Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Should I free float the barrel on my Vanguard sub moa?

I recently purchased a Weatherby Vanguard Sub MOA with a synthetic stock. When replacing the trigger, I noticed that the barrel rested on two synthetic rails molded to the front end of the stock. Since the stock is synthetic and the effect of humidity is minimal, should I worry about floating the barrel? All my other rifles with synthetic stocks are free floated (Steyr, Tikka and Remington).

How's it shoot as is?

Dober

It shoots MOA.

Any changes as it warms up, if not I'd leave it alone.

Dober and Steelhead pretty much put an end to this thread. Good answers.

I floated my sps 700's not because the stock changed w/ temp but because poi would move 2" @ 100yds when a bipod was used or if you put too much forend pressure on them. The 'ol washer on the front action screw left accuracy alone but kept poi the same no matter my hold/bipod/etc.


Brett

I would let sleeping dogs lie. My own SUBMOA in 300 wsm needed no work other then a Timney trigger to really shoot well.

I have a SUBMOA Varmint in .223 with a factory free floated barrel that I bedded with Devcon and is shooting in the mid .3". I also have a standard Vanguard in .30-06 that was shooting right around 1" with the factory tupperware stock. I bedded it to a B&C Medalist stock with devcon and free floated the barrel and it is shooting in the high .3" with handloads. Hope this helps.

I have a sub-moa in 22-250 and with my load development I'm shooting groups the size of a nickel. In a 4 shot group, I find I can put 3 into the same hole but I always get one thats a bit off. I'm pretty impressed with the performance from it after a lot of fooling around with finding a load.

Until I kick my reloading up a notch and start measuring neck thickness, brass weight, etc, I dont expect to be shooting a single raged hole.

As a side note, I've replaced my trigger with a Timney. What a difference.

If you go and F with it they can choose not to honor the MOA warranty.I took my Timney out when I sent my 25-06 SUB MOA back...and the did what thay had to make it perform as stated.

First inclination is if it ain't broke don't fix it. In hunting situations though if one goes to bipods, gets wrapped up in a sling, really heats a unit up etc, then one may induce some pressure shifts on the barrel and effect point of impact. One might try a variety of positions/equipment/temperatures, and if nothing changes, then leave it alone.

I personally favor wood, and float about everything. The last Weatherby I took the pressure point out of (a 257) dropped the point of impact about 7 inches at 100 yards and did improve performance. There was all kinds of up and side pressure on the barrel, and being in a dry climate, I had to refloat it again about a year later due to additional stock warping.

One can always replace the pressure point and probably do a better job of that task than the factory folks. Even with a synthetic stock, I suspect one can improve on factory fit.

On another tangent, I've always wondered how Weatherby shoots their accompanying targets. Is the unit even mounted in a stock? Mounted and fired from a machine sans stock, allowed to cool between rounds etc? 1Minute

I always wondered how Weatherby shoots their Vanguards also. Anyone happen to know?

A service tech from Weatherby told me they use a "slave" stock that they put each barreled action in and test fire. They are not fired in the stock they are sold with. The actions may be attached to some type of machine rest.

[quote=overmax]A service tech from Weatherby told me they use a "slave" stock that they put each barreled action in and test fire. They are not fired in the stock they are sold with. The actions may be attached to some type of machine rest. [/quote

I have firmly believed that, ever since I got my MKV Deluxe back in 1990. My action didn't even come close to fitting in the stock. I bedded it, floated it, re-bedded it and eventually, partially floated it, (pressure point at forend tip). It never did better than the factory target.

Twodogs: I've long suspected the barreled actions were fired from machined rests. I've always wished I could acquire something along those lines just to remove the human and bedding elements from my load experiment trials.

my advice is to leave it alone. My sub moa stock has too much fore arm flex and floating the bbl excerbated this flexing. Too much stock material was required to be removed in order to keep the fore arm from touching the bbl under most shooting positions. The resulting gap down the bbl channel is unsightly. My stock was the tan/black synthetic factory pillar bedded for sub moa 257.

My Vanguard 300 WM, at least 10 years old, came with a wood stock, and had a pressure point built in. It shot 2.5" groups on a good day.

Put a Pacific Research (bought out by Borden) synth on it, free floating.

Shoots 5/8 to 1" groups now with factory ammo.

That said, if it groups and isn't affected by those things mentioned here, no real reason to screw with it.

(Personally, I'm a believer in free floating.)

Actually my Tikka T3 is not free floated, the barrel and stock have contact for a few inches in front of the receiver. It shoots acurately so I left it alone. If I owned an accurate Vanguard I would also leave it alone.

Dufur: One need not ream on the stock to get a unit floated. One can float the barrel by adding a trace of glass to the tang and recoil lug areas. Put about 3 wraps of masking tape around the barrel before the bedding process and that will provide enough lift for the barrel to clear the channel. When I do those jobs I use a couple sand bags to hold the stock horizontal, and let the barreled action sit in the inletting with no screws installed until after ones material has hardened. Only takes about 5 drops of epoxy or a bean sized chunk of gel material.

I just did this about a week ago to a 240 Weatherby. I put a lot of work into fit, sealing, and finish on some beautiful wood and did not want to undo those efforts. That overnight fix took it from a 1.5 inch average to 0.75 inches for 5 rounds, and I'm happy now. Now if I can just find some more of those Sierra 100 grain boat tails......

DON'T DO IT!

Couple years back I was having problems getting under 2" with a new .300 Super Big Game Master with a variety of handloads and factory ammo. One of the reasons I bought this rifle is that I liked the Bell & Carlson Medalist stock (same basic unit is on the Sub MOA), "needed" a full-length .300 Mag for an upcoming elk hunt that was just a few weeks off and my .300 RUM 700 was temporarily out of service. That 1-1/2" Guarantee looked really sweet. Didn't work out that way...

Being a stock guy from way back, naturally first thing I did is sand those annoying bumps out of the forend (like anyone would do with a 700, etc.) and head back to the range. No change at all. So I contacted Weatherby and they gave me a song and dance about torquing the screws a certain way, 52 in-lbs on the tang and 64 on the front I believe (don't quote me on the exact torque please, I forget.)

Still no results, as expected. The factory then gave me the address of their "service center" in Alabama, I believe it was.

Off it went (I took another rifle on that hunt). When I got back into the shop the phone rings one sunny morning ... it's the serviceman. Seems my factory warranty was now null and void since I removed those forend bumps. They refused to shoot it in another stock, nor would they replace the bumps with some Acraglas, no, they refused to do anything at all unless I paid them $490 for a stock I could buy NIB elsewhere for under $250. Had to have that Weatherby-logo butt pad (complete with unaltered forend bumps) or I was you-know-what.

Weatherby themselves reiterated that position, my warranty was ka-putt since the stock was bump-less. Not only my accuracy warranty mind you, but now that they knew that my stock was altered that sticky trigger and anything else thet ever went wrong was my problem too, unless I elected to pay their price on that stock.

Bottom line, I learned the hard way - Weatherby's Accuracy Guarantee is so much promotional material and they will do anything to get out of it. Don't touch anything, if you want the warrantee of any type to be valid either.

Oh ya, they charged me $90 for an "evaluation" and held that rifle hostage until I paid it. When I attempted to charge-back my credit card they defended it like it was the last hundred bucks on earth - and won.

I was out the money and still have an inaccurate rifle. Can't tell you how many I have bought since then but as you may guess none are Weatherbys.

Hope that helps with your decision.