Browning BLR bedding the fore-end.

[drone]

I have a 1982 BLR 81in 308, with plain timber with an oiled finish.
At times I'm struggling with fliers, couple of inches off on the first shot which isn't a major issue out to about 100 metres but is a pain in the butt at 150 - 200 plus as it isn't a constant.
When I bought the gun the fore-end was almost fully floated and I relieved it a little more so a sheet of notepaper curled into a U shape passed freely between barrel and fore-end(it has a very light barrel BTW). One of my club mates shot it and did the paper trick and it stuck about half way to the receiver so I guess the for-end is warping so I have a couple of queries,
1. Should I relieve the fore-end some more and, when that is done what's the best method for resealing the timber.
OR
2. After doing 1 above should I build up the tip of the fore-end with epoxy to act as a pressure point and then reseal it.

It's worth pointing out that subsequent shots make very compact 100 yards groups.

16 shot group cast 165 grn boolits at approx 1800 fps.

cast 16 @ 100.jpg (436.05 KiB) Viewed 341 times

[Oldbloke]

I would consider adding some pressure for a temporary test.e.g some cardboard.

Some rifles do shoot better with some pressure under the barrel at the forend.

[drone]

Cheers, OB, that's a plan.
BTW beer is naturally occurring best invention was a bottle for it and subsequent refinements!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oldbloke]

Cheers, OB, that's a plan.
BTW beer is naturally occurring best invention was a bottle for it and subsequent refinements!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just try to recreate/copy what the new rifles are like. Someone else may have another suggestion tho.

Yes, the wheel was originally invented inorder to cart the barley and hops to the brewery.

[GQshayne]

My BLR has the forend bedded right at the end, only for about 20mm or so from memory.

If you have a look around on here, one of our members did a VERY good right up on bedding for lever actions a few years back. Worth a read.

[in2anity]

What might be an interesting experiment, is to bench it with the forend removed. Little tricky balancing it on double bags, but certainly can be done. The objective would be to have the front bag under the receiver, not the naked barrel.

[GQshayne]

What might be an interesting experiment, is to bench it with the forend removed. Little tricky balancing it on double bags, but certainly can be done. The objective would be to have the front bag under the receiver, not the naked barrel.

It was your thread I was thinking of actually.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11991

[in2anity]

It was your thread I was thinking of actually.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11991

There are chapters from McPherson's valuable mess, around the BLR/Savage99, but the premise remains the same. To quote "any system that places wood (or almost any synthetic material) in direct contact with both the receiver and barrel offers the potential for the following things to induce stress between the forend and the barrel-receiver system: changes in barrel temperature, due to shooting or atmospheric temperature; variation in stock size and shape, due to changes in atmospheric humidity”

I.e. you have to identify, then relieve any forend bind. That is of course if you desire to shoot groups with your lever. A tight three shot group is essentially the design specification for a hunting rifle, which any BLR, (or leveraction for the matter), will probably offer out of the box.

[drone]

IN2anity, my BLR fell out the box 42 years ago. It looks like it's been well treated and the bore looks like it's been a 10 shot per annum rifle.
I accept all you say, shortly after I bought the gun, I cleaned up the fore-end so it was clear of the barrel and the accuracy was excellent, I won't bs with figures.It's overwintered in my safe and now produces flyers.Though it only seems to doit for the first shot. Barrel just receives a pull through with a bore snake after shooting and no prep before shooting. The only other unorthodox practice is I tend to clear the gun's throat with jacketed ammo then the bulk of the shots are with gas checked cast boolits at 1500 - 2000 fps. My regular hunting load is a speer 165 grain BTSP in front of 43.5 grains of N-150 SAFE IN MY GUN THINK TWICE BEFORE USING THE LOAD IN YOURS. It has a MV of between 2500 and 2600 fps.
I think I naively expected the wood not to react to having no treatment on the area I'd relieved other than a quick rub over with walnut oil hence my query what's the most efficient sealer for hide-away areas like this bearing in mind the whole of the woodwork, stock and fore-end, has been treated to an unidentified oil finish.

[in2anity]

Shame it puts the cold low - that vertical stringing is very indicative of a forend bedding issue. Does your BLR have the barrel band by chance? Is it tightly clamping the forend and barrel?

[drone]

Barrel band was removed by the previous owner.
I took it tothe range on Monday for a dose of SARTS shooting but unfortunately for me I'm just getting over man flu and it was my first trip out and I developed a headache which I just didn't want to exacerbate with the noisy sod of a gun (20" barrel) so I jacked in and never got to try it. I'd molded a piece of flat ABS sheet to fit inside the fore-end as a pressure point so it'll have to wait a while now as family matters intervene. Bloody kids.

[in2anity]

I presume the only thing holding the forend on now is the hanger closer to the receiver. And that nips tight onto the timber underneath. Other than that all floated for now? What if you investigated a way of adding breathing room at this interface? Like a rubber oring betwen the screw head and timber? Or perhaps one between the hanger and the timber.. if yu get my drift. I've used RTV gasket silicone at interfaces like this in the past - integrity, without choking like an epoxy.

I must say though, sometimes these systems work more consistently with a dampening bed, like cork. Like a Lee Enfield No4 needs to be dampened for optimal consistency aka the "bisley bedding" method or "center bedding". That's along the lines of a full RTV silicone bed as described in other posts.

[drone]

I doubt it's an original fitment but there's a 2mm thick teflon washer between the bolt and timber,I'll stick an O ring there before I go to the range.
What doyou recommend for sealing the timber in the barrel groove? Currently there's a light coat of walnut oil I painted on with an artists brush.

[in2anity]

Whoever put the washer there was on to something. But I wouldn’t typically call Teflon flexible; quite brittle and hard in fact. I’d at least try something a tad more malleable in its place. Can’t hurt.

In terms of the finish - if it’s just the floated area under the barrel, probs just any penetrating sealer? It’s not contacting the barrel right? And also mostly invisible. Unless I’m picturing things slightly wrong…

Btw id still try and bench it with the forend removed if possible. Just so you know you aren’t chasing down the wrong avenue. But I bet it stops the vertical string.