I know this reply can be a bit old for a 2021 post. But I might get an idea how to fix that off-center barrel for barreled action style rifle.
Here's my story. I bought a new stock for my .22 Tikka T1x, and the first time I put everything together, I noticed the barrel is not centered in the stock, and the left side is almost touching the barrel making the barrel barely free-float. The stock is made by Boyds, a pretty budget choice. So the first thing I thought of is the build quality. Before I call their Customer Service, I pulled the barreled action out and tried below steps:
- gently align the recoil lug with the dent on the barreled action.
- stand the whole barreld action and the stock up, with the muzzle up.
I found before I tighten both the front and the rear screw, the barrel is able to swing freely left and right in the barrel tunnel (not sure if this is the right terminology). So I tried below
screw tightening steps while the whole barreld action and the stock standing up.
- tighten the rear screw to 70% snug, while holding the barrel at the central of barrel tunnel
- tighten the front screw to 70% snug, while holding the barrel at the central of the barrel tunnel
- tighten the rear screw to 90% snug, while holding the barrel at the central of the barrel tunnel
- tighten the front screw to 90% snug, while holding the barrel at the central of the barrel tunnel
- Finally, tighten both screw to specified torque using torque driver
And now i got my barrel perfectly centered in the stock.
There are two key points:
- stand the whole barreled action up. This will ensure the barrel action is 'sit' on the recoil lug, so when you shoot, the recoil will be absorbed by the lug properly.
- tighten the screw especially the rear screw while hand held the barrel to the center position. Most video I saw about installing the barreled action put the barreled action + stock on a flat surface or gun vise, which means, when you tighten the screw, the barrel can swing in any direction, unless your high-end stock/chasis has almost no tolerance for the barreled action to play.
There's really nothing to do with the inlet as most inlet is cut with sufficient tolerance. Tried my method and see if this works for you.