Herters 7mm Rem Mag question

[atr]

I finally picked up this Herters rifle...BSA action, good barrel, decent stock, good rifling. But I did notice that the bedding stopped at the end of the receiver, and that the barrel was entirely free-floating. I need your opinions of free-floating or bedding this barrel. The barrel length is 24 inches. It is not a "heavy" barrel, but its not paper thin either. The existing bedding up to the end of the receiver is good and tight.
thanks
atr

[Sweetpea]

How does it shoot?

[atr]

haven't shot it yet....

[Wayne Smith]

Don't change anything until you see how it shoots - if it ain't broke don't fix it!

[376Steyr]

Have you de-coppered the bore? If you did, how bad was the fouling?

[atr]

yes...got the copper out..not bad !!! the bore was actually pretty clean....really good strong rifling....loading some rounds this weekend...should be sighting it in shortly
atr

[mdell49]

These are some GENERAL Rules. Not absolutes just the norm. Normally a fully bedded bbl provides best accuracy and on synthetic stocks such as those offered by Brown Precision it is a standard practice. Wooden stocks that have a free floated BBL on the other hand offer some leeway should the stock warp. So if you are going to hunt with the rifle I would opt for the floated bbl. A little more forgiving. Just my 2 cents

[pietro]

.

IF it doesn't shoot accurately as-is, remember that heavier barrels benefit from a full float, but lighter weight barrels often benefit from some up-pressure (1" back from the FE tip).

The Herter U-9 (perfect ) rifle a friend had long ago, shot really well out-of-the-box.

IME, though - handloads, are not as reliable an accuracy indicator as factory loads are - at least, until after they're dialed-in (accuracy-wise).



.

[atr]

mdell49....thanks for the general rules....exactly what I was hoping for. This rifle does have a wooden stock and where I hunt (WA state) it rains and snows so that free floating barrel might be to an advantage

[atr]

I put an older Weaver variable scope on and went out to the range yesterday.....shooting J's, 120 gr, 140 gr and 160 gr. This rifle is a shooter ! Very accurate. I am still trying to work out some loads for a 160gr cast.

[Sweetpea]

Glad to hear it!

We're all probably guilty of overthinking stuff, I know I've done it!

[dh2]

I do hunt with and shoot rifles that have the action bedded and the barrel free floated in the manor described , if it shots good I can not see why it is an issue

[atr]

I went to the range this morning....160gr cast over 40 gr of IMR4895...listed in lymans at about 1900-2000 fps.
cast was sized 0.285 and at least Lyman #2 hardness.

The load did NOT shoot well.....first 3 showed some promise but the following 7 were all over the page...up,down,right,left...within a 16" rectangle......
I checked.... the bore after firing 10 rds..... NO leading

[nekshot]

back when I had a powder called Trail Boss I used those little cheerios behind a Lee soup can and got incredible accuracy for a little pop!

[MT Chambers]

My experience with the 7mm and bore rider style cast boolits, points to having to have a very good fit of the bore riding portion in your barrel. Most molds had a bore riding section that was way too loose in the barrel.