Shooterlike wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:05 am
thanks guys, was aware of the price gap, wanted to know a bit more technically, such as floating barrel etc., and what all of those on paper means on the field really
Floating barrel: A rifle's barrel is said to float when it is attached to the receiver, but in front of that, it does not contact the stock or any other part of the rifle.
The test for this is to take a bank note out of your wallet and wrap it around the barrel, holding the ends together above the barrel. If the barrel is truly floated, you should be able to pass the bill all the way up to where it threads into the receiver.
Is a floating barrel better than one that is not floated? That depends. First, remind yourself that a barrel is not a "rigid" piece of steel, but a piece of flexible steel, mostly like all low carbon steel (as opposed to something like a drill bit). It will flex when fired, and actually vibrates something like a tuning fork or a guitar string.
The idea for an accurate rifle is for it to shoot repeatably. The barrel will vibrate around when you shoot it, but if the bullet leaves the barrel at the same point of vibration, it will travel to the same place. Sometimes, when barrels are thin, they vibrate more than a short thick barrel. When a thin barrel gets hot from repeated firing, it may curve in one direction or another. One way to try to solve this problem is to bed the barrel into the stock. This is most often done by having a pressure point at the end of the fore end that touches the barrel in one point only -- usually the barrel is floated and not touching anywhere else. Doing this dampens the vibrations of the barrel -- it doesn't make them go away, but it dampens them.
Another trick used on the .303 SMLE and the RFI 2A and 2A1 is to have a screw and spring arrangement halfway up the barrel that tensions the barrel against the fore stock with a spring.
All of these techniques can sometimes be made to work. One problem with them, especially with a wood stock, is when the wood stock swells and shrinks with humidity. This will change the tension point against the barrel and thus change your aiming zero. I had this experience when shooting my Ruger #1 270 at a deer: the rifle was zeroed in for a perfect 275 yard shot and I aimed at the "boiler room": the deer's heart-lung area. I fired and down he went. Right away, I did reload (with a single shot, you are unarmed as soon as you pull the trigger!) and ran up to the buck. He began to get up when I was about 20 yards away, and I quickly put him down with another shot right into his boiler room.
Examining the buck, I saw that my first shot had grazed the top of his head, nearly between his antlers. The bullet had hit about 40 cm too high! The Ruger #1 hangs the fore end from a rib that sticks out from the receiver. Rather than sanding out the pressure point, I put a shim between the fore end and the rib, which free floated the barrel, and my zero point stopped wandering after that.
So, is a floating barrel the best? Maybe, or maybe not. Shoot any rifle first and find out what its behaviors are under different conditions, and then make your choice as to how the barrel should be bedded: free floating, or with a pressure point.
Regarding this particular rifle you are asking about, I haven't shot or even held one, but what I've said here will still apply. There is no reason for a Blaser-type rifle to be inaccurate, and the design has features which should make it accurate. 30-06 is a pretty accurate cartridge too, so give it a try before you decide to modify things.
This is what it means when the barrel is said to be "free floated"
the difference is huge