Free: Contests & Raffles.
I see that some bed the first 1" or so of the barrel. I also have seen some videos where they bed the full length of the barrel channel in the stock too. I floated my barrel but I didnt take all the wood off the end of my M77. It shot well, but the groups opened up after a few shots. So I removed the rest of the wood and it opened up the groups from the first shot. Still good for hunting but I would like to get it back to stacking the bullets on top of each other. My missed head shot on a cow elk last year has me very upset. I killed a deer at 250yds in the head before I started screwing with it. My elk was only 180yds w/a very solid rest. If you just bed the end wouldn't moisture in the stock swell the wood and move barrel? You know, like hunting in the rain for 5 days.
Assuming you are a handloader, give a ladder test a go and see what the rifle tells you. Screw tension on Rugers can be pretty important....especially the middle screw.