Coyote-conquest
Active member
Im not sure if anyone has ever tested the results of whether shimming and bedding a barrel really works. Ive read about it with people saying both ways. Im not big on it because it can be a pain in the you know what if you have to remove the barrel for any reason. I did it one time before but I had never shot the barrel any other way. I did end up have to pull the barrel to have it chopped and rethreaded. It sucked.
Anyway I have a 223 wylde barrel that I was really close to selling because it just didnt shoot very well. It had always been around 1.5" and it wasnt a cheap barrel. It sits in a BCA side charging upper so not the best but I dont find them bad. (I use BCM for most builds)As a last resort before selling it I decided to shim it and bed it to see if it helped. I had some .001 stainless shim stock and some loctite 609 sitting around from the last time I did it. It couldve maybe took a .002 or bigger shim but the .001 was all I had and I wasnt about to try to double it.
I pulled it all apart, verified I had lapped the upper before I assembled it the first time then shimmed it and bedded it. I let it sit for around 24 hours.
I was really surprised how much it helped. It shoots right under an inch for 5 shots. I shot a 1.3" 10 shot group.
Ill try to stick with BCM just because the thermal fit but its something ill always keep in mind. Im not saying it will help with every barrel but it definitely helped with this one.
Anyway I have a 223 wylde barrel that I was really close to selling because it just didnt shoot very well. It had always been around 1.5" and it wasnt a cheap barrel. It sits in a BCA side charging upper so not the best but I dont find them bad. (I use BCM for most builds)As a last resort before selling it I decided to shim it and bed it to see if it helped. I had some .001 stainless shim stock and some loctite 609 sitting around from the last time I did it. It couldve maybe took a .002 or bigger shim but the .001 was all I had and I wasnt about to try to double it.
I pulled it all apart, verified I had lapped the upper before I assembled it the first time then shimmed it and bedded it. I let it sit for around 24 hours.
I was really surprised how much it helped. It shoots right under an inch for 5 shots. I shot a 1.3" 10 shot group.
Ill try to stick with BCM just because the thermal fit but its something ill always keep in mind. Im not saying it will help with every barrel but it definitely helped with this one.