View Single Post
  #12  
Old 05-04-2006, 12:40 PM
Rocky Raab's Avatar
Rocky Raab Rocky Raab is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Ogden, Utah
Posts: 8,705
The uncalled-for tirade aside, to "float" a barrel does indeed mean to alter the bedding enough to have the barrel "hover" over the stock and not contact it. That's usually accomplished by removing wood from the barrel channel in the forearm, but can also be done by using spacers to lift the entire barrelled action out of the stock by a fraction of an inch. Only a few thousandths of an inch between the barrel and wood are needed, as the dollar bill trick shows.

As a temporary trial, cut small squares of business card stock and punch holes through them. Put two such paper washers on each stock screw and tighten them as usual. Test that the barrel no longer touches the wood (yup, a dollar bill) and then test fire. If the groups improve, then free-floating the barrel is a viable option.

Now to this specific gun. Model 70 Featherweights are known for being poor groupers, especially if that super-skinny barrel gets the slightest bit warm. They are meant to be carried a lot and fired once - maybe twice. That's it.

I would not alter an original condition Model 70 Featherweight under any circumstances. The collector value is guranteed to soar now that Winchester is no more. And the value of that one was soaring already! Do NOT remove any stock wood, do NOT glass bed, do not refinish it at all.

If your two-shot groups are unsatisfactory, then consider an aftermarket stock, but leave that original one alone!

Me? I'd zero it to put the first shot out of a cold, clean barrel right where I wanted it, and then leave things the heck alone!
__________________
Freedom of the Press
Does NOT mean the right to lie!

Visit me at my Reloading Room webpage!

Get signed copies of my Vietnam novels at "Baggy Zero Four" "Mike Five Eight"
Reply With Quote