Remington model 7 ?

[gamehauler]

Because of a stock I just bought and past and present debate
I have a Question.

I have a Remington Model 7 youth chambered in 7MM-08 for my 2 Daughters.
Rather than having a free floating barrel it comes with a pad for the barrel to sit on just above the sling post.
We talk about how important free floating a barrel is as to not have a harmonics issue.
It is obvious that this pad is there for a reason and wonder why.
This came up before on this forum and someone stated it was needed on this gun.
Any input would be great.
Mike

[James Jones]

I'm not certain why factroy guns have bedding points for the barrel as most guns shoot much better with a free floated barrel. It is true that some light barreled rifles shoot better with a pressure point under the barrel but this point needs to be well placed. I have had just a few factroy guns and no customes that shot better with a pressure point.
What happens alot fof times with factroy guns is that when the barrel "whips" at the shot its comes free from the forend and when the barrel settles back down its not in the exact same spot so you end up with pressure being put on the side of the barrel as well as the bottom and that points the barrel in a differant direction , basicaly the barrel needs to take off and lad in the same spot every time to get the best groups , this is easy with free floated barrels but barrels with alot of stress in them will start to "walk" as they heat up and thats from the barrel structure moving on the mollecular level , with guns whos barrels do walk alot after the third shot or so you will find that a stiff pressure point will help and since most factroy guns have forged barrels and they arn't stress relieved this is why i think that the factroy gun benifit more from a pressure bedding point

[J E Custom]

Mike

If you have shot it and it shoots fine then leave it alone.

If not then shoot it first and see how it shoots.

Only shoot 1 or 2 shots to check the zero. after 3 or more
shots it will heat up and start moving around .(Not unusual
for a rifle with tip pressure).

The reason for free floating a barrel is to make it more consistant
but on light barrels some times it will shoot worse so test it first.

When hunting big game you only need one or two shots but if you
were hunting Prairie Dogs then you would have to float the barrel and
bed the action.

The main problem with tip pressure is that they can change POI on
wooden stocks.

So if you are satisfied with the accurace leave tip pressure on it
if not then remove it.(you can allways put it back).

With heavy barrels it's allways better to float and bed.

J E CUSTOM

[gamehauler]

The gun shoots great.
My daughter has taken whitetail and Antelope
in the 300 yard range with it.
The reason for the question is because I just
bought a laminated stock for it and it will not have the pressure point.
From what I am gathering here is I should go ahead and bed it and see
how it shots.
If accuracy goes down try adding the pressure point?
Mike

[Kevin Cram]

I would reccomend doing just as you mentioned in your last post. Bed it with the barrel 100% free floated. If it shoots, great, your done. If you want to try to put a pressure pad on the tip pace the rifle in a padded vise and get a 10 - 15 lbs. weight and hang it from the front swivel stud by a wire. Put a little bedding at the point you want the pressure pad and re-install the barreled action (make sure you use rlease agent though). Let it dry for a day or two. When you remove the weight you will have 10-15 lbs of upward pressure pushing on the barrel.
The other way would be to install a threaded plug in the forearm and inside of the plug use a brass tipped set screw. You can then adjust the pressure put on the barrel. When you get it where you want put a little loc-tite on the threads and let it run into the plug. I've done the secondary method on a target .22 once more as a tuner than a pressure pad though. I still think it will probably shoot best free floated though.

[Crane]

I put a laminated stock on my kids model 7, also in 7.08. Bedded the action and free floated the barrel and it is a tack driver with 120 ballistic tips. If you are going to pillar bed it, the rear action screw is a bit tricky as there is not much room to work with because of the location of the trigger in relation to the rear pillar. I had to make a rear pillar out of some tubing.