You are right; if there is significant support fore and aft, clearance at the bottom of the lug might even be the best way to go about it. In the end, any system which is stress free is likely to work out well.
There are some actions which are more challenging than others and the Winchester is one of them. The Ruger 77 is another. Neither one is difficult to get to shoot well, the bedding is just a little complex due to the shape of the bottom of the receiver.
One friend and fellow BR competitor, Bob Forslund, was positively obsessive about bedding techniques and theory. I listened to him because either he or his brother usually won. This was before the glue-in became the default method for setting up a BR rifle and most were conventionally bedded. One day he demonstrated what he considered to be a good bedding job by removing the barreled action between shots and firing a five shot group of about 1/4 inch. On this rifle, if he removed the screws, he could just tip the rifle over and the action would fall right out. This action was a flat bottomed action with and angled front screw and was built by Bob Forslund. By the way, he also admitted he had seen bedding jobs which he would have considered to be completely wrong which shot every bit as well as his. In the end, if it works, it works. GD
