Should I float my barrel?

[zpearo]

I won a weatherby 6.5 PRC and sold it to a buddy. He wanted me to set it up for him. So first thing I did was check the float. There was none. When I took the barreled action out of the stock it almost looked like the stock was designed to bind the barrel in 3 areas along the barrel channel. I was like WTF? I had to sand the absolute hell out of that thing to get it to even slightly float. The torque from the acton screws forcing that barrel down against the barrel channel must've been immense. It was so bad it almost HAD to be an intentional design for some reason?

Yeah, the lightweight synthetic stocks they come with are so thin that they flex a lot of not supported, and are designed to have contact with the barrel on purpose. I think the vanguard model is supposed to have 8lbs of pressure at the front end of the stock

 

[huntnful]

Yeah, the lightweight synthetic stocks they come with are so thin that they flex a lot of not supported, and are designed to have contact with the barrel on purpose. I think the vanguard model is supposed to have 8lbs of pressure at the front end of the stock

Honestly makes perfect sense based off what I saw. It seemed intentional.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I won a weatherby 6.5 PRC and sold it to a buddy. He wanted me to set it up for him. So first thing I did was check the float. There was none. When I took the barreled action out of the stock it almost looked like the stock was designed to bind the barrel in 3 areas along the barrel channel. I was like WTF? I had to sand the absolute hell out of that thing to get it to even slightly float. The torque from the action screws forcing that barrel down against the barrel channel must've been immense. It was so bad it almost HAD to be an intentional design for some reason?

I'm not sure, but I know of two specifically that had crap groups consistently. I checked everything and got them known good scopes (SWFA) and known/good rings properly torqued and loctited at the time. Still sucked.

I took the action off the stock and couldn't believe how bad the contact was, seemed intentional yes. We dremled them out until fully free floated, torqued the action screws to 55" lbs and loctited them in. Haven't had any issues or fuss since.

 

[huntnful]

I'm not sure, but I know of two specifically that had crap groups consistently. I checked everything and got them known good scopes (SWFA) and known/good rings properly torqued and loctited at the time. Still sucked.

I took the action off the stock and couldn't believe how bad the contact was, seemed intentional yes. We dremled them out until fully free floated, torqued the action screws to 55" lbs and loctited them in. Haven't had any issues or fuss since.

Yeah I did it before I even shot the gun. But it did end up shooting decent once I took it to the range. 5 shots around 1 MOA. All you can ask for from that platform IMO

 

[fuzzymarindave]

This was a temporary solution to see how the gun likes the barrel being floated. Went to the range this weekend to test, and the gun shoots well floated. Didn't cause any issues.

For a permanent solution, a Stocky's VG2 carbon fiber stock is in the mail on its way as we speak.

I think you'll be happy with the Stocky's carbon. My Howa Carbon Stalker came with the same stock and it was free floated and did not flex much at all. I did bed the receiver but that was optional.