Bedding the barrel/action on a Ruger .17HMR 77/17

[ColinR]

I had not shot my Ruger .17 HMR for a year or so and when I took it to the range last week the best I could get it to group at 25 yards was about 1.5" with a clean barrel. In the past I noticed that if shot off a bipod point of aim and groups would suffer, but it used to group a lot better than this. I suspected bedding problems and sure enough the front of the wooden stock is touching the barrel. Inserting a new £5 note between the barrel and the stock at the action end and moving it forward showed that the barrel was floating except for in the last couple of inches of the stock. An Internet search reveal this model suffered from accuracy problems and I wonder if it is just a matter of relieving the front of the stock so it does not touch the barrel and then bedding the action and first inch or so of the barrel at the action end. This is a nice rifle which I bought new when they first came out and overall I have been disappointed with its performance even with different ammunition. I watched a video about bedding an action and it seems quite straightforward and I am more than capable of doing it myself, but is this going to improve the accuracy problem?

[Alpha1]

Only one way to find out and if you are confident you can do the work what have you got to loose.

[saddler]

Free float the barrel to start with.
Should be a 5 minute sandpaper job...(but seal the wood after with varnish or wax, etc)

[ColinR]

Free float the barrel to start with.
Should be a 5 minute sandpaper job...(but seal the wood after with varnish or wax, etc)

That makes sense and I already thought that might be a complete solution. I take the point of resealing the wood after sanding. I don't think there has been any movement due to moisture absorption, which did occur to me, but then its not been out for a year at least. I think the stock has always touched the barrel due to change in POI when fitted with a bipod. I've not checked the action screws for tightness, which I will do, but I think this is a long term problem.

[saddler]

Read up on Coke can shims for the receiver area too.
Just as a temporary measure.

What are you using for the bedding project?
JB Weld or Devcon....?

[ColinR]

Read up on Coke can shims for the receiver area too.
Just as a temporary measure.

What are you using for the bedding project?
JB Weld or Devcon....?

Brownells do professional kits complete with dye and release agent - a small kit costs around £25.00 which I had in mind to use. It has a longer set up time and has everything in the kit. It might also be a good reason to splash out on a Dremel which I'm sure I can find lots of uses for.

[Alpha1]

If you don't use it a lot and it sounds like you don't reading your posts you could save your self a lot of work and just trade it in for some thing more accurate.

[ovenpaa]

Is the crown OK everything tightened up correctly and have you tried different makes of ammunition?

[ColinR]

Is the crown OK everything tightened up correctly and have you tried different makes of ammunition?

I did check the crown which is unmarked and it performs pretty much the same with any ammunition. I haven't checked the action screws for tightness - I suppose something I should have done before anything else, but since I wasn't surprised at the inaccuracy I assumed something more complex, bedding. I'll take it apart at the weekend and see if anything more obvious jumps out. If there is nothing untoward except the stock touching the barrel I will go through the bedding process and if that fails trade it!

[ColinR]

Is the crown OK everything tightened up correctly and have you tried different makes of ammunition?

I did check the crown which is unmarked and it performs pretty much the same with any ammunition. I haven't checked the action screws for tightness - I suppose something I should have done before anything else, but since I wasn't surprised at the inaccuracy I assumed something more complex, bedding. I'll take it apart at the weekend and see if anything more obvious jumps out. If there is nothing untoward except the stock touching the barrel I will go through the bedding process and if that fails trade it!