tallone Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 I have a weatherby mark V and I have read up on free floating the barrel. I notice that on my gun the stock has a snug fit all the way down the barrel. Would it be worth trying to float it or leave it alone? The gun shoots good enough but I'm always looking for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleA Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby tallone, All rifles will respond differently. With accuracy becoming a big selling point today, some gun makers have opted to free float barrels from the factory. Alot of rifles have a pressure point at the tip of the forearm to apply upwards pressure on the barrel. Free floating will on avearge better your accuracy but not always. If it does not you can always apply some bedding compound to the channel in the forearm tip to re-create some slight upwards pressure. Freefloating is not hard to do but I would reccomend the proper tools if you are going to do it yourself. Barrel inletters can be had from Brownell's and Midway. You might even consider having it done by a gunsmith being that's it's a Mark V which I am sure has pretty wood Life is good, Give God the Glory....doubleA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby It's actually the stainless with the composite stock. It is a nice fit down the barrel and weatherby is pretty accurate right out the box I was wondering is anybody has done it and if it would be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby I floated my Weatherby and was pleased with the results. The accuracy was more consistant after the wood was whittled away. It's not hard to float a barrel. I surely would not recommend taking it to a gunsmith unless you can't even tie your own shoes. Remove the barreled action from the stock. Get some wide electricians tape (vinyl tape) and cover the barrel to protect it from scratches. I then sand down the elevated pad the barrel rests on with 80 grit paper. I lay the barreled action in the stock and run a sheet of 80 grit paper under the barrel. This will follow the contour of the barrel and make a nice neet job. Once the barrel starts to feel loose, tighten the action screws slightly and go at it again. Once your action screws are tight and you can still move the sandpaper, you are done removing material. Remove the barreled action from the stock and be sure to put some wood finish on the exposed wood. This is a great time to do a bedding job. I do the same on a $25 stock or a $1000 stock. It works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby AJ, just to clairify everything before I do this the end result will have the barrel not touching anything right? I've read up on it and I am just making sure I'm not misunderstanding something. I have the composite stock so the sanding might be a little different but it will end in the same result. Would this procedure work on my 77/22 ruger? I'm going on a Elk hunt next year and for around here my weatherby is fine but I want it to be my fault and not the gun's if I miss at a long shot. ( I will be praticing before i go) IS the bedding absolutely needed? I like doing things hands on but the bedding part worries me a little unless you can show me a easy way of doing it. Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 5, 2005 Report Share Posted October 5, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby You got it. Some say as long as you can slip a dollar bill between the forend and the barrel you are ok. This is far from true. I go for .050" clearance all the way around, from the forend tip to the recoil lug. When you fire a shell, the violent chain of events that occur start the barrel oscillating. The heavier the barrel the smaller the peaks of the sine wave. Anyhow the barrel will move in sine waves like a snake. This is the pattern ~. If there is only a .010" gap , the barrel can move enough to make contact with the stock. With a larger gap, it will remain free and can wiggle all it wants. I have found this to work on every gun I have worked on. I have not seen a bolt gun that shot better with a bedded or pressure pad on the barrel. Yes, I feel proper bedding is mandatory. If you expect to hit at long ranges, its never the gun's fault, just the nut behind the trigger. The gun does the same thing every time. If the shooter has not fed it the proper ammo, maximized the accuracy, and practiced at long ranges, its not the guns fault for a miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby Thansk AJ, I'm going to give it a try. Where can I get some instructions for the bedding? Is it that complicated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby If you get a bedding kit from Brownell's toy store it has a decent set of instructions and all the ingredients you need to do the job. There is some good info on this site. Glassbedding a bolt gun is not hard. If you follow the directions exactly, its very easy. If you don't follow instructions and miss something, it can be a very expensive repair (new stock). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby Thanks AJ I'm fairly good with my hands so I will give the bedding a try. Thank again for your help. It will be a couple of weeks but I'll let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby One more qustion for you, I've read about laping the barrel do you suggest doing this too? The trigger is great on my gun, I was looking for more ways to improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 6, 2005 Report Share Posted October 6, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby [ QUOTE ] One more qustion for you, I've read about laping the barrel do you suggest doing this too? [/ QUOTE ] Nope, I would never do this. Barrels need to be lapped prior to chambering and being cut to length. After that, All you are doing is ruining the barrel by hand lapping, or removing a lot of life of the barrel by fire lapping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thayer Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby I can show you a Winchester Model 70 in 7 Rem Mag that shoots 1/2 moa now that I put a couple wraps of tape around the barrel where it was bouncing off the stock. Honest, I could not get their flimsy stock to obey my stock clearance work and was at my wits end to get this thing to shoot...Last effort resulted in making a consistent barrel harmonic stabilizer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby AJ what about laping a muzzleloader? Does the same rule apply? Thats where I got the idea from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby A barrel is a barrel. No matter what type of gun its on. Some that recommend lapping with JB compound are fooling themselves. Its not lapping at all. Its just doing a rigorous cleaning. No metal is removed from the JB. If any metal is worn down or removed, it happens from the rod or jag rubbing against the lands, not the chemical reaction from the bore paste. In lapping, you use an abrasive on a lead lap. This lap is pushed and pulled back and forth in the barrel until its smooth for that grit, then the gunsmith goes to a finer grit and repeats the process, everytime a change is made in grit, a new lap is made. The abrasive starts out the sharpest and dulls as it passes through the bore. So the most metal removal is at the beginning. When the lap is reversed at the end of the barrel, a new edge of the abrasive is exposed, and the cutting starts over. Your bore will be belled on each end. This is why you never lap a barrel that is finished, unless you are cutting a couple inches off each end and reinstalling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallone Posted October 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: Free floating a weatherby That answers my question thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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