Well here is my 1st attempt. Came out great. I did in in 3 steps, I didn't feel confident enough to do it all in 1 shot. So I used devcon to glue the pillars into the stock. then did the front bedding first and the rear after.
Devcon (steel) bedding a wood stock
- Thread starter notenough
- Start date
338 Imperial
CGN Regular
- Location
- Chetwynd BC
I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading this post ! Very well done.
Been using Devcon for ages .
I too use Paste wax , great stuff !
Instead of surgical tube or bike tire tube , I use stretchy band stuff from a physiotherapist .
They have it in rolls & cut lengths to do your exercises. Color coded for varying degrees of resistance.
I prefer Green , I use this for holding many odd shapes in place while bonding ,fixing, ect.
Very cheep (most often free for a few ft. ) and Very versatile.
Ed
Been using Devcon for ages .
I too use Paste wax , great stuff !Instead of surgical tube or bike tire tube , I use stretchy band stuff from a physiotherapist .
They have it in rolls & cut lengths to do your exercises. Color coded for varying degrees of resistance.
I prefer Green , I use this for holding many odd shapes in place while bonding ,fixing, ect.
Very cheep (most often free for a few ft. ) and Very versatile.
Ed
Thread resurrection... someone recommended 5 minute epoxy. Not really a good idea. Pot life and working time are too short, and most 5 minute epoxies absorb moisture over time and deteriorate.
The Devcon epoxy line are slow curing, give you lots of working time so you don’t need to rush (and possibly mess something up) while you get the assembly just right.
The Devcon bedding jobs on my rifles are more than 20 years old and still tight... you want the job to last for a long time, be patient and use better materials
The Devcon epoxy line are slow curing, give you lots of working time so you don’t need to rush (and possibly mess something up) while you get the assembly just right.
The Devcon bedding jobs on my rifles are more than 20 years old and still tight... you want the job to last for a long time, be patient and use better materials
walleyed99
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- I'm not telling, Sask
Great post, excellent pictures, I'll be reading over a couple times before tackling a bedding job on my Rem 700 AAC SD in the coming weeks.
sikwhiskey
CGN Regular
- Location
- Lethbridge
Lots of great info here. I use frog tape instead of 3m masking tape. Zero creep around edges and leaves no residue on removal. Devcon works great.
DaveMachine
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- That one place with a cowboy complex
Don't make it so tight that you can't get the barreled action out.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Regarding Devcon - it has a "expiry date" on the package - they are not kidding!!! Buying a big tub of it to use over the years is not a good plan - the resin goes nearly hockey puck rubber hard over time. Much better to buy smaller quantity, even though might be more $ per ounce. No savings when have to throw 75% of a one pound tub in garbage because it has set up hard and no longer useable!!
- Location
- Western Manitoba
"tightest fit" - don't think that is what you are after - you want a "return to battery" fit - metal always coming back to same seating in the stock. Lots of slo-mo videos on Internet showing the flexing going on through the receiver as the thing is fired. "stress free" - do not get that by using action screws to pull receiver into stock - use headless aligning screws for alignment, then surgical tubing wrapped around stock and receiver to hold in place while epoxy is setting up. May have been previously mentioned, but Nathan Forster has credible stuff on Internet and in his books on epoxy bedding techniques for various styles / designs of actions.
Years ago the info I found said, one layer of painter's tape on each side of the lug, two layers on the muzzle side and on action side only apply shoe polish (release agent).
The initial removal was tight, getting the tape out made it easier, and if the rest of the bedding was done correctly, you will have no room for movement to the rear of the lug.
This process has worked like a charm fo me.
The initial removal was tight, getting the tape out made it easier, and if the rest of the bedding was done correctly, you will have no room for movement to the rear of the lug.
This process has worked like a charm fo me.
If your barreled action gets stuck in the stock because it is too tight or the wrong release agent was used, just toss the whole rifle into a freezer. Once frozen it will pop apart. Thats a mid-1980's tip from B.C. gunsmith Nobby Uno.
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Over the last 55 years, I have bedded rifles with just about every epoxy you can buy. Devcon plastic steel was one. The only drawback to it is that it is degraded by Hoppes #9. So is Acraglas gel. Acraglas liquid is not. Applying compound to both the stock and the receiver is a good way to eliminate potential voids in the bedding.
Hoppes degradation notwithstanding, I liked Devcon Plastic steel just fine. I also really liked Devcon Clear. I mixed this with a fiberglass floc; just like Acraglas.
Hoppes degradation notwithstanding, I liked Devcon Plastic steel just fine. I also really liked Devcon Clear. I mixed this with a fiberglass floc; just like Acraglas.
I always taped the front, sides and the bottom of the recoil lug for clearance after bedding.
This insures easy removal and installation of the barreled action.
This clearance in no way harms accuracy.
No clearance may detrimentally affect accuracy.
I'm reading old stickies (sorry not sorry about the necro-bump?) and starting to watch YouTube videos about DIY rifle bedding. I have a desporterized SMLE I'd like to attempt to bed as it sits a little loose in the stock, enough so that under recoil it has broken a piece of the stock on the rear/right beside the action by the wrist collar. The issue I feel I will run into is the desporterized doner stock came off a DP rifle so it is pretty thoroughly saturated with 75 year old oils which won't help with epoxy adhesion. Would using something like JB Weld work better than a more traditional bedding compound since it is more geared to "workshop use" so therefor may stick better? Also, let's not look past the advantage of JB Weld being available in smaller quantities and locally
Get the oils out of the stock; you'll have much better results.
Use whatever is required. I've used all 3 at different times, back in the day on old mil-surplus stocks. Sometimes engine de-greaser, sometimes oven cleaner, sometimes acetone, sometimes M.E.K. & once or twice deck stripper.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I think there ought to be some consideration for how recoil was meant to be handled in a particular action - so Lee Enfield No. 4 and similar - under the one main action screw - and the "draws" - those places do not exist on a two screw Mauser - type receiver. Then there were three screw type Parker Hale rifles and Winchester Model 70. And the various "Tikka" that have the recoil bar as a separate part from stock and receiver. No good reason why all would be "bedded" the same - not same design for handling recoil. "Bedding" is meant to enhance how the action handles recoil - is NOT about getting some epoxy in there. I have a Schultz and Larsen rifle - not sure that one could benefit at all from "epoxy bedding" - it appears to be old school "scrape and soot" fit. Then there had been a variety of ways to "bed" the barrel - "full contact", "pressure tips', "free float" - I am not sure what enhances accuracy versus what is cheaper to produce versus what makes no difference.
