# dual pillar vs. free floating



## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

I need to know what the difference is between the dual pillar bedding, and the free floating barrel and the advantage and disadvantages of each. 
I have read where different rifles have each, but that does not explain to me the difference. I am trying to get some understanding of these terms. 
Thanks


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## farmerj (Jun 19, 2004)

check this out.

Free floating barrels mean you can actually run a dollar bill or something similar between the barrel an the stock.

Some manufacturers preload their barrels at the front of the handguard on the stock. Depends on the school of thought you want to talk with which is better.

But the benchrest shooters and my experience has been a free floated barrel and a glass bedded receiver. My Rem 788 went from 1-1 1/2 " groups to 1/4"-1/2" groups depending on the load. It isn't the gun that can't shoot.  Last winter I pillar/glass bedded the receiver and floated the barrel.

When shooting you are drawing a line from the back of your eye to the point of aim on the target. How well everything lines up with that imaginary line is how good your gun shoots. Most factory rifle are only slopped into a stock and sent out the door. They will shoot better than most people, so there is nothing wrong with it either.

Pillare bedding is placing a sleeve; aluminum, steel, brass, between the stock screw head AND the receiver. It gives you something solid to tighten against when you place the receiver back into the stock instead of just wood or plastic. In the front of your receiver, and sometimes in the rear also, you have a recoil lug. It's purpose is to transfer the recoil energy from the barreled receiver into the stock. Because of the factory slop mentioned above, the barreled receiver moves in the stock, and out of the imaginary line you are sighting for your point of aim. Glass bedding your stock takes that movement out of the equation keeping the barreled action in-line with the stock, and hopefully in-line with your sight picture.

Do a google search on pillar bedding.

There are also several books at Sportsman's Warehouse in Fargo that are on gunsmithing that are pretty good on detail too. I forget which one it was I read there on it.


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

farmerj,
Took your advise and looked it up on Google and read all I could.
Do I understand correctly that any gun that is NOT offered with the dual bedding, is not as good as the one offered with ?
Example- Savage model 11FL has the dual bedding.
Savage model 11GL has NOT. Does this mean the 11FL is a better rifle even though they have the same action to them?


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## farmerj (Jun 19, 2004)

Depends on what you are comparing them too. Two composites, one without, one with. Go with the pillar bedded. Wood VS Composite? Which do you like better? Wood or composite.

Part of that has to do with the difference between a wood stock VS a composite stock. The composite needs the dual pillars or the recoil MAY (emphasis on MAY) cause the stock to crack.

The wood if you look at it would have a couple of brass inserts pressed into the stock for the screws. They can't call them pillar bedding, but they provide the similar purpose. They give the screw something to press on when tightend to prevent compressing the wood in the stock.

I personally would look at a decent wood stock as I like the looks of it. From there I would get a nice Kevlar and have it bedded to the rifle. I haven't been looking at it for a while, but there is a nice stock out there, I just can't for the life of me remember the name. Last time I looked at it was last winter. Scheel's in Fargo has some that were pretty nice. They were also available at Midway USA online.


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

The two I was comparing to is the 11FL in synthetic and the 11GL which is wood stock.


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## farmerj (Jun 19, 2004)

elderberry99 said:


> The two I was comparing to is the 11FL in synthetic and the 11GL which is wood stock.


Partly why I wrote it the way I did.

My choice goes to wood. I just don't like shooting plastic.


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

Farmerj,
I now understand it all! Took me a while but I got it.
Thanks for all the information and patience. I guess I just had different ideas of what the pillar thing was all about.
I knew what the free floating barrel was for some years now but for some reason I had forgotten. I guess this 54 year old brain is getting tired and doesn't want to hang onto things like it used to.
All of my wood stock rifles always had the brass inserts for screwing down the barrel tight and I understood why. I guess the term "PILLAR BEDDING" threw me off! This is my first synthetic stock rifle I've owned.
I was sitting here last night reading a little more on the different types of stocks and how they are mounted and it seemed like someone came up behind me with a "memory stick" and hit me. All of a sudden I felt real stupid for even asking these questions, but I am glad that I did.
:withstupid:


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## farmerj (Jun 19, 2004)

Elderberry,

I think that is what they refer to a "BGO"

"BLinding Glimps of the Obvious"

It happens. Just a matter a learning somebody elses definition.


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## Dave_w (May 25, 2005)

Yeah...me, I go with free-floating. Much easier, I think, than obsessing over how its bedded. I did that on my Savage, my AR15, my Mini-14, and my 10/22 build-up.

Largely, though...you have to wonder how much its going to make a difference. I know guys down at the range that have $3500+ guns. I can regularly outshoot them. Yeah, their gun is better than mine. But they themselves aren't better than me, possibly because they have not experienced true kharmic liberation and realized that money can still not purchase bullets that track to the target, and that nothing will make up for sucking.

It's like this...take two shooters. One's in the freaking Olympics. The other can mostly keep it on the paper. The Olympic guy really needs the $20k hand-made gun, because he's that good, and success really is seperated by that .005". The other dude would just be wasting his money, because he's not shooting .2" groups, he's shooting 10" groups. .005" really isn't going to make a difference. Hell, 2" won't make a difference.


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

> But they themselves aren't better than me, possibly because they have not experienced true kharmic liberation and realized that money can still not purchase bullets that track to the target, and that nothing will make up for sucking.


I like that.....


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Also another thing to consider is what are you going to do with the rifle. If you are going to go into the high altitudes the pilar (on a wood stock) can cause your barrel to bend. While the free floating does not. The wood of the stock will expand and contract due to altitude and other elements. So if you go wood go free floating. Just my 2 cents


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