Cowboy Tim;
Good afternoon, I hope that this last one of 2017 finds you well.
To be clear I've had no formal training in 'smithing and am only a lifelong tinkerer with all types of firearms. I want to say that I've bedded somewhere around 6 dozen rifles so far and have seen enough anomalies that most of my firm theories have gone by the wayside.
That said, I'll say that all actions aren't created equally in stiffness and that likely has some bearing on whether or not full length bedding the barrel will make a difference. Military Mausers for instance with their thumb slot cut out are less rigid than some of the newer Tikka, Ruger American or even the old Remington 788 actions.
It makes sense to me too that if one is hanging a heavier barrel, say a No 4 contour on a military Mauser, then that's another factor in the mix.
Lastly the stiffness of the stock has to have an effect on whether or not full length bedding is going to be successful. I like stiff fore ends on any stock that's going to be full length bedded.
Again these are just some observations and as noted there's anomalies to most things.
All the best to you in 2018.
Dwayne
