A-bolt… Floating the barrel ???

My Browning A-bolt shoots decent for about 3 shots, then starts walking or stringing after that. I assume the issue is most likely the heated-up barrel contacting the forearm, and that I should think about trying to free-float the barrel.

Having little experience with disassembling rifles, is this something I should leave to a gunsmith? Is it something that I can do myself? I’m not altogether worried about the floating work on the forearm itself, more worried about dissasembly/reassembly without damaging the gun fittings and moving parts….

Advice?

Thanks!

I assume you have the “hunter” model with the wood stock? Have it pillared also. Pillared and bedding shouldn’t be too expensive and well worth it.

Yes -Hunter model… Bought it roughly 1995-ish. Looked pretty at the time, but based on my experience in the last 15 years, I wish I would have bought a Remington 700 instead of the Browning…

I was thinking of trying just the free floating first…

If that didn’t fix it, then I might think about having it bedded (good suggestion with pillar bedding – thanks), but I’m not sure this gun is worth that much expense. Or at least I’m not sure I want to spend that much $$ (yet)… Trigger job probably would be the first thing I should do – but again, I don’t hunt with it a lot, so I am hoping to try a few cheaper options first and see where I sit after that.

Which is why I was wondering if it would be a bad idea to attempt removing the barrel/action from the wood so I could sand down the barrel groove in the forearm…

“Pressure bedding” sounds cheap and potentially effective, too… Maybe worth a shot if I can figure out the right placement/thickness for a shim…

Or… Maybe I should just sell it and get a gun I really want… That’s a thought…

What caliber?

.30-06

hummm…interesting. My daughter (age 12) wants a 7mm Ultra Mag.(that was the step down from the BMG she asked for getting for Christmas) She’s shooting my .270’s and an ’06 may be a good fit for her. We have a prong hunt in Sept and Mules in Nov. If your seriously thinking about selling it, shoot me a PM with what you want for it. I don’t want the scope included with it….I already have a new Burris sitting here looking for a home…. One of my A-Bolts .270 did the exact same thing you described. Pillared, glassed, and then finding the perfect hand load did the trick for mine.

PM sent.