bed and free float or not?

[dakotakidd]

Two of my budget hunting rifles. Top is a wally world special 243 adl with a bell and carlson alaskan ii. Not bedded just torqued into the aluminum pillars and still has the barrel alignment tabs touching the barrel.
Bottom rifle is my sps in 300 win mag same stock and still has aligning tabs touching barrel, has timney 510 set at 2lbs.
So the question is do I bed and free float them or just let them be. They are both shooting well and I think i could do better with a timney in the 243 adl( factory tigger has to be 6 or 8lbs) super stiff but breaks fairly crisp.
Both 3 shot groups at 110yds.
Tell me your opinions.
Mostly bored at work and want to strike up a conversation haha!

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[red dawg]

Put a trigger in ur 243 or take it to a good smith and let him work his magic, both
guns seem to have potential, do u reload or is this factory ammo? I would not bed. Float maybe just my 2 cents

 

[dakotakidd]

I reload for the 300wm but not yet for the 243. The 243 is shooting cheap Hornady American Whitetail in that picture for barrel break in.

 

[red dawg]

The 243 is easy to load for as long as u have a fast twist for some heavy pills, but it needs a trigger in the worst way

 

[dakotakidd]

Oh I know! The gun feels like it's on safe when you shoot it off the bench. Hunting you don't notice it as much.

 

[red dawg]

Lots of things u can do for accuracy, my opinion is trigger 1st, I had a short 22inch barrel savage model 10 would shoot 1 in groups, till trigger was worked over and it went to half in groups , then I reloaded for it and was a tac driver out to 500yds then my too slow of twist took over. It was my varmint gun till one of my buddy's saw what it would do, and He bought it and gave me a nice profit, but I miss it now and He won't part with it

 

[MudRunner2005]

It's cheap and easy to do. And if done right, it's always worth it to bed the action and float the barrel. Trigger tuning will also help a lot.

 

[Capt RB]

The thin barrels can do well with fore end pressure. Bedding the action and tuning/changing the trigger doesn't have a negitive. If youfloat and they open up you can cut 1/4x1' strips of match book cover and re apply the barrel pressure keep adding strips till the group comes back.

 

[red dawg]

I'm a fan of if it broke don't fix it, but that to me is ur stock and maybe even bedding, my friend floated and bedded a ruger rifle and destroyed the accuracy, and then had to buy a new aluminum blocked stock from ruger to get his accuracy back, but u know how I feel about the trigger

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I'm a fan of if it broke don't fix it, but that to me is ur stock and maybe even bedding, my friend floated and bedded a ruger rifle and destroyed the accuracy, and then had to buy a new aluminum blocked stock from ruger to get his accuracy back, but u know how I feel about the trigger

+1...
If the trigger is crap and can't be tuned, ditch it... I wouldn't play with bedding on rifles that already shoot though. The only time bedding and/or floating a rifle really helps is when things are garfed up to begin with. My last float is my m700 lss lh 30-06. The rem stock was pressing on the barrel on one side and the rifle refused to shoot well until I could run a freight train through the barrel/ stock gap.

My 7stw, which my 'smith and I built from action this summer, is NOT floated or bedded and is simply snugged into a Boyds Prairie hunter lh laminate stock cut out for a #5 contour barrel. The barrel has a bit of felt between it and the stock near the for-end.

 

[d11r529]

I read many years ago and have used sense to take something like an old credit card and cut washers to put between the stock and the barrel until it's free floating, most of the time one will do. If accuracy improves then free floating is the way to go, in not then just take out the washers and no harm done.