stopped most of the bedding changes that plagued wood stocks. However it didn't simplify the problems of finding out which way was best way to bed a particular barrel.
The rifle he asked about was a Rem 700 LSS in 708, but this applies to all of them.
There are several ways to bed rifle barrels, all of them will work on most barrels and none of them will work on all barrels.
I know that every one has heard that free floating is the way to go when bedding a barrel. The magazine writers heard it from the bench rest boys and have been preaching it as gospel ever since. There is a slight problem that they forgot to mention. To keep the bedding from changing from match to match, the bench rest boys use a minimum contact bedding between the stock and metal. They get some very amazing accuracy this way. What nobody ever mentions is the number of brand new barrels that they also throw away because they won't shoot accurately free floated. Most of these barrels can be made very accurate with a different method of bedding.
I have had barrels that would only group 3" free floating, shrink the group down to less than .5" when they were bedded all the way out to the forend. I have also had barrels that were just the opposite. I've seen barrels that would only give accuracy when there was upward pressure at the forend tip.
When some one asks me if they should bed their barrel, I tell them to check it out and see how it shoots. If it ain't good enough, then the right method of bedding it may help things.
Over the years, I've had some smart boys tell me that they had discovered the perfect way to bed all rifles, I figured they had a few more lessons to learn. I know a few of them got taught some of those lessons by a rifle barrel that didn't act they way they though it should.
I probably glassed 100 rifles a year for 30 years, and I still can't tell you which method will make all of them shoot. There were some I never did get the accuracy out of (but not many)and there were some that challenged some of the established rules for getting accuracy.
When synthetic stocks came along, they stopped most of the bedding changes that plagued wood stocks. However it didn't simplify the problems of finding out which way was best way to bed a particular barrel.
