Bolt Action Rifle Choices

[J Calhoun]

Bedding is very simple. The Brownells kit comes with step-by-step instructions. Follow them and you won't have any trouble. The part that gets bedded is where the receiver meets the stock where the action screws are and the recoil lug(3 small places). Remove the bolt before bedding the action. That will keep bedding compound from accidently getting on/in it.

I target shoot 600/1000 yard matches. I bedded my rifle and got noticably better groups. I can also tell you that nothing should touch the barrel. It will give it's best performance completely free floated. All target rifles use free floated barrels. The "shim" under the barrel trick is to move a pressure point from one spot to another. It's a quick fix to an easily solved problem. I use sandpaper wrapped around a small pipe, a dowel will work just as well. Lightly remove material and refit until the barrel is completely free. Then put some kind of sealant on the fresh wood.

 

[Jaywalker]

J Calhoun:

The "shim" under the barrel trick is to move a pressure point from one spot to another. It's a quick fix to an easily solved problem.

Does this mean that you think that an easily solved problem is better fixed with a permanent solution, rather than a quick fix?

Jaywalker

 

[J Calhoun]

Yes. I believe that a barrel should be free floating. Nothing should touch it.

 

[Art Eatman]

Not to argue with J Calhoun, not at all.

The shim merely dampens the barrel's vibrations to a better degree of uniformity from shot to shot. That's all it does. Remember, there is a difference in production quality between match-target barrels and "regular" or hunting barrels.

We had a discussion of this at TFL; Gale McMillan chimed in. He, of course, would naturally use nothing but the nearest to perfect barrel he could make. As long as we're talking, basically, production-line barrels, he was in accord with my shim idea. For barrels for J Calhoun's purpose, it's a different deal. With a medium to heavy barrel, glass-bedded and free-floated, the shim should be unnecessary.

I'm not saying don't glass-bed; I'm merely proposing a one-step-at-a-time deal. But my shim deal, which my uncle taught me in 1950, has worked well on over 20 different rifles (+/-) that I've meddled with through the years.

And I'm satisfied with the sub-MOA three-shot groups I regularly get.

, Art

 

[J Calhoun]

Try it. It might work. It will still be easy enough to free float the barrel in the future.

 

[Art Eatman]

The shim goes in after the barrel is free-floated. And, only left in if it seems to help.

, Art

 

[Jaywalker]

Okay, thanks. I'll give it a try. It's a big step, since I've never made any modifications to a stock before.

Jaywalker

 

[slabsides]

You have a light rifle that you love, but it beats you up at the bench. Simple solution: add mass and weight to it when you're benching it! This could be as simple as a hefty sandbag draped across the barrel or buttstock. A Pachmayr Declerator pad is a good, but pricey, idea. I just use a couple of layers of dense gray half-inch thick industrial-grade carpet underlayment tucked inside my shirt, to augment the pad on the gun itself. For extreme recoil reduction, you could make up a pair of sandbags connected by a strap. Bags sit on either side of the rifle, strap goes behind the butt. Recoil has to move the bags before it gets to your shoulder. There's a commercial version of this shown by one of the catalog outfitters: I don't remember which one. It's so easy to make that I don't see buying one, though. You could try a (pricey, again) mercury recoil reducer, but a length of half-inch cold rolled steel bar inside the butt, again with firm spacers to prevent movement, will add extra weight and reduce recoil of your rifle; it's easy to remove after the range session, and no one even needs to know it's there. None of these 'fixes' are permanent, and none cost a lot. Some people just would rather throw money at a problem, and I understand the lure of commercial solutions, but they just aren't necessary.

 

[outdoorman63]

for you

advice is great but do what is best for you..me i would keep that one as is..and replace it with one you will feel comfortable with..then you have the best of both worlds...me i am working on 3 ruger 10/22's right now,a stock one.a folding stock play rifle, and a nice bull barrel target...you have to just do what is right for you