Hi there,
I'm looking for some help evaluating my options to bed the above rifle currently chambered for 6.5x55.
Why bed it? Well, the rifle is pretty much exactly as it came from the factory (which I estimate to have been late 1950's to early 1960's somewhere). Problem is that the rifle's cold barrel shot prints about 1.5 minutes right, 2 minutes low at 100 yards compared to subsequent shots once the barrel has warmed up. Also, if I fire three to four shots in quick succession, really heating up the barrel, shots from the 4th one onwards starts drifting all over the target.
Shots from the second one onwards give my about 0.75 minutes groups, as long as I give the barrel about 2 minutes between shots. So she can shoot, as long as she is not stone cold, or blazingly hot.
Now my question - since the rifle has no bedding, and the barrel has not been floated, I'm left with two options. 1) Bed the action and try and float the barrel by having some wood removed from the front-end of the stock. Or 2) Fully bed the action and the entire front-end of the stock to ensure solid contact with the barrel. The rifle has a sporter sized barrel.
I've got limited experience with bedding of these old rifles - so any help and suggestions on a the merits of the two options (or any additional suggestions) are welcome. Keep in mind that I would prefer to keep the rifle with it's current components (since it is almost an antique!), so options to swap stock, change barrel etc are ones I would rather leave until I have no other choice.
Regards,
Jaco
I'm looking for some help evaluating my options to bed the above rifle currently chambered for 6.5x55.
Why bed it? Well, the rifle is pretty much exactly as it came from the factory (which I estimate to have been late 1950's to early 1960's somewhere). Problem is that the rifle's cold barrel shot prints about 1.5 minutes right, 2 minutes low at 100 yards compared to subsequent shots once the barrel has warmed up. Also, if I fire three to four shots in quick succession, really heating up the barrel, shots from the 4th one onwards starts drifting all over the target.
Shots from the second one onwards give my about 0.75 minutes groups, as long as I give the barrel about 2 minutes between shots. So she can shoot, as long as she is not stone cold, or blazingly hot.
Now my question - since the rifle has no bedding, and the barrel has not been floated, I'm left with two options. 1) Bed the action and try and float the barrel by having some wood removed from the front-end of the stock. Or 2) Fully bed the action and the entire front-end of the stock to ensure solid contact with the barrel. The rifle has a sporter sized barrel.
I've got limited experience with bedding of these old rifles - so any help and suggestions on a the merits of the two options (or any additional suggestions) are welcome. Keep in mind that I would prefer to keep the rifle with it's current components (since it is almost an antique!), so options to swap stock, change barrel etc are ones I would rather leave until I have no other choice.
Regards,
Jaco
