Neat little trick me thinks.

[Rinky]

I just got back from a week at college to come home and shoot my .270 WSM weatherby vanguard synthetic and i took a look at it... did the double take and saw the barrel was raised quite a bit.

Looked to my step-dad and he chuckled. He and his brother took out the barrel and bolt region, put two small washers on the screws that lock the gun down to the stock.

This gave the barrel a free-float and it looks great. the dollar bill worked perfectly, what do you guys think of this?

[Leo]

You gotta wonder why if it's so simple the major rifle makers don't do just that.

The reason is, doing the washer trick concentrates 100% of the recoil force to those two action screws. Eventually, something is going to give.

Gunsmiths bed and pillar actions in stocks to increase the strength in these areas. It is needed.

What your step dad did works. But it won't last.

[Leo]

I need to add.

This practice could really get you hurt. If the washers are thick enough to lift the front recoil lug out of the stock this could be quite dangerous. The entire action coming out of the stock and recoiling back when you fire the action could really hurt you.

[scrubhunter]

A friend of mine did this same thing a few years back with a winchester in 300 win mag. It worked great for about 3 weeks and the the front screw stripped it's threads and the action came back sideways! He luckily wasn't hurt but it ruined the stock and stripped the first few threads in the front lug.

[Rinky]

Yikes the last thing i wanna do is ruin my new gun and my perty face.

Im not totally sure if i said what he did exactly correct however.

I talked to him about it more and he said 2/3 the front screw is holding and that the back screw doesnt have a washer.

[hangunnr]

Get rid of the washers. You're only causing future problems.

hangunnr

[bigbucksrule]

this has me wandering i took a gun to a gunsmith last year to have the barell floated the stock bedded and get a trigger job done to it.when i got it home i decided to take a look at his work don't know why because i know nothing about it but when i took the trigger out some washers fell out i called him and he said put em back in the hole closest to the butt now you guys got me to thinking is this right or not.i did carry it out and shot it a few days ago and it is a tack driver but now i am a little concerned can someone help me out here please all info appreciated thanks alot

[scrubhunter]

He's not much of a gunsmith if he is shimming the stock with washers! If he had bedded the action correctly and clearanced the barrel channel the right way then what's the need for the shims?

[Rinky]

Yeah, we took the washers out and shot a couple groups this weekend at 100 yards the groups were good enough to hide under a quarter -- who needs washers.