Torque on rifle's action

[Natty Bumpo]

I see photos and read descriptions of members rifles that have 26" - 30" barrels, some up to 1" thick at the muzzle. Since these are typically free-floated, all that barrel weight is being held up by 2 action screws. With a long, heavy barrel, that seems to me like a lot of torque on the action. The rifles seem to shoot well, so I guess it works; but, would there be any advantage to anchoring the action/barrel somewhere closer to the midpoint? Not sure offhand how you do that; and, don't know enough about rifles to know if a floated action is just asking for trouble.

Anyone with thoughts or experience in the matter.

[ss7mm]

all that barrel weight is being held up by 2 action screws

Not too sure what you mean by "2" action screws but typically a barrel tennon and the resulting threads are a lot longer than that.;)

You can check with different gunsmiths and they may have differing views about what action will support what barrel dimensions. Some smiths will float the whole barrel and some will, depending on all components, bed the bottom of the chamber area with a small pad. Typically the custom actions can handle a 30-32" barrel with no problem. There are, however, some actions that I would not want that much barrel hanging on without some support.

The longest barrel I have is a heavy sporter, 32" long plus brake on my 7mm AM. It floats but has one problem.......it kills stuff when I point it at said stuff.

You will reach a point where a barrel block would be a good idea when things get too heavy and/or long. Kirby has a V-block design that accomplishes the same thing but doesn't use a surrounding block design. With a barrel block the action can be, and typically is, floated. The barrel block is the only thing contacting the stock

To each his own but a lot of people, with oversized components in their guns have not only a floated barrel but a floated action. Whatever "floats" your boat I guess.

Look at some pics of benchrest guns like the rail guns and you will see barrels and actions all just hanging out in the air.

Rail guns are either clamped or glued. Most are clamped to aid in barrel changing. Since the barrel is hard mounted by either glue or clamping the action is the floating part of the gun. It is really hard to get a rifle that has the entire barrel and action free floated or "hanging" out there.

Don't get confused, the barrel or the action must be mounted solidly. Barrel blocks take the bending stress off of the action holding long a weighty chunk of steel.

Now, a carbon fiber wrapped barrel...............

James