Rem 700 action with a 1.25" full bull barrel

C

carlsbad

Guest
I bought a 30" 1.25" full bull barrel with the intention of mounting it on my standard R700 short action and putting it in a benchrest stock. Thinking about it some more (once I got the barrel in hand), that is a lot of weight to hang off the end of the action. Researching a better way of doing it, I find little information. My options as I can think of them are:

1. Buy a bigger action, perhaps 1.5", that will take the extra weight without flex. Expensive but I'm expecting this to be the recommended answer.
2. Build a barrel block. Can't find much info on this but it appears that the barrel block clamps the bottom 4" or so of the barrel and then is mounted into the stock with the action free floating. Any information or suggestions on this would be appreciated. I like the concept.
3. Bed the action into the stock along with the first 4-6" of the barrel to provide support. Kindof old-time bedding philosophy that is generally poo-poo'd now. Opinions appreciated as this is by far the easiest and cheapest (except for 4 below).
4. Mount it up fully free floating and shoot it, the action is stiff enough to carry the heavy barrel. I'm thinking this one isn't gonna be the most popular answer. However, some quick calculations show that the stresses on the action are pretty low. 10 lb at 15" cg is not a lot of stress. sectional area of action at root of thread is about .319 sq in. I assume the steel is minimum 60ksi yield gives close to 20,000 yield. However, strain is harder to calculate on back of envelope. Don't want the barrel drooping.

Thanks in advance for your help on this. I'm an experienced home shop machinist and can build whatever I need and machine whatever features into the stock that I need as well. Also a physicist/engineer so I'm not afraid to try something new that makes good technical sense.

--Jerry
 
carlsbad said:
My options as I can think of them are:

1. Buy a bigger action, perhaps 1.5", that will take the extra weight without flex. Expensive but I'm expecting this to be the recommended answer.
2. Build a barrel block. Can't find much info on this but it appears that the barrel block clamps the bottom 4" or so of the barrel and then is mounted into the stock with the action free floating. Any information or suggestions on this would be appreciated. I like the concept.
3. Bed the action into the stock along with the first 4-6" of the barrel to provide support. Kindof old-time bedding philosophy that is generally poo-poo'd now. Opinions appreciated as this is by far the easiest and cheapest (except for 4 below).
4. Mount it up fully free floating and shoot it, the action is stiff enough to carry the heavy barrel. I'm thinking this one isn't gonna be the most popular answer. However, some quick calculations show that the stresses on the action are pretty low. 10 lb at 15" cg is not a lot of stress. sectional area of action at root of thread is about .319 sq in. I assume the steel is minimum 60ksi yield gives close to 20,000 yield. However, strain is harder to calculate on back of envelope.

--Jerry
Click to expand...

Jerry,
You forgot #5: Sleeve the action. That's what would have been done "back in the day."
Personally I'd do #4 rather than do any bedding on the barrel.
Regards,
Ron
 
Input on #3 and #4:
I did #3 once to a 31" barrel with the first 3" bedded. Then while at the range and after shooting a few groups, I removed enough so that the barrel was free-floating (#4) and shot a few more groups. Had a small POI change but no difference in accuracy or vertical. After which I removed all the bedding from the barrel channel and been that way since.
With my 1000 HV-Gun I have been using 31" Straight 1.250" barrels 100% free-floated from a Defiance Rebel LA (Rem700 clone).

My 2-cents is...... #4
Donovan
 
Thanks guys. #4 will definitely be the first attempt. --Jerry
 
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