Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bedding vs Accuracy

If all Remington hammer forged barrels were as good as the one on my 5R Milspec, then 700 users would really be in high cotton.

I shimmed my Model 7 to see if bedding would help, then went out and shot a 1/2" group.

I haven't taken it back apart and that's been about 30 years now

How are the Forbes rifles Bedded compared to a NULA?

The same.

John: Don't think I recall saying hammer forged barrels were bad. I have owned quite a few, from Winchester, Remington, and Ruger.

But IME experience, they have generally done better if they were floated.

Could someone describe in some detail "shimming" the action? I'd like to try this.

What I have always used is a piece of plastic about the thickness of a business card. I cut it to fit the shape of the tang and on the area behind the recoil lug Cut the shim to the width of the action and cut a hole for the size of the front guard screw. Do the same in the back. This should raise your action up enough to clear any high spots in the middle of the action.

It also clears the barrel from the stock. If it still does not clear, add another thickness of the business card. This should clear your action/barrel without any stress.Note, if using paper shims, remember they are temporary.

Normally, a gun that won't shoot floating could have some problems with the threads in the receiver not matching up closely with the barrel. Some smiths suggest the barrel is being held by only one tight fitting thread. I have a SS Remington 700 that will not shoot a decent group without upward pressure on the barrel (204), but shoots sub minute with pressure.

Put a piece of credit card or that plastic thing that keeps bread bags closed between the receiver and the stock. Then snug things up, and shoot.



Travis

I recently bedded two Zastavas. One a stainless synthetic and the other a blued version in a Boyds Walnut.

Apart from tightening the groups it produced another benefit: When shooting different loads that pre-floating-and-bedding would print up to 5 inches apart those points of impact are now much closer.

Eg my 90g Sierra loads in my 270 used to be 4 inches low and about 2 inches to the right of my 130g and 150g loads. Now they are only about 1.5 inches low and half an inch right. Close enough to use in a pinch without adjusting the scope. And I hate messing with my zero.

A weird side effect that I didn't anticipate but am very happy with.

Okay guys and gals,

I am in the middle of upgrading the only rifle I own; a .270 Weatherby L/A. A Timney trigger is about to land at my door step. It still has the factory stock which is not bedded/free-floated and I am considering another investment into a B/C Medalist aftermarket stock which is aluminum pillar bedded. It will cost another $300.00 bucks. Is it worth the money to upgrade or invest into another rifle? It shoots great with Hornady's Superformance 130 gr SST and has killed effectively for me.

So do I tinker with it or leave it as is with the new trigger?
As always, I am open to input.

If the factory stock is wood there's the potential for a point if impact shift, which the B&C would prevent. If the factory stock is synthetic, and the rifle shoots great, why make the change?

yup....agreed....and Hotcore does too

I have never seen a properly bedded rifle shoot worse. And neither has anyone else.

I have a question- If bedding a rifle is such an involved, complicated endeavor, why have I been able to walk into a gun store, buy off the rack Tikkas for little more than the cost of a rebarrel job, stuff the first decent reload I had laying around, (no thought given to seating depth, distance to lands,etc) and go to the range and shoot groups that were as small as could be expected from a hunting weight rifle/scope?
I did that with a Tikka in 204 which shot 0.6 inch groups, a 223 that shot 1 1/2 groups at 300 yards, a 243 that shoots about 3/4 inch, a 30/06 that shot under an inch and brutalized my shoulder. And I have seen other Tikkas do the same thing.
Inquiring minds want to know...

Fred

Fred�just imagine, if you will, how much better those tikkas would have shot had you bedded them!


The mind boggles�.

Tikka's and Savage's shoot well because God favors the poor.

This concludes your Sunday morning sermon.


Happy Easter,
Dave

Fred: It's because if you aren't wedded to old designs,throw the old rule book out,start from scratch,you can design a "new" rifle and action that eliminates the flaws of past systems.

Using modern manufacturing techniques and equipment,it can come from the factory bedded stress free,with a good barrel and everything aligned properly. Manufacturers have figured out how do the things that help rifles shoot well and make it cheaply.You can also seel it just as cheaply and still cut a profit.

Things like the Tika are a perfect example,and seems like the Ruger American is following suit.

You couldn't beg nor buy something like these or a Kimber Montana years back,although the Remington 700 is, itself, an early harbinger of just exactly this approach to building rifles....you might say it got pretty popular.

If GAWD favors the poor, then why in hell are we poor to begin with???? Huh? Huh???

In one of Jim Carmichel's books he wondered why so many shooters re-bed every factory rifle they buy without shooting it first. He doesn't--and he knows a thing or two about accuracy.

In one of my books I told the story of a Famous Accuracy Riflesmith (FAR) who traveled to Wyoming some years ago to shoot prairie dogs with Dave Talley, who then still had his shop in Glenrock. When they went to check the zero on the FAR's .223, the expensive Famous Accuracy Trigger (which has 60+ tiny parts) broke. There were no other super-triggers around, so they went to the little shooting store in Glenrock and the FAR bought a Savage .223, and some bases to fit the rings on his Swarovski scope.

They switched the scope at Dave's shop, and went back to the range with the .223 handloads the FAR had worked up for his rifle, which at the time sold for around $5000. They shot just as well in the Savage, and the FAR turned to Dave and said: "Don't you EVER tell anybody." Of course, Dave told me (and probably some others) as soon as he got a chance, but I have never revealed the name of the FAR--well, except to a few people, in private.

I don't know if Tikkas were around in those days, and I never saw any in the Glenrock store anyway. Certainly Ruger Americans weren't, but the same principle would apply to Tikkas and Americans. In fact I've had a couple of other FAR's ask me not to spread the word about how well many factory rifles shoot these days without any dinking around, so you didn't read it here.

So he can favor you.

Duh.


Travis