How to: Bed a Savage 110BA (or similar chassis)(Lots of pics)

K0na_stinky

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I’ve been shooting my 110BA for a few years and it has been shooting decent groups. I usually get about 5/8 – 3/4 MOA. Even though it was shooting pretty good I thought that there could be room for improvement. In my opinion the factory bedding job leaves a lot to be desired. It’s easy to tell that there is very minimal contact and the action is moving a lot under recoil.

Since there seems to be a lot of confusion on how to bed a 110BA I figured I would do a little write up. Here goes. For my bedding jobs I like to use Devcon. It seems to be a good product and it is easy to get from most industrial supply places.


First I started by completely disassembling the gun. Once I had it apart it was easy to see the ware on the chassis and the action.

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Next step I made a donut on the barrel with tape to help center the barrel in the barrel channel. I ended up having to make a block of Styrofoam to go under the donut to hold it at the right elevation.

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Then I took the die-grinder to the bedding area. Because of how the bedding system works you don’t have to remove material in most places, all you have to do is remove the finish and give the aluminum a rough texture. Remember after you have removed the finish don’t touch the raw aluminum with your hand or any other oily things.
Now you do want to remove about 1/16” from a few places. Remove material from anywhere that the action was touching. So along the side “rails” and along the raised part at the bottom of the chassis. I left some material around the action screw holes to set the elevation for when I bedded the action. To get in behind the “rails” I used a cut off wheel for the die grinder.

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Now comes the tricky part about bedding the BA chassis. In some areas you will end up with about 1/2” of bedding material. Some people will do the bedding job in one fill, but I choose to do it in 2 fills. You have to make a dam to stop the flow of bedding material. I made a Styrofoam magazine to fill the mag well. Make the top of the foam mag even with the top of the raised spot in the middle of the chassis. Also make a dam to stop the material from flowing into the barrel channel and into where it’s milled out for the trigger.

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At this point it’s just about ready for the first fill. If your worried that you got oil in the bedding area then you should use some kind of degreaser that doesn’t leave any residue. Cut a bunch of cereal box cardboard rectangles. They come in handy for pushing the Devcon into the tight places. Mix about 2.5oz of Devcon and fill the area behind the “rails” and in the bottom of the stock between the “rail” and the raised portion. If you use a little heat from a hair dryer it really helps the Devcon flow into the tight spaces. Let that sit in a worm area for about 12-24 hours.

After the first fill of Devcon has set, pull the barrel channel dam and trigger dam out but leave the mag well dam. Grind any Devcon that will be in the way. I also ground off anywhere there was just a thin layer of devcon so that the next fill had the aluminum to adhere to and roughed up the exposed devcon so the next fill will bond properly.

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Now you have to make another dam for the barrel channel. This time it has to allow the barrel to fit into it. You also have to dam the trigger area so the action can fit. For the trigger area I used foam for most of the space and some non-hardening modeling clay to fill all the other spots.

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Use masking tape to tape off anywhere that you don’t want Devcon to be. It could be a messy job and you never know where it will end up. Keep some methyl hydrate, paper towel and q-tips handy to clean any Devcon from areas that you don’t want it.


Once you have your chassis taped off and all the dams where they need to be set it aside and prep your barreled action. Remove the trigger. Remember to snap a few pics so you remember how it goes back together. Tape off everything above what sits in the chassis. Take your time and do a nice job on all the masking, it will make your life a lot easier later. I use good quality electrical tape to tape over the barrel nut. That way it is flexible and covers it nicely. Put one or 2 layers of masking tape around the bottom edge and sides of the recoil lug. Some people choose to tape off the front of the recoil lug too. For this bedding job I decided to try not taping the front. (So far it seems to be working fine) Cut a piece of foam to fit in the mag well on the action. Now use modeling clay to fill all the places on the action that you don’t want Devcon to end up. When you fill in around the mag well be careful to make a nice clean, smooth look that’s even on both side. It will affect what the finished bedding job looks like. Get some threaded rod and cut 3” pieces for each action screw. I slightly pointed the end of them and wrapped them in masking tape so they were closer to the diameter of the hole in the chassis.

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Now is the most important step! Use Kiwi shoe polish as a release agent on your action. Take your time and use it to polish the surface. If you don’t rub it until its smooth all the bumps will show in your bedding job. Don’t be too shy with the shoe polish. Make sure you do a good job on the recoil lug.


Now mix what you figure will be enough Devcon to bed the action. 6-8oz should be enough but its cheap and you don’t want to end up with to little and have to do it a second time. Fill the area where the action will sit and use a helper with a hair dryer to keep it warm, it makes life a lot easier when pushing the action into the chassis. What I do is have a bunch of cereal box cardboard squares cut. That way when you push the action down you can scrape off the excess and throw it away. It makes life easy. Just push it down slowly while scraping the excess off. Once you have the action down as far as it will go, keep that pressure on. If you let any pressure off you run the risk of getting air bubbles in your bedding job.


I like to use strips of bicycle inner tube to hold the action in place while the bedding is curing. Start in the middle of the strip and wrap in opposite directions around the action and chassis. You want a nice even pressure down on the action. Once you have a few wraps tie it off and tape over the knot to make sure it stays tight.

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Leave it in a warm place for 24 hours and it will be done curing and ready to take out. Getting the action out of the chassis will be tricky. First remove both of the threaded rods that were used to align the action. Then hold the stock and barrel upside down and hit the barrel with a piece of wood. Once you have it out all you have to do is pull out all your modeling clay and dams then carefully file away the excess Devcon.

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Do these chassis systems not have a wadge shaped piece that pulls down between the recoil lug and the chassis to hold it tight in place preventing and forwards and backwards movement of the action? and the action fits really tight into the radius in the bottom of the chassis so there is no side play?

Of all my rifles I was gonna say that my 110BA would be the last one I would bother trying to bed.......
 
Wound up doing mine in one pour, with lots of help from K0na_stinky. Came out looking almost as nice as his, although mine looked like Michael J Fox was cleaning up the edges with a file from all the scratches I put in the nice Devcon finish. A little bit of gun oil rubbed on top helped hide them (even though I'm the only one who will ever see them).

I used a big diameter piece of heatshrink to go around the barrel nut on mine instead of packing modelling clay/etc everywhere inside the front of the nut.

Unlike K0na's though mine shot like crap from the factory, the paint on the side rails was all unevenly worn and it looked like the front of the action was getting pushed down often (maybe from the muzzle brake directing the gases up?). Now it shoots nice small groups too.
 
Do these chassis systems not have a wadge shaped piece that pulls down between the recoil lug and the chassis to hold it tight in place preventing and forwards and backwards movement of the action? and the action fits really tight into the radius in the bottom of the chassis so there is no side play?

Of all my rifles I was gonna say that my 110BA would be the last one I would bother trying to bed.......

The newer generations do not have the wedge you are describing. Only 2 action screws. Not sure about yours, but with mine on the side rails that cradle the action I can see the paint removed from the front of the action moving up/down. Saw similar markings on other peoples as well. If it was perfectly aligned/machined from the factory, the paint would be evenly removed alone the whole rail - not just at the front.
 
How come you want the bedding to contact the barrel nut and barrel?

Wouldn't it be harder to pop out if the devcon got into the notches on the barrel nut?

I want full support of the front end of my action. How many thou does an action have to wiggle to change POI at distance?

yes, it makes life harder but the results are better.

And that is why I do the bedding to begin with.

Jerry
 
I have two of them they both shoot great and both have the wedge locking the recoil lug, the sides of the action don't touch the side of the chassis there is no way for paint to rub even if it was lose there's lots I clerence.
 
Nice job and very well documented. Thanks for sharing that process, I think you had as much work taking all the pictures and typing up that post as you did actually doing the bedding job! The nice thing about the way you did your bedding job is you can go back and add in bedding on the barrel nut and chamber area if you decide you need it, in this case it is easier to add than to take away!

Again, great job!
 
Now comes the tricky part about bedding the BA chassis. In some areas you will end up with about 1/2” of bedding material. Some people will do the bedding job in one fill, but I choose to do it in 2 fills. You have to make a dam to stop the flow of bedding material. I made a Styrofoam magazine to fill the mag well. Make the top of the foam mag even with the top of the raised spot in the middle of the chassis. Also make a dam to stop the material from flowing into the barrel channel and into where it’s milled out for the trigger.

At this point it’s just about ready for the first fill. If your worried that you got oil in the bedding area then you should use some kind of degreaser that doesn’t leave any residue. Cut a bunch of cereal box cardboard rectangles. They come in handy for pushing the Devcon into the tight places. Mix about 2.5oz of Devcon and fill the area behind the “rails” and in the bottom of the stock between the “rail” and the raised portion. If you use a little heat from a hair dryer it really helps the Devcon flow into the tight spaces. Let that sit in a worm area for about 12-24 hours.

After the first fill of Devcon has set, pull the barrel channel dam and trigger dam out but leave the mag well dam. Grind any Devcon that will be in the way. I also ground off anywhere there was just a thin layer of devcon so that the next fill had the aluminum to adhere to.

I've never used Devcon before, I've never bedded before, so I'm by far no expert here, but if you're going through the trouble of grinding the chassis so you can adhere better to a scuffed surface, would it not be best to take the grinder to the first fill as I assume it will cure fairly flat...? then you don't have to worry about possible seperation of layers..? I know it sounds like splitting hairs and overkill, but better safe, secure and doing it once than having a flush to flush seam?
 
Fantastic job.

I would not have taped the barrel nut or recoil lug or barrel.

Jerry

How come you want the bedding to contact the barrel nut and barrel?

Wouldn't it be harder to pop out if the devcon got into the notches on the barrel nut?

I want full support of the front end of my action. How many thou does an action have to wiggle to change POI at distance?

yes, it makes life harder but the results are better.

And that is why I do the bedding to begin with.

Jerry

Barrel nut...no. Recoil lug....absolutely.

Bottom and sides.

Makes sense Jerry. I guess going to the old addage "there's the right way, then there's the easy way"
 
I've never used Devcon before, I've never bedded before, so I'm by far no expert here, but if you're going through the trouble of grinding the chassis so you can adhere better to a scuffed surface, would it not be best to take the grinder to the first fill as I assume it will cure fairly flat...? then you don't have to worry about possible seperation of layers..? I know it sounds like splitting hairs and overkill, but better safe, secure and doing it once than having a flush to flush seam?

I did rough up the surface of the first pour. I forgot to add it I guess. It was a long post to type.
 
Makes sense Jerry. I guess going to the old addage "there's the right way, then there's the easy way"

What you said comes off as insulting and I don’t appreciate it. The post took 3 hours to write.

Just incase you didn't realize, bedding the barrel nut will require no extra effort. It would actually require less. My way was not the easy way.

I feel that bedding the barrel nut would offer no benefit and I will continue not bedding my barrel nuts. If Jerry feels the need he can continue to.
 
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Great job KOna-stinky and the write up was superb with easy to follow directions and pictures . Not often does a detailed post like yours get posted and it's appreciated so if you do any more work , post away .
 
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