Thread: Pressure point bedding parker hale

We took the 243s for a shoot today on the farm but owing to where the cows were we only had a 50m range today. No biggie we have to work around the farmer not him work around us, so first up was the rem 600 and some handloads, that shot pretty good once roughly sighted in wasn't exactly where to have it shooting but 1/2 inch low at 50m might be roughly right at 100m? Did same with parker hale so once we can shoot at 100m we will see what its like. Next was the ph the previous owner tried 100gn pills in it and said it wouldn't even shoot a group so I put together some 85gn handloads and tried it out it was way better than what he was getting but Id like to get it better, it was shooting just over an inch at 50m. When I got it home I pulled it out of the stock and noticed it has a pressure point at the tip of the stock (factory) just wondering If I should remove it and have the barrel fully floating? shooting both rifles off a bipod

My ruger m77 mk2 ultralight has pressure point bedding and I was tempted to open it up years ago but thought to myself, if they made it that way, surely it's better than free floating. My barrel is very skinny though, only just big enough to cut the 1/2" thread on the end.

Im picking you will be too low...in THEORY your projectile will cut your line of sight somewhere around 26-30 yards from muzzle to be 1-2-3 inches high at 100 and recross it going downwards again somewhere between 200-300 you may be spot on at hundy all the same...too many variables to guess it. try the stock as it is...once removed you will be Bubbafying to put it back. yip freefloating is idea BUT you need things supported by good bedding for it to work properly.

My thoughts on this after 40 years of playing with (and crying over) skinny barrels - free floating will give you consistency. A pressure point will often delliver best accuracy, but you'll have to Pfaff a lot to find what works best, and when in 6months/next time etc you shoot the rifle, it'll either have a changed poi or be off the boil again.

.243 - ha. Check the barrel very carefully for internal bulges, the throat for wear or carbon, and the muzzle for damage. If that is all good check the scope mounting and scope, then the action bedding. Also retry it on a bag and not a bipod as well. I wouldn't adjust the pressure point until everything else is checked out...

Originally Posted by Tentman

My thoughts on this after 40 years of playing with (and crying over) skinny barrels - free floating will give you consistency. A pressure point will often delliver best accuracy, but you'll have to Pfaff a lot to find what works best, and when in 6months/next time etc you shoot the rifle, it'll either have a changed poi or be off the boil again.

that was my thoughts on it because of it being a wood stock its bound to change. Not sure how to describe it properly but when I took the action out of the stock and had a look at the front pressure point it didn't have even marking/polished wood where the barrel touched it. If I removed the front pressure point Id bed the action up to under the chamber area.

Forgot to say, mines in a plastic stock.

Which action is the PH built on?

@No.3 should be Mauser based. Either fitted up ex military or Santa Barbara repro mauser

Not sure how you tell. It looks like a 98 but the safety isnt on the bolt, its on the side of the action like where howas are and it has a 3 way adjustable trigger

Originally Posted by blip

Not sure how you tell. It looks like a 98 but the safety isnt on the bolt, its on the side of the action like where howas are and it has a 3 way adjustable trigger

Slab sided with built in scope bases? Or if it's ex military receiver based, there's a few bedding things to look for with those.

The scope bases arent part of the rifle. There doesnt look to be much action to bed from the quick look I had yesterday. Ill try and get some pics at some stage

Its probably a commercial action its got the mauser side lever bolt release but no thumb cut out for loading rounds like a 96 has, not sure if 98s even had that?

Pressure point bedding is a cheap method of manufacturers trying to maintain accuracy. Often it doesnt because the barrel moves on the pressure point itself so the accuracy, if any, is inconsistent. This is especially so with some of the pencil-thin lightweight and fluted barrels that heat up fast and move a lot
If your rifle consistently shoots half an inch groups (or thereabouts), glass bedding wont make any appreciable difference. But if not, Id certainly look at glass bedding the action to an inch or so in front of the pillar, and free floating the barrel.
Done properly, it wont make things worse, thats for sure

Originally Posted by blip

Its probably a commercial action its got the mauser side lever bolt release but no thumb cut out for loading rounds like a 96 has, not sure if 98s even had that?

Military 98's had the stripper clip guide and thumb cut, commercial actions didnt.