Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 10-22 Bull Bbls - general consensus

Free float or pressure pad.............

Any thoughts???

Mine is free floated.
All of my rifles have free floated barrels. Some have the first inch or so of the chamber bedded.
I do have one rifle that the barrel is not free floated. It's a Ruger, just not a 10/22. It's an early
Ruger Ultralight in 223 that wouldn't group worth shiit. That barrel is now bedded full length.

Check out the thread I started. I'm hoping we get more shooters there and maybe they can chime in. The stock I am using on that rifle is a Magpul Hunter x22 and it comes with barrel shims, so you can adjust the barrel to stock tension. Since the standard 10-22 only has one action screw, it is sometimes necessary to have tension on the barrel so it shoots to its full potential. The proof is always going to be on target. I'd also suggest a good bedding job, then it's going to be up to you to determine what your rifle likes. Most I've had like a little bit of tension:









Now, lets be clear about something. I look for consistency when assessing accuracy/precision of a rifle. I don't like one trick/load ponies. A good rifle and barrel set up properly should shoot just about every brand of ammo very well. Of course it will have some that it likes more than others, but it should still be consistent. If that makes sense. Most groups shot with this rifle are 10 shots per group. If you want to see more, go to the recent thread I started for more info.

Muffin;
Good afternoon or I see evening already on the east coast, I hope the middle of the week was kind to you.

Since I often like to wander down rabbit holes just to see what I can learn, after putting together a money pit 10/22 with a 20" Green Mountain barrel which is quite heavy and has a Bentz chamber, I tried something different.

I machined an aluminum block which I then attached to the bottom of the action with a couple 6-48 screws, the idea being to make a recoil lug of sorts. Sorry I don't have a photo of it out of the stock.

Then I bedded the entire barrel and the recoil lug, but floated the action behind it.



Just this winter I've put a different 4-12 Tasco with AO on it, but haven't shot it yet with that setup.

With a scope without AO, it didn't shoot as well as BSA's 10/22 with the Kidd barrel, but honestly I never really and truly tried it with enough different types of ammo back when and wandered off into different project rifles.

I'll report back if I learn anything significant, but that's what I did and it shoots fairly well, but again didn't group as well as BSA's.

Oh, some magazines that I have feed better - or better said shave less lead when feeding and as a result give me better groups. That I do remember from back in the day.

All the best with your 10/22 project.

Dwayne

That is a beautiful rifle Dwayne. I'm glad you brought up floating the receiver. I've heard of that method, but have never tried it myself. I have heard of guys having good luck with the Hogue overmold stocks though, where the whole barrel is supported by the rubberized stock. This should be an interesting thread, as we all have our methods to our madness. I'm not always right, but If something works very well consistently, I'll report my experience as such. I forgot to mention that I have 3 buddies that bought the stock like I run on my Kidd barreled 10-22 and they said they ended up using the barrel shim and set the tension so they got the best accuracy. Most did not require a lot of upward pressure, but a little.

Another rifle I remember fighting with was a factory heavy barreled target 10-22. I tried bedding, I tried freefloating, I tried a pressure point on the original laminate stock and then I tried a full length bedding through the barrel channel as a last resort and that is what did it. I actually pulled the original barrel off and bought a new factory Ruger cold hammer forged target barrel for it and nothing helped except for the full length bedding. That was quite the ordeal and honestly, I swore I'd never buy another target model after that. I feel to get the best accuracy/precision a Ruger 10-22 needs a top notch barrel. Now, that doesn't mean the most expensive barrel you can find, but a good quality barrel. Green mountain, Shilen, Lilja, and Fedderson to name a few. I have seen a few cheaper barrels actually shoot well too, but I never asked how they had them bedded. One was an Adams and Bennett heavy barrel, which I believe was a cheap barrel, but it shot lights out.

Here's a 5 minute bedding job. Sometimes getting the most out of your rifle doesn't take a lot of time:




I'm serious, that is a fast setting 2 part epoxy. It cures rock solid. When I did this one, I bedded it with the shim out. Then when testing for accuracy, shoot with shim out: Freefloated barrel. If accuracy is mediocre, try the shim with different barrel tension settings:

Do you still use a release agent and let the action sit as the Steelstik hardens?

With a lightweight, “tensioned” carbon fiber barrel, just float it and forget it,


Five shots at 200 yards on a 6” disc.

bsa;
Morning to you sir, I hope you're doing well wherever you're at so far today.

Thanks for the reply, for sure I'd never ever say my way is the only way or even one of the ways for that matter.

We used to run a match with rimfire rifles shot at 25yds where we'd shoot at a blank piece of paper - no aiming point then - and the closest 10 shots won the round. It was all standing, offhand, no slings, no elbow resting on the belly and no shooting jackets.

Anyways I built that thing to shoot that match bsa and no, I never, ever won with it that I can recall!

I should mention I did win one with a different rifle, but not the money pit.

As mentioned the rationale behind bedding the barrel is that it's so much heavier than the action and because it's just sitting in the action as well, not threaded in.

Then part way through that process it struck me some sort of anchor point/recoil lug wouldn't hurt, so that's how that ended up being built.

It got parked after the club stopped running the matches we were helping with and I really didn't shoot it other than to take care of a couple yard coyotes in the past couple of decades.

When I picked up a T1X a couple years back, I saw it in the safe and thought that I really should put at least a somewhat better scope on it, so I've done that but haven't shot it yet. It's yard and house renovation season still here..

Thanks to you and the rest for a fine thread and exchange of ideas. This sort of thing is what keeps the 'Fire interesting to my way of thinking.

All the best.

Dwayne

Yes sir. Always use release agent. Just like any bedding job, never go full torque when bedding them. After it's cured, then you can torque it down as you like. Of course I don't use a torque wrench. When I say "torque", I am meaning just tighten it down as you normally would. A properly bedded rifle is not sensitive to torque settings. Some guys do not get that, but I have to reiterate that occasionally.

It is a great thread and I always appreciate your thoughts on stuff. Have a great day buddy!!

Are you running pillars? Or in this case a pillar.

You don't need a pillar in that stock. The extra bedding in there offers way more than enough support. Have you ever messed with that quick steel?

bsa;
Good afternoon once more, me again and I still hope you're having a good day.

Thanks for the kind reply, I appreciate it.

Thanks as well for getting the mental gears turning again, because although you didn't ask me this, I have used either SteelStik or it's cousin when I was repairing woodworking machinery.

It worked great and honestly I'd never considered it for small confined bedding jobs until I saw your post..... and the light went on!!!

Yah, I can see using that on a few things actually, so thanks again.

All the best.

Dwayne

Is the receiver bedded also?
No, I haven't used quick steel, but I have used Brownells Steel bed and Devcon.

I've a goodly herd,including S/S receivers,both threaded and slip-fit. Bed the spout and float the receiver. Hint.

Just sayin'..............

I did exactly that with mine. Works great. And you torque it down after the epoxy hardens.

DF

My understanding was one full length beds the barrel and floats the action.

I bedded the rear of the action and the barrel near the forward barrel channel. Then used the action screw to bind the barreled action between those two points. By bedding the lug with tension on the barreled action, which stiffens the barrel to action connection. Then locking it down as shown ends up with a pretty solid set up.

DF