When NOT to float a barrel

[harris]

Hey,

I thought that floating was always a good thing, but there seems to be two camps on this I've read.

I read in another place where it had no answers, a bloke has a Ruger and apparently there are two camps on this. The bigger camp being guys who say don't float it.

I don't understand why you wouldn't?

[Tiiger]

Do you know which Ruger?

They have a few different mounting/bedding systems on different models, and over the years.

[harris]

Hi Tiiger,

Should be the original M77 (not the newer Hawkeye).

[yoshie]

Generally thin, light, 'wippy' barrels don't always respond well to free floating, they shoot better with pressure at the tip which reduces the whip that you can see in slow motion videos. Heavier barrels usually do better fully floating as they don't whip as much. That's the theory behind it, but each rifle is different.

[Arth]

I haven't done it myself but the original Hawkeye is pressure bedded and not supposed to be fully floated by design.

In this particular case I think it's more about not tampering with the mounting system the maker built the rifle to shoot with.

[Prettybird]

In this particular case I think it's more about not tampering with the mounting system the maker built the rifle to shoot with.

Yer...

In most cases for hunting rifles and off the shelf rifles when people float a barrel themselves its when a barrel is meant to be floated but due to little variances in builds has some pressure points along the stock.

A lot of rifles that are supposed to be floated touch at the fore end of the stock and that should be removed.

That's a different beast to one that's supposed to be pressure beaded though.

[Harper]

That's a different beast to one that's supposed to be pressure beaded though.

A few people wrecking their shooters not understanding this too it looks like.

I've read a few things on US forums where people have taken it to the range and got 3/4 MOA or something reasonable then decided to float it themselves.

Back to the range and it's opened up to 1 & 1/2 MOA instead

If it aint broke...

[RDobber]

That's the theory behind it, but each rifle is different.

If it aint broke...

I reckon if you got an off the shelf cheap ass Ruger that was shooting 3/4 MOA you'd do well to leave it the hell alone.

[harris]

Generally thin, light, 'wippy' barrels don't always respond well to free floating, they shoot better with pressure at the tip which reduces the whip that you can see in slow motion videos. Heavier barrels usually do better fully floating as they don't whip as much. That's the theory behind it, but each rifle is different.

Cool, thanks Yoshie.

[Warrigul]

That's the theory behind it, but each rifle is different.

If it aint broke...

I reckon if you got an off the shelf cheap ass Ruger that was shooting 3/4 MOA you'd do well to leave it the hell alone.

+1

But some people feel the need to fiddle...

[RDobber]

+1

But some people feel the need to fiddle...

I'm amazed at the amount of people that don't even fire their new rifles before the fiddling starts.

Especially with things like Tikka, Sako, brands you know are going to shoot well out of the box.

Guys that buy them and go straight to paying a smith a few hundred dollars to bed the thing before they've even shot it.

They come out of the smiths with a 1/2 MOA rifle, but it might have already been that before they spent more money on bedding it but they didn't even bother to try.

Could have had $300 worth of ammo instead of $300 worth of bedding they didn't need.