I don't know if that slight barrel-to-fore-end contact is "intended" or not, but I will say that it is pretty much universal in the economy line of rifles with synthetic stocks. I've seen it in Rugers, Remingtons, Savages, etc., etc. And I don't know that it's necessarily something that needs correction. It frequently shows little or no ill effect on accuracy. I've see free-floating help such rifles and I have seen it hurt them. A .270 Savage Axis I have started shooting patterns after I free-floated the barrel; after adding a pressure point in the fore-end that exerted significantly more pressure than the original stock did it turned in to a consistent sub-MOA shooter. So clearly, that contact is not always bad and can be go