DIY BARREL FREE FLOATING
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:42 pm
diy barrel free floating
Hello all
Just a few lines to tell you of the recent improvement I have made to my little Remington model 7 predator .204 rifle.
Many months ago I sold the .17hrm to fund the .204 Ruger , I wanted a light easy to carry rifle for varmints and fox out to the 400m mark.
The rifle was “ok” apart from the stock that wasn’t free floating it touched the barrel in several places namely along each side , several places in the middle & at the end, also the stock was as stiff as an elastic band , it would shoot 1“ to just sub inch groups off bags as long as I didn’t put too much pressure on the forend and I let the barrel cool between shots.
I decided to take action to try to solve this problem myself with out spending a lot of money.
The next day armed with a file , 400&600 grit sand paper, some car repair fibreglass and wooden dowels of different diameters I set to work , I removed the stock from the rifle measured what bits I wanted removed and set to work with the files ,after this I used the dowels and sand paper to remove where the channels in the stock touched the barrel . After checking it was free floating I used the fibreglass to fill in the channels to try and stiffen and strengthen the stock .
I left it 24hrs then re-sanded the fibreglass smooth , fitted the stock back on the rifle I rechecked that it fully free floated I also tinkered and made the trigger lighter .
I went out yesterday to re-zero and check if any improvement was made, I placed a target 100m away forgot the bags so only had the bi-pod to help.
First couple of shots were just bringing rifle back to zero (1” high@100m) then armed with the limited amount of ammo I had left (as was going out chasing foxes) I decided to shoot a few groups .
To say I was impressed is an understatement I shot 3 x 3shot groups with about 10-20sec between shots the groups were two at 0.4” and one at 0.3” all groups had two bullets holes touching and the 3rd just stepped off (I did rush 3rd shot on each string) I believe if I used bags and didn’t rush I could get the groups down to 0.2”
The free floating , stiffening of the stock and lightening the trigger really made a huge difference to the overall performance of this little gun when I totted up the cost of the alterations it came to the costly sum of £7-99 or $14 and took 3hrs in total to carry out well worth the time and money .
Regards…Neil
Hello all
Just a few lines to tell you of the recent improvement I have made to my little Remington model 7 predator .204 rifle.
Many months ago I sold the .17hrm to fund the .204 Ruger , I wanted a light easy to carry rifle for varmints and fox out to the 400m mark.
The rifle was “ok” apart from the stock that wasn’t free floating it touched the barrel in several places namely along each side , several places in the middle & at the end, also the stock was as stiff as an elastic band , it would shoot 1“ to just sub inch groups off bags as long as I didn’t put too much pressure on the forend and I let the barrel cool between shots.
I decided to take action to try to solve this problem myself with out spending a lot of money.
The next day armed with a file , 400&600 grit sand paper, some car repair fibreglass and wooden dowels of different diameters I set to work , I removed the stock from the rifle measured what bits I wanted removed and set to work with the files ,after this I used the dowels and sand paper to remove where the channels in the stock touched the barrel . After checking it was free floating I used the fibreglass to fill in the channels to try and stiffen and strengthen the stock .
I left it 24hrs then re-sanded the fibreglass smooth , fitted the stock back on the rifle I rechecked that it fully free floated I also tinkered and made the trigger lighter .
I went out yesterday to re-zero and check if any improvement was made, I placed a target 100m away forgot the bags so only had the bi-pod to help.
First couple of shots were just bringing rifle back to zero (1” high@100m) then armed with the limited amount of ammo I had left (as was going out chasing foxes) I decided to shoot a few groups .
To say I was impressed is an understatement I shot 3 x 3shot groups with about 10-20sec between shots the groups were two at 0.4” and one at 0.3” all groups had two bullets holes touching and the 3rd just stepped off (I did rush 3rd shot on each string) I believe if I used bags and didn’t rush I could get the groups down to 0.2”
The free floating , stiffening of the stock and lightening the trigger really made a huge difference to the overall performance of this little gun when I totted up the cost of the alterations it came to the costly sum of £7-99 or $14 and took 3hrs in total to carry out well worth the time and money .
Regards…Neil