Bedding the Action or Barrel on .22RF Benchrest Rifles

[1953Longrangesniper]

Hi Guys
I would love to hear your views and thoughts about the Bedding of .22rf Bench Rest Rifles and what difference if any that it wil make to the rifles accuracy overall , and what and where you think it is best to bed the Barrel or the Action ! or both of them. :-[

Regards
Steve 8)

 

[BoydAllen]

From what I hear, top benchrest rimfire rifles are generally pillar bedded, with their barrels floated, and the bedding is more critical than for CF. For competition, tuners are pretty much universal, and for them to work the barrel needs to be floated.

 

[watercam]

I agree. I had bedded a small portion of the barrel along with the action and was advised to FULLY float the barrel. It made a huge difference in reducing group size.

 

[Shynloco]

Steve,
As BoydAllen (and others) says, the top Benchrest RF Shooters all have their rifles bedded and free floated. In fact, Anschutz rifles come from the factory free floated, but not bedded. The serious shooters all say to bed the action, but make sure nothing interferes (including bedding) with the barrel so the harmonics can do their thing with a Tuner attached to find the ultimate accuracy or "sweet spot" for that rifle. All that is needed then is finding the ammo she likes the the best, usually being Lapua Midas, Eley Tenex Ultimate or even Federal Ultra Match UM22. Thats if you are looking to get the best possible/tighest groups out of your particular rifle.

 

[Hammer47]

If not bedded then glued in.

 

[bheadboy]

agree, bed the action, but most improtant, make sure nothing touches anywhere else, trigger, safety, magazine, etc, keep 100% bbl free

Bob

 

[superlight93]

If not bedded then glued in.

A glue-in is fruitless unless the action is pillar bedded first.

 

[katokoch]

I'm going to try bedding my next couple of rifles with release agent on and screws in place but without removing the barreled action... kind of a semi-glue in. Free floated barrels too.

 

[1953Longrangesniper]

Hi Guys
Thank very much for all those replies and forth coming information about the bedding of the rifles !

Regards to all
Steve

 

[CZ_BRShooter]

Here is my barrel blocked .22LR BR rifle. I only shoot club level and for fun and did not want to mess with a tuner, so went with a heavy, ridged barrel and I could not see hanging a 26" 1.045 diameter tube of stainless steel of that tiny CZ action went with the block and free floated everything. It is a shooter! 5 shot groups at 50 yards in a gusty 10 to 15 mph wind, all shot as fast as I could load and shoot once wind settled down. Smallest is .158 largest ( wind got me on one shot) was .249
Have to agree though, for pure comp rifle a tuner and free float reverse taper is the way to go.

 

[BoydAllen]

Slick looking rifle and block! What barrel, and chamber did you use? What about headspace? What scope, and how do you like it?

 

[Shynloco]

CZ_BR Shooter,
Nice rig! BTW, what kinda of stock is on that rifle?

 

[killahog]

Katokoch your response is somewhat confusing How can you bed a rifle without removing the barreled action from the stock?. Or do you mean after it's done you simply leave it alone and don't remove the action to do the usual clean up?.

 

[Hammer47]

If not bedded then glued in.

A glue-in is fruitless unless the action is pillar bedded first.

Say what? You sure don't know much about benchrest.

 

[katokoch]

Katokoch your response is somewhat confusing How can you bed a rifle without removing the barreled action from the stock?. Or do you mean after it's done you simply leave it alone and don't remove the action to do the usual clean up?.

Yep, I'm going to do a very clean bedding job and leave it in place after bedding and see how it shoots. It will be pillar bedded with a floating tang and free floating barrel. Kinda like a glue in but it will be pillar bedded so I can take the screws out and remove the barreled action without issues.