elkaholic
Well-Known Member
You will need a gunsmith to do the barrel work. When you bed a rifle properly, it WILL be floated.......Rich
30/06 to 300WM, 300RUM, 308NM, or...
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You will need a gunsmith to do the barrel work. When you bed a rifle properly, it WILL be floated.......Rich
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Like Rich said, it's best to let a professional gunsmith handle the barrel swap. Mainly because the barrel will come as a blank piece of steel, other than a hole in the middle with rifling in it, and pre-contoured to the specific contour you ordered. It will need to be threaded, chambered, fitted, and have the headspace trued. While you have the old barrel off going through that process, you might as well have the smith true up the action while he's at it.
Yes, I would bed the action and fully free-float the barrel. Floating and bedding are 2 totally different things. Bedding keeps the action planted so it doesn't move around in the stock causing accuracy issues and POI (Point Of Impact) issues. Floating the barrel frees the barrel from any outside sources (the stock) affecting the harmonics it creates when a bullet is pushed through it at rapid speeds. If there's nothing external acting on the barrel to affect harmonics you will have much better chance of getting a truly accurate load developed.
So, whoever told you bedding was a necessity and floating is not, doesn't need to be giving rifle advice. And I wouldn't listen to much of anything else they said if someone made a comment like that to, or in front of me. Just saying. My appologies if it's someone you know really well, but my time is more valuable to me, than to listen to hear-say B.S.
So, whoever told you bedding was a necessity and floating is not, doesn't need to be giving rifle advice. And I wouldn't listen to much of anything else they said if someone made a comment like that to, or in front of me. Just saying. My appologies if it's someone you know really well, but my time is more valuable to me, than to listen to hear-say B.S.
Yeah, that knucklehead would be my dad but I pretty much knew the answer to that question already, I just wanted to see it there was a slight chance he was right.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
He was probably getting that info from basing it on the stock designs of old war rifles. For example, muskets, flintlocks, Mosin Nagants, some old Mausers, old Steyr-Manlicher rifles, and some old Mauser style built rifles have a stock that goes all the way to the end (or near it) of the barrel. In which case, it would be hard to float something like that. LOLYeah, that knucklehead would be my dad but I pretty much knew the answer to that question already, I just wanted to see it there was a slight chance he was right.
However, with modern rifle technology today, we now know how to build the most accurate rifles thanks to many decades or trial and error, and new sophisticated machines and equipment teaching us about barrel harmonics and stuff like actions shifting in the stocks, and things such as that.
So, technically he wasn't totally wrong, but it is not the most efficient or accurate way to build a tack-driving precision rifle, based on decades of rifle experimentation.
Because there is always the Big 4 when aiming for accuracy and precision and repeatability... Bedding, Floating, Truing, and precision handloading.
Once again, my appologies if I offended you. It wasn't intentional. Growing up I thought my old man knew everything there was to know about everything. The older I got the more I learned...And the more I realized he was a very smart and wise man, but he sure didn't know jack about some stuff.
LOLThe older I got the more I learned...And the more I realized he was a very smart and wise man, but he sure didn't know jack about some stuff.
Ain't that the truth! No, there was no offense taken here and yes, he referenced the old mausers but obviously that's a different application as you said. He's still a firm believer in floating and bedding so I don't know why he even said that. Probably because we love talking guns, reloading, and hunting and will beat it to death like women at a hair salon!!
Like Rich said, it's best to let a professional gunsmith handle the barrel swap. Mainly because the barrel will come as a blank piece of steel, other than a hole in the middle with rifling in it, and pre-contoured to the specific contour you ordered. It will need to be threaded, chambered, fitted, and have the headspace trued. While you have the old barrel off going through that process, you might as well have the smith true up the action while he's at it.
Yes, I would bed the action and fully free-float the barrel. Floating and bedding are 2 totally different things. Bedding keeps the action planted so it doesn't move around in the stock causing accuracy issues and POI (Point Of Impact) issues. Floating the barrel frees the barrel from any outside sources (the stock) affecting the harmonics it creates when a bullet is pushed through it at rapid speeds. If there's nothing external acting on the barrel to affect harmonics you will have much better chance of getting a truly accurate load developed.
So, whoever told you bedding was a necessity and floating is not, doesn't need to be giving rifle advice. And I wouldn't listen to much of anything else they said if someone made a comment like that to, or in front of me. Just saying. My appologies if it's someone you know really well, but my time is more valuable to me, than to listen to hear-say B.S.
+1 To everything Mud said.
Booney
Well-Known Member
280ai
It looks like what you have is what they called a mtn. rifle. I admit that I have not read thru the thread so you can ignore this if you have already covered it! You could EASILY convert it to 300 Sherman with out altering the boltface or anything. In fact, you could simply run the Sherman reamer thru the chamber and get 300 WSM performance. Since it doesn't shoot well now, you may not want to do that though as it could be the barrel. I don't know if you are into wildcats or not, and of course this is a wildcat. If you did want to open the boltface, I have a couple of 30/375 S.I.'s that shoot very well. It is also a wildcat that has the 375 Ruger as a parent case so has no belt. I can reach 3100' with the 215 Bergers in a 28" barrel. I have the reamers and can get good custom dies for either. The other options are of course endless, and you have probably already heard a lot of them
p.s. They started making the 700 in 1962 and the mtn rifle was several years later. I suspect that yours is a mid to late 80's model since they didn't start making them until '86? They did make a custom deluxe 700 BDL with a 20" barrel back in the 60's (I have one) but yours is an ADL.........Rich
I noticed you both commented on a thread regarding the 300 Sherman back in 2008. Do either of you still have a 300 Sherman? This does sound like the easiest option out there. I was even thinking of buying a different barrel for the 700 since this is a Mnt. rifle. Do you know it a guy can buy a pre-reamed barrel for would I still need to have a smithy do it? There's a smith at a local range here that will let you "help" him for $70 an hour do work on your own gun. Kinda fun if you ask me! Do you have any barrel suggestions? Also, what about the 6.5 if I'm getting a new barrel anyway?
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
I never had a .300 Sherman, but was looking into building one. I still might turn my .30-06 AI into one later on, but for now it's shooting good. The extra capacity would be nice to have since I am shooting the Berger 185 VLD's. I would like to see it pushing them close to the 3K mark with my 26" 1:12 barrel. I went the .30-06 AI route for the time being, since dies were readily availble, and my smith had a reamer already, and I was itching to get that project built so I could shoot it.
I would PM Rich (elkaholic) about his Sherman calibers, if you are interested in them. If anyone can give you the info you need, it is him.
I would PM Rich (elkaholic) about his Sherman calibers, if you are interested in them. If anyone can give you the info you need, it is him.
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
hawk..........I am the developer of the 300 Sherman and have the reamer and go gauge. It is a sweet cartridge and a very easy conversion. I can get custom dies for it from Whidden in about 10 weeks.
I know someone who MIGHT be willing to pre fit a barrel if you wanted to. I also have two versions of the 6.5 Sherman. It can also be done in 270 or 280. You can pm me if you want or just call and chat at (208)755-6723.....thanks/Rich
