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For 30 or more years I have had a Model 75 Winchester Target Rifle that has just been displayed, shown off and not fired. I recently removed the standard issue peep sight and installed a 8 by 24 power scope.

If anyone has knowledge of this or other target .22 LR rifles, I would like to know if you have knowledge on the following:
Does free-floating the barrel on such a rifle aid in shooting smaller groups at 100 yards ?

Respectfully yours,

Chuck

 

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Hi Ribbonstone,
Thank you so much for answering my question with such clarity and knowledge, which I needed very much.
Examining my old, but beautiful, rifle made in 1936 ( I was made in 1934) I see exactly what you mean about forend "pressure points". My rifle has a built-in, designed-in pressure point in the form of a barrel band and a screw through the stock to apply the forend pressure you describe! It is better to leave well enough alone.
I also noted that the rifle has widely spaced pairs of screw holes for mounting the "old fashioned" externallly adjusted scopes you had also mentioned.
You had made me aware of things that needed consideration and I appreciate it very much.
Thanks from the Wild West where the buffalo useed to roam.
Chuck

 

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Hi KCIH,

Thank you for submitting your thoughts about freefloating a .22 target barrel. Please re-read your thread and you'll see that it did not address the question at all.
Rather, it addressed something foreign to the subject. This may be due to your propensity to "assume" what I was asking was not really what I wanted to know.
In reply, I want to say that I have at last count 18 different brands of .22 LR ammo that I have used in other of my .22 rifles. That is the very first thing I do when I begin playing with a new adult toy----determine which brand the GUN likes best in its present condition. THEN I sort out MY preference for which ammo that I will normally shoot----usually the cheapest Remington or Winchester ammo that I will buy several thousand rounds of when it is on sale. This pattern has been with me for more years than I care to state here. I feel it necessary to go through the process so I know exactly what the "penalty in accuracy is" by using "the cheap stuff' ( not to be confused with " the cheapest stuff".
I no longer comete in shooting matches except with my friend of 40 years who shoots with me for that same length of time. He must be a SAINT in order to put up with me.
My goal is to simply get the best groups possible with the thouseands and thousands of .22 LR rounds I have in inventory-----not the best groups possi9ble with expensive stuff I cannot afford.
Thanks again, KCIH, for your thoughts. Hopefully someone reading you and me will learn something useful.
Chuck

 

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FREEFLOATING .22 LR BARRELS

Hi RIBBONSTONE,
You've shown me a couple of new considerations and reinforced many of those I suspected as being a problem already.
When I last shot a Model 75 Winchester in competition as a member of an ROTC high school team in Chicago in 1948, I was not nearly concerned with these many nuances we've discussed here. A full-time Army Sgt. cleaned the guns, polished the guns, did all the work for us. We had free ammo, shooting jackets and all the appurances of the sport. I thought I was in heaven. Luckily for me, the Korean War broke out giving me the excuse I needed to drop out of school and join the Army. Korea was ****, but the Army was heaven to me and was an extention of my ROTC days----only BIG time guns and BIG time competition.
Thank you for the advantage of your vast experiences with this particular rifle. I shall seek out the reference you suggest, Sir, and shall think often of my (hopefully) new friend in Lousiana. Feel free to contact me directly. "Ain't this Shooters Forum Great ?"
Your friend from the Wild West,
chuck

 

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freefloating .22 LR barrels

Hi MikeG,
It is nice of you to share your thoughts with me. I'm not denegrating your thoughts as to how they pertain to a dinky little .22 LR, but I'm so very thankful to this forum for having had RIBBONSTONE answer also. He had experience specific to the POSSIBLE problem at hand. I was in a "what if" thought process, Mike.
Golly, I don't consider myself a "benchrester", nor do I consider myself a "competitor". I'm just a guy who likes to hit small targets at 100 yards or less-------like scaled down silouette targets, targets made from my digital images of kids' toys thence transferred to computer paper, targets too small to see at 100 yards even with a good scope by placing them inside larger targets that I can see, and stuff like that.
Strictly FUN stuff. No high pressure. No big deal if everything doesn't happen exactly the way I like it.
You made some good points to ponder over, Mike, and thanks again. It gives me confidence to know that when I need an answer to a question I can rely on you to answer the question rather than go off into left field somewhere so far that the ball gets lost. <grin>

chuck

 

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freefloating .22 LR barrels

Hi RIBBONSTONE,
AH-H-H how sweet is the memory back in Dayton, Ohio, in 1945, at age 11 when I took all my savings from doing farm work for my neighbors--------all $12 of it-------took a bus to downtown----and bought my own first .22 rifle----a Model 513 Remington rifle and one box of shells. I had enough left to get me home again from the change I had left !
Thank you for these rememberances, RIBBONSTONE.
Thank you for telling about how you went about freefloating/accuracizing that rifle.
Amazing moreso is how our society has changed so much where someone must be 18 years old or older to buy a gun. As an ex-cop, I've seen folks that shouldn't have been allowed to buy a gun at any age. When I stand in line to get my CCW/CCP permit renewed, I shudder that some of those in line with me are going to be allowed to carry a concealed pistol. But how in the world can anyone, ANYONE pre-determine who should be allowed to buy a gun or who should be allowed to carry a concealed pistol-----surely not me !
God bless you, RIBBONSTONE, and happy shooting!


Chuck

 

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FREEFLOATING .22 LR BARRELS

Hi RIBBONSTONE,
I didn't have a scope until I was 16, working full time in a factory running a punch press in Chicago in 1948.
An uncle had a place on the Rock River in Rockford, Ill. In those days everyone always had a small coffee can with left over grease fat in it. I'd shoot a hole in the rim, tie a rope to it and throw it down the 30 ft. garbage dumped there as "fill". These huge river rats would crawl over their dead brothers until there wasn't a way to get at the grease ! Then I'd have to throw the can somewhere else. .22 shorts and remaining very still resulted in many dead rats.
I'd wrap my 513 in newspaper, tie it with string and ride a bus anywhere.
The smell of burt gunpowder after a kiill on a cold, crisp, clean air morning is something I'll never forget either.
Mom would give me a quarter every Sunday for the collection plate in church. I'd sit midway down the pews so there would be change in the collection plates no matter from where they began collecting. I'd put in the quarter and take out a 15 cents, because a box of shorts cost me 15 cents in 1944 and 1945.
chuck