Thread: Floated barrel, what's the advantage

hey team
i have always wondered why a floated barrel is a good thing, how does that work?

Consistent accuracy is all about consistent harmonics. A floated barrel can whip independent of outside influence, resulting in a consistent mean point of impact, all else being equal. With a non-floating barrel, outside influences can cause your MPI to wander. Examples of those influences include bipod usage and varying degrees of fore end pressure. Floated barrels are generally immune from these effects, though there are other issues that effect harmonics, such as stock flex under recoil. This is why people often swap out polymer stocks for fiber glass, carbon fiber, laminate etc.

thanks for that info, i figure it's not really that important then for a hunting rifle?

Any extra accuracy is always a good thing.

sure, agree but how much are we talking? would a heavy barrel would provide more accuracy than a floating hunting barrel?

Originally Posted by smidey

thanks for that info, i figure it's not really that important then for a hunting rifle?

Depends what level of consistency you require and what you are happy with. Only you can answer that. For shooting inside 300m it isn't terribly important to worry about it. The vitals of a deer offer a pretty generous target area.

Originally Posted by smidey

sure, agree but how much are we talking? would a heavy barrel would provide more accuracy than a floating hunting barrel?

An unfloating heavy barrel is a worse than useless idea

What is your rifle and what do you want to achieve?

this is just a general knowledge question, not centered around my rifle but i have seen it advertised on some rifles and just wondered what it meant.
i have bought what is my learning rifle to shot goats and pigs if i come across any and what my son will use once i upgrade, it's just a cheap norinco 223. it's not floated obviously so i will give it a go and see if i can tell any difference of before and after.

Beavis has layed it out nicely already.

For a hunting rifle floating(if its not already) is a good idea providing the action is stiff enough and barrel light enough(IE probably not the best idea to put a truck axel on a SMLE and fully float it)

Pressure point bedded rifles can have very good accuracy(or rather will put x number of rounds very close to each other) but on a different day or different shooting position that great group can be somewhere other than the center of your cross hairs.

You can do a few cheap easy home gunsmith jobs in front of the telly. Sand the barrel channel until the barrel floats. Just remember to seal the wood after, that
Chu wood is really soft an won't react well to moisture. Also dissassemble the trigger and remove any burrs and rough areas with a fine wet stone, taking care not to alter any engagement angles. Smooth out the trigger pins and relieve any areas in the stock that will cause it to bind.

Thanks guys, I'll give it a crack

I look at it from a point of view of how much support you are giving to the barrel , sporter actions usually have a small lenght of thread in ( tunion ) , around the 12.7-18mm , and are desined to support lite weight barrels , target rifles use a much longer thread in usually twice that , ie 38mm plus , IF you use say a sporter action ( Rem700 ) this has about 3/4 inche thread in , and you want to use a heavy barrel , to aid the support of the heavier than designed barrel , most will bed the 1st 1-2 inches forward of the recoil lug , and to me that makes sense , then float the rest .
For real truck axle barrels that are long , the best is to use a long barrel block , and in effect float the action & the front part of the barrel .

In reguards to a sporter rifle , most will be better off fully floated , and this is mainly to do with removing the effect of changing pressure on the barrel from the wood stock wrapping due to mositure etc .

Later Chris