You had a barrel that shot fine when fully free floated. Now it doesn't because it's not fully floated. Hmmmm...
There is a real gun scribe who lurks on here who says if you can pinch the forend tip and the barrel together with your hand, it's not really floated.
Same guy has also used the old bread tab trick to check if more float helps. You take the plastic tab from a loaf of bread and put it under your action near the recoil lug and torque it down. This puts your action at a slight upward slant in the stock and gives you added barrel clearance. If the rifle shoots better you know that more barrel float is beneficial to your rifle and can now decide how to accomplish same.
Apologies to Mule Deer.
