First Bedding & Free Floating Attempt
 

Ok, I've just started my first attempt at bedding an action and free floating a barrel. So far all I've accomplished is that I've used a dremel to remove some of the stock material to make space for the bedding compound.

I'm sitting here scratching my head over how much clearance I want between my barrel and stock....so who better to ask than the Forum? Right now I've got my barrel taped so that it will sit with 0.045" clearance. Should I go more, less, I need some opinion's.

You are good with .045 ... Just make sure there is clearance. I never bed forward of the recoil lug. What make of rifle.

Clearance is good. I tape off 1-2" in font of lug and float the rest.

Thanks for the input guys. It is a Remington 700 rifle, laminated stock, and I've gone roughly 1.5" in front of the lug.

That's perfect. Unless the rifle is a switch barrel you should support the barrel somewhat.

I am aware of two schools of thought regarding advice related to supporting the first bit (usually about 1.5") of barrel forward of the recoil lug... They relate to the length of tenon. One theory suggests that it is beneficial to extend the bedding support if the tenon is short and the barrel is heavy. The other suggests that if machining fit is good, "normal" tenon length is sufficient to support even heavy barrels.
Regardless of preference, at least two factors will come into play with bedding contact, those being the effect on harmonics, and heat expansion.
I have tried both, and now stick with free floating the entire length of the barrel, but my shooting ability may well be at a level where shot dispersion can be best explained by "driver error".
I suppose the best advice for heavy barrel rigs would come from the experience of the short range BR shooters?