I've seen upward pressure work on a couple of rifles. One was an Ruger MKII with a B&C Carbelite stock and the other a M700 w B&C Alaskan stock.

The M700 w/ B&C stock came with the two "pressure pads" at the tip of the stock. Now these pads had the spiderweb coating all over them. I went with the conventional advise that these were pure evil and removed them. Rifle shot no better. I ended up reconstructing a pressure point in a two step operation. (1) I bedded action and forend in a conventional manner, but added 3 layers of vinyl tape on the barrel at the end of the stock channel, about 2.5" in length. This forms a semi-circular section in the bottom of the stock channel. This I did a second pour on top of the first one, with a shim under the front action screw. This make a perfect semi-circular bed up upward pressure and uniform side contact. It subsequently shot very well.

I do have my theories and, trust me, they will be worth every penny you guys pay to hear them. Firing a bullet puts axial and rotational forces on the barrel. The barrel vibrates in response to these forces. A "good" barrel vibrates consistently, like a tuning fork. A bad one, not so much.

A pressure point merely dampens that vibration. Specifically, it decreases the amplitude of that vibration. Remember you are resisting movement downward and sideways (at least if you bed it the way I did).

Now I don't really know if a barrel vibrates in a Figure-8 pattern as suggested by Mr. Newberry below, but I'm confident that it vibrates in the vertical and horizontal plane. Dampening these vibrations can/should make it easier to find these sweet spots a the vibration amplitude is attenuated. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. crazy

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