bedding or free floating

[apocalypticpyro]

just curious if i wanted to increase accuracy in a bolt action rifle what would give me better accuracy free floating, glass bedding, or pillar bedding and what are the pros and cons of each? thanks

[tl_3237]

I'm sure someone will come in and give you the real technical reasons for each but from my experience I would go with free floating.

With free floating there are no external forces from bedding applied to the barrel during heating and cooling since the only barrel/stock interface is back at the receiver.

I've free floated my 03 Springfield and 22LR Rem 40XB and never looked back.

[Chazman321]

It would all depend on the rifle and application...

I like free float personally. It's mainly used for deer and even sniper rifles. The advantages are that wooden stocks can sometimes swell or shrink depending on temperature and humidity and elevation. A free floated barrel generally will not be affected by these sligh changes, where a bedded barrel might be... But if you have a large bore rifle with a lot of recoil, it can split the stock at the lug...

Glass bedding is usually used on BIG rifles with a lot of recoil, other words, an elephant gun... lol The lug and the entire length of the barrel are basically one single piece of wood and steel. Very, very strong, but must be done just right. Think in terms of hours.

Pillar bedding is kind of like the .40 S&W cartridge, it's the happy medium between free float and glass bedding. The barrel recess is downletted to the point where it could be free floated except by the barrel lug and about an inch behind the end of the stock's forearm. Those places get the glass bedding...

With bedding of any kind, small enviornmental changes can change your zero, and requires sighting in your rifle (which you should do anyways) before shooting targets or game.

Overall, it's a preference...


-Chaz

[apocalypticpyro]

cool thanks i was just wandering

[MOUNTAINORACLE]

If I have to make any changes to my rifles I glass bed them, I have found that the glass bedding holds up better for me, but then about the only rifles I have had to glass bed are .338 Win Mags, .375 H&Hs, .460 Weatherby, and a couple of .416 Rigbys.

oracle

[Tomcat088]

. . The advantages are that wooden stocks can sometimes swell or shrink depending on temperature and humidity and elevation. A free floated barrel generally will not be affected by these sligh changes, where a bedded barrel might be... But if you have a large bore rifle with a lot of recoil, it can split the stock at the lug...

Glass bedding is usually used on BIG rifles with a lot of recoil, other words, an elephant gun... lol The lug and the entire length of the barrel are basically one single piece of wood and steel. Very, very strong, but must be done just right. Think in terms of hours.

Pillar bedding is kind of like the .40 S&W cartridge, it's the happy medium between free float and glass bedding. The barrel recess is downletted to the point where it could be free floated except by the barrel lug and about an inch behind the end of the stock's forearm. Those places get the glass bedding...

-Chaz

There's been a bit of misinformation presented here, and so I wanted to try to clear it up.

"free floating" in a general term is usually meant to refer to if the barrel is touching the fore end of the stock. There are many factory rifles that have NO BEDDING whatsoever, but the stock and recoil lug are inletted so that the barrel is still free floating and not touching the stock. There are a few BR guys that "free float the action" meaning that no part of the action is touching the stock. This is FAR FAR FAR from the norm, and when you hear "free float" it generally will mean the barrel, NOTHING ELSE.

"Pillar Bedding" is when the screw holes that hold the action into the stock are drilled out and filled with usually aluminum (sometimes other metals) pillars. These pillars are quite stable (more so than wood or fiberglass), and so they are less prone to breakage, and support the action over a much wider area than just the screw. When you pillar bed a rifle, the only part of the action that touches anything is the screw holes where the pillars meet the action. In essence, the barrel AND the action are "free floating"; because the action only touches the pillars, and then the recoil lug touches the stock. Either way, pillar bedding has nothing to do with bedding compound under part of the barrel, or ANY glass bedding, that's "glass bedding".

"Glass Bedding" has to do TYPICALLY with putting a bedding compound around the action of the rifle. IT USUALLY has NOTHING to do with putting bedding compound down the barrel channel, or supporting the entire length of the barrel. The recoil lug area, and the around that supports the bottom of the action is filled in, so that it perfectly fits up with the action. Many, maybe most, gunsmiths will also bed the first inch or so of the barrel in front of the recoil lug. This is the chamber area of the rifle, and many smiths feel that it helps support the barrel and improves the barrel harmonics, because they're dampened in the chamber. This is NOT only for BIG MAGNUM rifles, people glass bed and pillar bed, .204, .22-250, .223, .308, etc; any rifle.

OK, so the goal of all bedding is to lead to a more "consistent" rifle. Your rifle may not make any huge accuracy gains, but you may realize that because it consistently shoots a certain way, the rifle overall is more accurate. When you bed the rifle, you're basically trying to take away some variables of how the rifle sits in the stock, shrinkage or swelling of wood stocks, tension of the screws in the action, sagging due to barrels being heavy and free floating, etc. In case you haven't realized it yet, you can do ALL of the methods that you have mentioned to a rifle. My rifle that I just finished building is pillar bedded (bedding block), glass bedded (and first inch of barrel), and the rest of the barrel is free floating. There was a thread recently that talked about this and the purposes of bedding. Here's the other thread if everybody on this thread would like to look at it, to help clear up some misconceptions. http://forum.pafoa.org/rifles-42/412...-question.html .

Here's a page on 6BR that I list in the other thread that shows a rifle that is being pillar AND glass bedded. http://www.6mmbr.com/pillarbedding.html . This might kind of give you an idea of the process, and give you visuals of what I've been talking about.

[wa3ra]

My theory is that you should take the rifle out and shoot it...if it is already accurate, then there is no sense in messing with it, one way or the other.

Floating has its advantages, especially if you will be running a lot of ammo through the barrel; when it starts to wear, you'll be better able to 'adapt'.

Bedding also has advantages; for a seldom-used weapon, once it's accurized, it will tend to stay that way.

[Ben Hooper]

Hi, new here and looking for the video of bedding, do you guys have any? I am still unsuccessful!

[ianb1116]

Hi, new here and looking for the video of bedding, do you guys have any? I am still unsuccessful!

Holy necro-thread batman.

That aside, just look on Youtube. Plenty there.

Welcome to the forum!