Bedded my Savage 12

[Haagen_Dazs]

Finally got around to putting these pics up. I figure there's not a whole lot of info out there for bedding a Savage action, which is very different than a Remington.

This stock has factory pillars, but they are pretty cheap. Look at the pics, you'll notice that they rest below the stock material and thus don't make contact with the action. They are also really thin. These stocks should benefit from bedding, YYMV as always.

Pay attention to the rear action screw area; not alot of contact surface there to bed. Some mistakes I made:

• Should have put more tape along the top edge of the stock next to the action (had to dremel away Devcon, went too far and marked up stock)
• Should have heated up Devcon more, mine set very fast, very thick (I had to nuke it, for some reason it was rock hard before being mixed with the hardner)
• Took too much material from sides of stock
• There are screws that run through the stock, be careful you dont dremel those away
• Barrel screw had some devcon seep into the 'teeth'. Make sure you plug these with puddy; taping over them will not work. The devcon came off after some work.

All in all it went well, nerve racking but it worked out! I got the action screws at Home Depot, 1/4-28tpi IIRC. VERY easy to find these screws, unlike other actions. I used bolt cutters to take the heads. I've got some left over Devcon too for sale if you're interested.


I didn't get a before and after accuracy test because I'm still in the middle of load development. I'll post how accurate I can get this thing to shoot when I'm done!

Before:

Front Pillar, notice how it sits below stock material. Also, is much thinner than pic shows:

Rear Pillar. Nothing to brag about:

Notice the small amount of stock area to bed near the rear action screw:

Tapped up. Should have put more tape along the top of the side walls:

Ready to get started:

There's that screw I was talking about:

Top Veiw:

Recoil lug area:

There's that screw near the front pillar:

I used Silly Puddy, not the best because it doenst retain it's shape:

This step isn't so crucial because the rear action screw doesn't get much bedding material:

Mixing the Devcon. Having someone help to take pics helps here!

All ready to be set in, no turning back now:

I tapped the front of the barrel and used the pillars to know how far the barreled action needed to be set into the stock (don't use the rear tang do gauge how deep it needs to be, the rear tang is supposed to be free floating!):

Result, before cleaining it up. Took a few swift smacks to get the action out but it came out without taking any of the recoil lug material with it:

After a bit of clean-up:

Here's 2 pics of the magwell area before clean-up:

Here you can see how thick the bedding material is. I took to much material off the side wall:

The clean up is the part where you can mess up the finish of your gun. I spent alot of time trying not to sand away any of the stock material that showed. I also had to spend alot of time on the mag well, dispite my efforts to clean everything up before it had set.

I had plans to bed this action before I recieved the rifle, almost a year ago. I read everything there was about bedding an aciton on the internet. The whole thing went pretty smoothly, I'd recommend this to anyone who want's to save a few bucks and is DIY orrientated. Lots of fun!


Hope this helps you if you choose to do the same!

 

[CyaN1de]

You mentioned "next time I will heat up the devcon more" as it set too fast.

The warmer epoxies are the FASTER they will start to kick off. Best to cool it if you want a longer working time.

 

[Haagen_Dazs]

Yeah I didn't mention that the Devocn was impossible to work with so I had no choice to nuke it. The hardner was fine but the epoxy was rock hard. Was not too happy but got it to work in the end. I'm sure you could imagine how upset I was finding this out after having dremmeled all the stock away!

 

[mmattockx]

Yeah I didn't mention that the Devocn was impossible to work with so I had no choice to nuke it. The hardner was fine but the epoxy was rock hard. Was not too happy but got it to work in the end. I'm sure you could imagine how upset I was finding this out after having dremmeled all the stock away!

I'm not familiar with Devcon, but other epoxies I have used can be heated to re-liquify a component, then cooled to room temp before mixing and using. The ones I have had to heat up stayed liquid after cooling, but will harden again over time while stored.


Mark

 

[Mystic Precision]

congrats on your first bedding job. Only problem I see is all the tape you used on the action and lug. This will create space between the action and the bedding and space is something you most certainly do not want.

A bit over done on the roughing up too but it looks pretty good with the bedding in.

Hope it improves your shooting. By the way, bedding or floating the rear tang really doesn't matter.

Jerry

 

[CyaN1de]

Sorry, misread your post on why you heated up the resin.

Not sure if it was warm when you mixed it with the cure but if it was, that would definitely have sped up the chemical process.

 

[DsrtRat]

I get what Jerry is saying about the tape aroun dthe barrel but have a couple of questions.

1. I thought it was normal to tape the front back of the recoil lug (non recoil side) and bottom of the lug?

2. I agree that if he wanted to bed the first inch of the barrel, the tape should not be there but if he wanted to free float the entire barrel, does it matter?

 

[CyaN1de]

I put 2 layers of tape on the short end of the recoil lug (read bottom and sides) and 1 layer on the muzzle side of the recoil lug as the only place it should touch the bedding is the action side of the lug.

 

[Ganderite]

1. I thought it was normal to tape the front back of the recoil lug (non recoil side) and bottom of the lug?


That is how I have done it. I use duct tape.

One thing I do AFTER bedding, it to take a file and lightly round the locking lug edges. In this way there is no scraping of material as the rifle it taken in and out of the action.

 

[juanvaldez]

1. I thought it was normal to tape the front back of the recoil lug (non recoil side) and bottom of the lug?


That is how I have done it. I use duct tape.

One thing I do AFTER bedding, it to take a file and lightly round the locking lug edges. In this way there is no scraping of material as the rifle it taken in and out of the action.

Pretty standard to tape the front and sides of the lug. You want clearance for expansion as your bbl and gun heats up. Contact with the sides or front as the gun heated up would likely cause some wonky things or POI changes.

 

[Haagen_Dazs]

The only part of the action I taped was the barrel nut. The reason why is because I was afraid that Devcon would seep into the 'teeth' and cause a mechanical lock (it seeped in anyway, but wasn't much of an issue).

I taped the front and sides of the recoil lug because I was under the impression this was the norm. The front side once, the sides twice IIRC. In the end, the fit is VERY snug when removing and replacing the action. It feels like an interfrenece fit and I doubt that too much clearance is an issue.

I can't remember why I taped the barrel. Either way it doesn't matter because I didnt bed that area. The reason why I mentioned the rear tang is because if you bed that area, you might mess up the safety. Not sure!

 

[Tikka223]

I also noticed that there is very limited room to work around that rear pillar.

+ 1 on rifle bedding being a do-or-die nerve racking experience.

 

[warrenb]

I taped the front and sides of the recoil lug because I was under the impression this was the norm. The front side once, the sides twice IIRC. In the end, the fit is VERY snug when removing and replacing the action. It feels like an interfrenece fit and I doubt that too much clearance is an issue.

There are two ways to do it. I can think of reasons for and against both, although they are mainly just my thoughts. After doing a couple of rifles each way I will probably now use a very thin layer of tape on the sides, bottom and front of the lug.

EDIT: by front of the lug I mean the lug face furthest from the action.

 

[Duck_Hunter]

Juan, the lug is taped on the front, sides, and bottom to give clearance for dissasembling/reassembling the rifle. Makes it easier and limits the odds of shaving any bedding material which then sit under the lug or affect the fit.
If you heated up a bolt action rifle enough to notice any expansion of the lug, I would say you have pretty much cooked the barrel on your rig and that would account for the accuracy loss....
Having bedded rifles with and without the taped lugs, I always use tape as I haven't seen any accuracy difference, but they are a pain to take apart without the tape

 

[Mystic Precision]

I get what Jerry is saying about the tape aroun dthe barrel but have a couple of questions.

1. I thought it was normal to tape the front back of the recoil lug (non recoil side) and bottom of the lug?

2. I agree that if he wanted to bed the first inch of the barrel, the tape should not be there but if he wanted to free float the entire barrel, does it matter?

As DH said above, the reason for taping is to make taking apart EASIER. It does nothing to improve the performance of the bedding. For me, leaving a gap small or large negates the benefits of bedding in the first place.

for me, bedding means an interferance fit between the stock and action. Any gap, allows the parts to move and it will not take much to cause shifts in harmonics. Yes, this means extra care is needed during the bedding and certainly during removal.

It can be a pain but good things usually aren't easy to do.

If a part can move within the bedding, it will. If there is space on the sides of the lug, the action will torque. If there is space in the front, the action will bounce.

Sure, it will SEEM that there is no change because the action bolts are now asked to take the load but eventually, this interface will wear and flyers will begin.

Prime example is the Alum chassis V blocks that have become popular. "no bedding required". Just look at the action after a few hundred rds of 308 have gone down range. You can wipe the powdered alum and bluing off the chassis.... good stuff.

I looked at what the SR BR guys were doing, even going to the extreme of gluing their actions into place. Why bother? Well, they have proven that it matters.

That was a bit much for me so I have gone to an interferance bedding.

Got a nice chuckle on the expansion myth. Yes, I have heard that and if you look at the expansion nature of steel, to get enough expansion to matter, you have just softened that fancy bedding anyways.

When I do my bedding, the action and stock feel rock solid and could be fired without the action bolts. For me, the action bolts are only there to keep the two parts from separating, they are NOT load bearing devices.

That is what the lug is for and thus must make full contact with the stock through the bedding.

Simple test, you have a rifle sighted in and confident on its zero. Take it apart and reassemble. Did the POI change?

For point #2, I want to support under the first 1 to 2" of barrel (or part of the nut for Savages). This is the chamber area so doesn't affect barrel harmonics BUT it relieves the load off the receiver.

If using a solid front locking bolt, anything you can do to limit the action bending is in your best interests.

Free float the barrel from the view of harmonics - YES. Free float the barrel to strain the action and disrupt harmonics - NO.

Jerry

 

[noneck180]

I was told that if you take the front action screw out and the barrel moves f upward form tip of the forearm it needs bedding?
Another question on pillars,
Do the pillars have to touch the action? or can bedding be between the pillar and action?

 

[DsrtRat]

If you really want squirrel soup, bed a Tikka! That stock set recoil lug is a pain in the hoop!

 

[Haagen_Dazs]

I was told that if you take the front action screw out and the barrel moves f upward form tip of the forearm it needs bedding?
Another question on pillars,
Do the pillars have to touch the action? or can bedding be between the pillar and action?

The pillars are to support the action and the whole point is that you have metal on metal contace so yeah they should be touching.

 

[noneck180]

I was to the thinking that action bolts shouldn't touch the pillars either.
Sure seems to alot of methods. As long as the action is torqued down, the pillars are only there to keep the stock from crushing. The action should be fully bedded. So I have come to the conclusion that there is pillar bedding and full action bed with pillars.

 

[DsrtRat]

I thought the same as noneck. The actions screws must be free of the pillars or they become a recoil surface. Are there pillars that are snugg around action screws? If so, doesn't that make 3 recoil surfaces?