Yes, this is the point exactly. The last thing one wants is any kind of intermittent contact. The pressure point at the front of the fore end is a woefully inadequate solution. All one needs is for the wood to expand or contract or for a polymer stock to be stiffer or more limp due to ambient temperature, then any concept of uniform pressure or damping being applied to the barrel is out of the window. If you do own a rifle like that, you need to be very certain of your zero under the conditions you are going to hunt. Or simply free float it and add a rubber damper donut to the barrel. You will then have to find the right position for the damper.

The whole point of free floating the barrel is that the harmonic behavior would be dependent primarily on the barrel material, geometry and the load characteristics, with the load characteristics being the most easily manipulated.

Quote Originally Posted by RevM View Post
Yep. It's simple rocket science (ie, physics). However, the contact from a marginally molded stock touching only one side of the barrel in some random spot is likely to create problems that vary with temperature (summer to winter ... or hot to cold barrel). A carefully placed contact node dampener or two could be applied at just the right spot(s) to kill the natural vibrations of the barrel and would be less prone to variability due to expansion and contraction with temperature.