Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Does free floating and glass bedding a plastic stock really help?

I just purchased a Remington varmint sf rifle and am wondering whether or not floating and bedding the stock that comes on it would be worth it. Any gunwriter along with anybody's opinion is appreciated.

I have had good success using Steel Bed in plastic stocks. In particular a M-70 "All-Terrain" stock and three choate stocks installed on Mausers.

I had one that didn't work well. A Model 70 SS Classic in .338. My zero kept shifting around. I put the .338 in a McMillan AHR stock and accuracy improved greatly. I am guessing the recil made it flex too much.

You do have to leave a larger gap than usual [at least 1/16"] in the free float area as the stocks tend to flex more tha fiberglass and and touch the barrel.

Both will help.

It's always helped my rifles.

Get the stock away from the barrel, especially plastic. I worked on a VTR that shot terribly until I was able to chew away enough plastic AND enough heat to bend the forearm (don't ask, it was too much work and I'll never do that again ever) in a straight line with the rest of the stock.
Now it's a treasured rifle (for someone else) but before I did my voodoo, it was not a shooter at all.

I've bedded and floated a couple of my rifles, and a couple for friends with very good results. But, as stated above, the barrel needs a fair amount of space to be truly floated.

Glass bedding will often help and certainly will not hurt. Poor quality and/or light barrels will often shoot better bedded or with a pressure point. Personally I won't own a rifle that won't shoot floated.

Spot on except I'll use a rifle that is full length bedded, if it proves to be a good shooter:



Old picture, but it shows how a properly full length bedded rifle can perform. I also understand the NULA's are full length bedded with no freefloat. However, I prefer a free floating barrel 9 out of 10 times. Keeping in mind there are exceptions. I will say this: I will not waste my time shooting a rifle that is not properly glass bedded .

I had an early B&C stock that glass bedding wouldn't help. The webbing area was so soft, it would change zero after 12-15 rds.
I won't have a rifle that won't shoot it's zero when used with a shooting sling. Usually, that means a free floated barrel, but I have a custom .280 Ruger tang safety model that is full lenth bedded that shoots as it should.
BTW, plastic stocks are usually worse for use with a shooting sling than are wood stocks. But quality fiber glass stocks are best. The above Ruger, for instance, has a McMillian stock with extra graphite.
I do have one rifle with a softer plastic stock that shoots well with a shooting sling. It's a Springfield Armory M1A. What works for it is the Safari Ching Sling. It pulls the stock down instead of to the left like most other shooting slings. E

Yes.

Well, you can always put it through it's paces and then decide if it could stand improvement.

This is makes the most sense of any post on this thread. I see all these people buy a brand new gun and then start messing with the bedding and barrel channel before ever firing a shot through it. They might have just take a 1/2" gun and made it a 2" gun.

Float it and bed the lug right out the gate is how I usually run. Keep in mind, all plastics are not equal even among the same models. If it's stiff and fits properly, it may work as good as anything could. If it's super flexy, it's not going to be ideal even once bedded.

Funny, I consider both of these posts to be the most stupid on this thread. Please continue with the asinine comments, they are a hoot.

Steelhead, While I might agree, you've made a statement without pointing out why you think these statements are asinine.

That's probably true.

In Wisconsin.




Dave

Are we still talkin' 'bout stocks?

My new Hawkeye All Weather appears to be fully bedded, but I haven't tried to slip anything between the stock and barrel yet. I'm definitely going to shoot it before screwing with it. Those stocks are pretty stiff so I'm not worried about it slapping the barrel under .243 recoil, but it's possible that one or the other may shift from heat. My pre64 .270 shot very well fully bedded, and stayed sighted-in once I sealed the wood properly.

Whatever works, works for me.

If a gun is shooting great out of the box why mess with it?

Depends on the stock.
Early plastic Remington 700 stocks were only good for the sling swivels and recoil pad. Otherwise it was land fill. There is no resurrection for those. Next there are stocks that are already as good as can be and glass bedding is redundant.

Others, bedding and free floating is a good thing.

Just like old ladies underwater, it depends.