I thought it was bad to do that.
Locking the barrel down? Don't think so. Check out the ultimate bench rest tools, rail guns.
Machined steel and aluminum set ups to eliminate all possible movement and human error.
I think your problem here is the ammo.
Too true....accuracy costs money. You're very unlikely to obtain repeatable
and consistent trajectories from cheap ammunition. The tighter the groups
the bigger the expense. That applies to every part of the rifle and ammunition.
You wanna play? You gotta pay.
It is better to have it free floated though.
Gonna disagree with ya' on that, mello-one.
Rifles are like people, never know how they're gonna behave until ya' see 'em in different situations.
Only way to determine how they'll respond to certain conditions is to put 'em in it and see for yourself.
You want to find out how accurate a rifle can shoot consisitently? Take it to the range and test it.
Don't accept dogma, verify the facts, check and see how your rifle responds to different configurations.
My most extreme example is a Savage 64 in a tupperware stock.
Horrible shooting semi-auto. Knew absolutely nothing when I started, did my research, came up with
a few ideas, tested them and proved for myself just how much a cheap rifle can be tweaked.
What started out looking like this
After a few months of modification and testing ended up like this
Which still didn't function properly until I locked that barrel down
Adjusting the tension of the barrel bands let me find the best setting for repeatable accuracy
producing these test results
Groups 1 through 5 were adjustments to the muzzle clamp.
Groups 6 through 10 adjusted the mid barrel clamp.
Group 11 overtightened the mid barrel, created a spread.
12 through 14 were with the muzzle locked down hard,
with the mid barrel clamp same tension as group 10.
Only by testing for yourself, will you learn what works for your rifle.
Every rifle is different.
