Free float vs full bed

[olegburn]

Is free floated barrel a must in modern rifles?
Couple of my bolt guns came free floated from factory and I have one or two I FF myself before I even took them to the range.
Is any body here can share their experience of post links that substantiate benefits or lack of free floating?
Thanks!

[Blue Avenger]

No, some respond to a pressure point.

[Dave Hoback]

Full bed refers to the Action, not the barrel. While there have been accurate examples of a rifle with non floated barrel, I’m gonna say you’ll be hard pressed to find a single person who does NOT float the barrel. I’ve never seen or even heard of anyone purposefully not floating the barrel.

[charlie b]

On sporter/light contour barrels it used to be common to have a small point of contact at the front of the stock. IF the stock was stable. But, that was not an easy thing to tune so it mostly went back to action bedding and free floated barrels.

Some two piece stocks, like single shots, did better with the forearm fully bedded. Again, it was an individual rifle kind of thing. Some muzzleloaders like to be fully bedded, but, the purists usually frown on it.

[Dave Hoback]

Heavy barrels don’t experience even close to what lightweight barrels exhibit. The Ruger Mini-14 comes to mind, with the barrel being crazy thin for its length. As a result, something like the Accuracy Systems barrel stabilizer is proven to increase accuracy. Something like that would have little effect on a heavy barrel.

[bsekf]

Full floating a bull barrel may not be a good idea. There will be a lot of weight hanging on the action screws. I keep thinking about a barrel block and hanging the action off the back, a free floated action!

[gbflyer]

Common practice is to float them, however there are some exceptions. I believe the NULA Melvin Forbes ultralight rifles are bedded end to end.

[Dave Hoback]

Not only does the oscillation start immediately, but it’s actually traveling down the length of the barrel at about 20,000FPS! I do remember a few years ago some people talking about their notion of reloading ammo to “time” the bullet exit on an oscillation rebound. I read posts talking about “the 3rd millisecond oscillation”, yadda, yadda and whatnot. Several forums this was “the thing” over a several month period. It just became a talking point with people repeating things they had no mechanical understanding of. LOL! Then I did ACTUAL research and it just made laugh.

Here’s a quick video explaining how little movement is occurring in “most” barrels. (Again, there are always exceptions, e.g., the Mini-14.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbuaH6D2Qgc

[olegburn]

Common practice is to float them, however there are some exceptions. I believe the NULA Melvin Forbes ultralight rifles are bedded end to end.

This!

[Dave Hoback]

I hear ya. Sorry it sounded like you thought. If you look through my history, you’ll find I’ve never once told a person their question was meaningless. You’ll also see I’m one of the most helpful persons here & typically among the first one to answer questions. Many of the same questions over & over. Never bothers me. I enjoy it.

[olegburn]

I hear ya. Sorry it sounded like you thought. If you look through my history, you’ll find I’ve never once told a person their question was meaningless. You’ll also see I’m one of the most helpful persons here & typically among the first one to answer questions. Many of the same questions over & over. Never bothers me. I enjoy it.

No offence taken or perceived!
I'm old enough to not be offended easy anyways.
Now, about questions- from being in the industries where troubleshooting is a one constant it become second nature asking questions.
Tolerate me- I'm new!