Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How much clearance/gap should there be on a free floated stock?

I pillar bedded my Remington 700 Classic Stock, bedded the action as well. How much clearance or gap should there be between the stock and barrel?

Thanks, NYH1.

Five layers of printer paper. GD

Thanks!

NYH1.

It simply depends upon the integrity of the stock,how it's bedded and what it is made of. (5) layers of paper,makes less than zero fhuqks,regarding all of those things. Hint.

All that pillar bedding does,is stop stock compression,betwixt the receiver and fasteners. There's instances where the approach nips much and makes great gains,while it can often be moot in a good handle. Done right,it can never hurt the equation. Hint.

I'll go out on limb and assume a Remington Classic of Living Wood is the subject and that's where ALL bets are off,if you actually shoot or go Outdoors. The reason(s) being,Living Wood is never not moving,unless careful mitigation is incorporated. For me on all of my OEM Big Green Living Wood Classics,they were bedded from tang to fore end,to preclude movement. It was often a multi stage operation,because I'm a Notorious Lug Catcher,especially on L/A's. Once that is controlled,I simply let the rifle tell me what it wants,whether FL,Floated or Positive Pressure. Once established,then I do that which is requisite,to lock same in. Hint.

I'm ALWAYS going to bed the barrel channel,solely as a means of getting Living Wood to be predictable. When I float,I fhuqking float and with a fully sealed channel. The clearance requisite,to preclude ANY possibility of how the rifle is rested or slung. There's nothing worse than No Man's Land,where sometimes you're good and other times not,due a thing called "weather". Hell...I want way more than 5 fhuqking pieces of paper,because I actually shoot and go Outdoors. One needs to work with the stock,not against it. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

A bit wordy, but this ^ ain't wrong.

Wood is going to move and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Wood will expand and contract sitting in your safe over a period of months more so in wet weather or changing altitudes. With a wood stock you need a generous free float. Full length bedding of the barrel channel is another approach. A generous free float is needed with a more flexible synthetic stock. The better synthetics will do OK with a dollar bill between the stock and barrel.

Someone trying to sell The Dollar Bill Ploy,will always be BEST served by asking questions,rather than giving "answers". Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!................

MD mentions in his Gun Gack books that you should not be able squeeze the barrel and stock together and have them touch. As STick said, it depends on the rigidity of your stock AND barrel.

I hear you, and you are right; I was just trying to quantify and give a viable number. I may have erred on the close side. I am well aware of how much a wood stock can move. I'm also well aware of stock bedding techniques. I bedded and floated my first rifle in 1965. Since then, I've bedded factory stocks, stocks I made, synthetic stocks, totaling in the thousands. I hear about guys sliding a dollar bill and that is nowhere nearly enough. Five of them (about 1/32") is decent if the stock is a stable one. If the stock is not reasonably stable, it has to be made so. By the way, my experience has been, if a particular piece of wood wants to warp, it's impossible to stop it unless you remove most of the wood.
Most of mine are close to that 1/32", but may be as much a 1/16". Though it doesn't mean much in the performance area, appearance can be a factor too. When doing work for others, appearance carries a lot of weight!
If I'm in real ugly conditions I'll fill in the gap with wax or heavy grease, to keep water and debris out. Even silicone calking can be used for this if you want.
Now, living, working, and playing where you do, the weather is probably more of a challenge than for many. A hard rain is a hard rain, wherever you are, but most places don't see it every freakin' day! Nonetheless, I've been out for two weeks and had it rain every day but two, and I've often had to wipe my thumb across the lenses, to clear the snow, before I could shoot. I've never had a rifle shift POI due to warpage.
Surprisingly, the stock I made for prone rifles had to well waterproofed since we did not always shoot from cover and had to shoot in the rain as well. My target rifles have a LOT of clearance. I have to confess, I've never tested one by tossing it into the crick, or beating a fish with it! By the way, it's raining so hard right now I can barely see the other end of the field. I'm NOT going out to shoot in it. :)GD

dumbdog,

I'm simply afforded the luxuries,of not being forced to guess,while a guess is always your best pitch. Hint.

Gals who "know" and "do" as "much" as you,will always be BEST served by taking notes and applying same. Hint.

Bless your poor poor(literally) heart,for trying though.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..............

Hey I'm poor too. Can I get your blessing?

DooshMike,

You aren't going to waddle away from your Couchbound Kchunt and will simply set mired being you and "living" vicariously,due the simple fact it's your only "move"...you "lucky" kchunt. Hint. Congratulations?!?

Perhaps you and dumbdog can compare notes and cypher which one of you Do NOTHING Kchunts,thinks about me the most? Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!..................

DipStick,
It is beyond sad that, due to your youth and inexperience, you will forever be playing catch-up. Still, it's great to see you trying your best.
I checked a few rifles, at random, and found that most of my wood stocks are closer to 1/16 gap while the glass stocks were more like 1/32 or slightly less (5 pieces of notebook paper). I have four rifles which are most likely to spend a lot of time in bad weather, and all of them (three wood, one glass) are more like 1/16 clearance. The wood stocks are straight grained, old wood, well sealed, and they never warp. The glass stock is a foam-filled shell which seems to stay put pretty well. It's hard to argue with the concept of a glass and stainless rifle for tough weather, and your rifles swimming with the fishes bears this out pretty well. Still not going swimming with mine though. GD

Thanks. That meant a lot to me

This right here. It’s not a set in stone measurement, like some would like to think. Every stock is different. If you have to stiffen up a forend, that may also be needed. Also something that hasn’t been said is make sure you seal up the wood through the barrel channel when you are done. This will help insure moisture doesn’t sink into the wood and allow warpage. One point of having generous freefloat is when you are using a bipod. If your stock touches that barrel anywhere, and if your action is not properly glass bedded, you lose rigidity and also harmonics are affected. Hence, accuracy goes out the window. I often hear about POI shift when switching from sand bags, front rest and then to a bipod or off a pack. If this happens your stock is probably making contact with the barrel. You may not think so because you have 1/32” clearance, but trust me it’s happening. This schidt is all mechanical and not hard to figure out.

You Drooling CLUELESS Kchunts should form THE Twatly Trifecta and combine your "powers"...you "lucky" kchunts. Hint. Congratulations?!?

A GOOD Day for dumbdog,is one in which she doesn't schit her fhuqking pants. DooshMike DESPERATELY clings to my every word and Splendid Pixel,while she suffers being herself. BullSchitArtist is STILL trying to get "108's and the like" in her 6x45 upper. You gals are doing "GREAT!". Hint.



Fhuqking LAUGHING!.................

Anyone using a bipod deserves to have problems! GD

Thanks for all the replies guys.

greydog and moosemike, I wouldn't bother responding to Big Stick. I rarely read any of his post or replies, to include this thread. He might very knowledgeable when it comes to firearms. But when someone articulates and responds like a teenager with severe emotional issues, not worth dealing with them!

Thanks again guys, NYH1.

Might I suggest,that you keep filling out your Hurt Feeler Reports,as you announce your Delusional Imaginary Pretend Ignore...you "lucky" kchunt. Hint. Congratulations?!?

You Drooling CLUELESS Fhuqktards are a hoot! Pardon simplistic facts,being soooooo unsettling. Hint.



Fhuqking LAUGHING!...............

If I stopped replying to Big Stick he would think I didn't like him. And that wouldn't be nice

He needs some sort of give and take to give his life meaning. If he can converse with his betters, it builds him up a bit, and he needs it. GD