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Why does glass bedding improve accuracy?

jonk
I can understand why bedding the ACTION would help. But it is oft said that free floating a barrel improves accuracy, that is removing or relieving contact between barrel and stock. It seems that bedding the barrel would INCREASE contact and pressure, thus messing up accuracy. So why is full length bedding useful?

"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf
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10 comments

Date Votes
  • SilentKnight
    I was wondering the exact same thing. I would like to know too.
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  • Der Gebirgsjager
    You are referring to "full-length glass bedding", not done as frequently now as it used to be done. 'Way back when stocks were all wood, and were bedded only by the fit of the action and barrel to the
    stock as inletted. Wood is subject to distortion from moisture, having been a tree at one time, and it bends and swells and puts pressure against the barrel. Even pressure in a small area changes the point of impact. Eventually someone got the bright idea to freeze things into position by lining the inletting with epoxy--something else that hasn't always been around either. The original method was to full-length glass bed the action and barrel channel, and in stocks which had previously been subject to moisture a distinct improvement in accuracy was noted after the procedure. As time and experimentation went by gunsmiths and tinkerers found that a glass bedded action and a free-floated barrel produced better accuracy (usually) because, if you didn't mind a gap around the barrel (which had previously been considered unsightly), it left the barrel free to vibrate, while the action was held firmly in place and was unable to shift from shot to shot as a result of recoil. Nevertheless, all rifle barrels are individual, and most custom gunsmiths will produce a rifle with a glass bedded receiver and a free-floated barrel; but if good performance is not obtained will then proceed to a pressure pad in the forend, and as a last resort will then go to full-length glass bedding. This sometimes works, contrary to logic. Today, with synthetic stocks and pillar bedding becoming the vogue, full-length glass bedding on new rifles is seldom encounterd; and a rifle found on the used rifle rack in your local shop is dated by the type of bedding used. So, in short, evolution in gun technology has made full-length glass bedding uncommon.
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  • JustC
    barrel vibration is uniformed when no contact points exist between the stock and barrel. Bedding the action lifts the barrel,..and also solidifies the platform which the action rides on. Once this is accomplished,..variations in vibrational frequency are much more closely uniformed,.,.thus the bullet leaves the muzzel with the same rotational force and the center of gravity is more centrally located in the projectile instead of tangently located,.....loosely speaking of course.[;)]

    why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
    Got Balistics?
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  • jonk
    Just curious. I have a few milsurps that I would like to bed and was wondering on full length vs. action. I already did my SKS (!) and went from 10" groups at 100y to 4" groups, full lenght bedded. But given the facts that I'm no expert, that the reciever is complex compared to most bolt actions, and that it isn't a full length stock, I went with a full length bedding.

    "...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf
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  • Wagion
    Would bedding a barrel in a synthtic stock do anything to improve accuracy?

    If force ain't work'n... Your not use'n nough of it.
    I know the spelling is bad but guess what I DON'T CARE
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  • MIKE WISKEY
    in my experience most light sporter weight rifle barrels shoot (group) the best with a pressure point at the forend tip or full lenght bedding (vibration damping?). heavey target/varmit weight barrels shoot the best with the action and maybe a couple of inches of the barrel glass bedded. this is in general and there are exceptions. if i'm trying to make a sporter shoot good groups, freefloating the barrel is the LAST resort. piller bedding is the present 'in' thing and works well with target/varmit rifles (similar to what paul mauser came up with 100+ years ago).
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  • Xracer
    "....thus the bullet leaves the muzzel with the same rotational force and the center of gravity is more centrally located in the projectile instead of tangently located,.....loosely speaking of course...."

    Teacher, may I leave the room...my brain is full! [:D]
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  • JustC
    Don't forget to take the hall pass[;)]



    why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
    Got Balistics?
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  • bobski
    i dont know if wagion's question was answered, but to help him.... allow me to say 'yes.' even syn. stocks will allow metal to rattle around in them. glassing will take up the gaps and keep it tight.

    former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.
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  • Big Stick
    I tend to full length bed all of my rifles that are about a #2 contour,or lesser.

    My preference is a Remington action and McMillan stock. What I have found,is that FL bedding tends to "trick" the barrel into acting as if it were more rigid,than actual dimensions would indicate.

    When I float a barrel,I tend to do it generously,so as to preclude POI shift,due to sling pressure,bipod pressure,etc. A svelte FL bedded rifle can be used in conjunction with the above devices,without radically skewing POI. Bedding the barrel channel introduces more rigidity,to an already excellent platform(McMillan)and the "little" rifle becomes more predictable IMHO.

    Mel Forbes of Ultra Light Arms fame(now NULA),got me thinking in the FL direction,as that is his approach to the rifles he crafts. I gotta concur with the man,as I have many lightish weight rifle that perform in a manner once reserved for a rifle of much more weight.

    With today's barrels,great stocks and optics,a lighter rifle can absolutely dazzle and that is where much of my focus is. They are all FL bedded,because it simply works very well..............
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