Accurizing rifles???????????

[Blktail]

I have a Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 Featherlight in 30.06. I have just started reloading for the gun. I have found a lot of horizontal variation between loads and would like to glass bed the gun. Where can find directions and advice? Presently, the stock and barrel are tight right to the end of the stock.

As it stands now, only very light loads have tight groups. Hotter loads spread and shoot high and right.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Brithunter]

Hi Blktail,

Hmm now when you say light loads Just how light are we talking?

Next question is what are you hunting and at what range?


My thoughts are:-


As the rifle you are talking about is considered highly collectable if the lighter loads shoot tight groups why not stick with the accuracy and originality of your rifle and just hunt with it. After all the .308 has a fine reputaion and loading the 30-06 lighter is bound to put you in the .308 territory velocity wise so..................................................?

[Adirondacks]

I would save the original stock and
go to a replacement stock.
Synth or Laminated should help.
Or replace with a new wood stock
and glass bed that.

You can also float the barrel. That's
the other line of thought.

[Blktail]

How the heck can you float the barrel. It's metal you know!
Do they make wood barrels for guns, not wine.

Sheesh, some people. You ask a serious question and all they come up with is jokes.

[Brithunter]

Well I could tell you actually how to float the barrel................................... but as now consider it a waste of time I won't. There were no jokes in my reply I was trying to help but instead of the information asked for, instead we get a tirade, so figure it out yourself

[gumpokc]

Ummm..Brit, you never stated anything to Biks about floating the barrel, Adirondacks did.

So either the board replies are screwedup for some reason, or someone is messing with multiple accounts.

[Blktail]

Actually though, I don't know what it means to "float the barrel". I assume it means to remove stock material so that the barrel has no contact with the stock along its entire length. I had thought that was what it meant to glass bed the barrel, but I believe that portion of the process refers to glass bedding the stock where it attacheds to the receiver.

I never considered my rifle to be highly collectable, so is Brit's advice to use a replacement stock to play with valid?

What kind of clearances between the barrel and stock are recommended when floating the barrel (assuming I have got the idea right)?

Anybody know a good online description of the processes and theories behind them?

[Brithunter]

Hi gumpokc,

No I didn't say anything about how to float the barrel, I asked a couple of questions about the laod and it's intended use, then I could have considered evrything and made some suggestions. However the information was not forthcoming just a tantrum .

As for the rifle well as I understand it all pre 64 model 70's are collectable and I was just trying to pass this on. But the owner does not seem to care. It's his gun and his money so he can waste it as he sees fit. End of story

[Montana Cowboy]

Hey Blktail
One trick you can do to float the barrel is to use a piece of hard plastic, metal shim stock, or any other hard material cut to fit in the bottom of your rifle common to the recoil lug. This will in effect float your barrel so it will not be making contact with the barrel channel. You could also use washers from the hardware store between the recoil lug and stock. As for thickness of material it is trial and error method to get the barrel free floated. I think most folks shoot for (no pun intended) being able to slide a dollar bill between the barrel and stock from the forward end of the stock to the receiver. You could then take your rifle out shoot it and see how it performs.
Quite a few manfactures build their rifles so that there is pressure pushing up on the rifle stock at the forward end. I would try what I mentioned above first before removing any wood from the stock. True you could put the fore end pressure back in by glass bedding it but I wouldn't do it until I was sure I needed to. Hope this helps ya. MC

[Dan in the Delta]

As a pre '64 model 70 owner myself, I like the suggestion of not messing with the original stock, but instead buying a new stock and bedding the rifle into the new one. My own model 70 is plenty accurate enough, so I'm lucky I guess that I haven't had to do anything to it. I would not want to alter the original stock, but that's just me.

Take a look at this site for a possible replacement stock:

www.boydboys.com

[Dan in the Delta]

One more thing I forgot to mention: Brownells sells a video on how to bed a rifle. I bought it several years ago and found it to be very helpful.

[Rocky Raab]

The uncalled-for tirade aside, to "float" a barrel does indeed mean to alter the bedding enough to have the barrel "hover" over the stock and not contact it. That's usually accomplished by removing wood from the barrel channel in the forearm, but can also be done by using spacers to lift the entire barrelled action out of the stock by a fraction of an inch. Only a few thousandths of an inch between the barrel and wood are needed, as the dollar bill trick shows.

As a temporary trial, cut small squares of business card stock and punch holes through them. Put two such paper washers on each stock screw and tighten them as usual. Test that the barrel no longer touches the wood (yup, a dollar bill) and then test fire. If the groups improve, then free-floating the barrel is a viable option.

Now to this specific gun. Model 70 Featherweights are known for being poor groupers, especially if that super-skinny barrel gets the slightest bit warm. They are meant to be carried a lot and fired once - maybe twice. That's it.

I would not alter an original condition Model 70 Featherweight under any circumstances. The collector value is guranteed to soar now that Winchester is no more. And the value of that one was soaring already! Do NOT remove any stock wood, do NOT glass bed, do not refinish it at all.

If your two-shot groups are unsatisfactory, then consider an aftermarket stock, but leave that original one alone!

Me? I'd zero it to put the first shot out of a cold, clean barrel right where I wanted it, and then leave things the heck alone!

[Blktail]

Now that I have started to reload for the gun I can see how much I can play just by adjusting loads. I won't have to alter the gun in any way to have an excuse to shoot it more.

Thanks