Bedding a rifle correlation with accuracy

C

Charles

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
249   0   1
Hi guys

I was wondering what results have you obtained after bedding a rifle vs accuracy ?

In the last years i have owned couples of factory and very nice custom rifles. The custom i had was of course glass bedded from start by a competent gunsmith.
Couples of factory rifles i had was not bedded at all, and i had them practically all bedded after a period of time.

I now really questioning the importance of bedding a rifle. I find tough to evaluate the precision gain i have obtained with custom rifle because they was bedded from start...
However, with factory rifle i have see no real benefit after they was bedded, worse couples of them was less accurate.

I remember a rem 700 police who can shoot 1/2 moa with regularity at 100 to 300 yards and after the bedding i was not able to shoot under 1 moa.
I have imagined that the harmonic was change because of the bedding what i think is logic. With this in mind i played with my load and after one thousand shots i give up ...

Same thing have happen with a semi custom rem 700 sit in a Mcmillan A5 stock.

I really want to hear what is your opinion on the subjects and what have be your results on the field.
 
Bedding is important and I doubt very much that it has anything to do with your groups opening up from ½ to an inch. My guess is the rifle was not a true ½ moa gun to start with and the group you are referring to is probably just a lucky isolated group.

Bedding not likely to turn a 2 inch gun into a ¼ minute, but it could turn a ¾ minute gun into a ½ minute gun.

Good bedding also needs to be clean. If you get oil, water or solvent into the bedding it will serve as a lubricant and you can get some loosening of your groups that you probably would not even notice with a 1 inch gun.

Check to be sure your bedding is clean and examine the tork on the action screws.
 
Every rifle that I have owned that I shot without bedding it first had tighter groups afterwards.

I no longer shoot any rifle I buy with out bedding it first! Why go through the expense and time of building loads for a ladder test without bedding it first? A ladder test will cost much more than an acraglass bedding kit!

I purchased a Remington 700 tactical in .223. When I was breaking it in I was averaging 1.5-2" groups at 100y with AE 55gr FMJ ammo. After I bedded it, groups shrunk to 1". After I swapped the trigger to a timney and then built a load with 50gr horn addy BT, groups are hovering at .6".......

With a factory tube........

Yes IMHO bedding is the single most beneficial thing you can do to a rifle to make smaller groups!
 
Run a few blocks in shoes 2 sizes too big.

Repeat with shoes that fit.

That is what proper bedding does for you - proper fit leads to consistency which leads to improved accuracy, limited only by the barrel, ammo and optics you have.

Jerry
 
For now it seem i'm the only one who have obtained this kind of inaccuracy after bedding a factory rifles.

Jerry: your analogy is pretty straight forward and i can't argue this. When i take one of my sako rifle and i remove the screw this is a little scary to see how the action move in the stock ...

Badasmo: The 700 p was a 1/2 moa and better after 2000 shots. I have bedded this rifle especially to see if this will have a positive effect. After the result obtained this is why i have beginning to ask me question.

notsorichguy: I can not argue with you either, its true that finding a load after you have bedded a rifle is a lost of time and money. Better to bed in a first place.
Don't get me wrong i have custom rifle that have be bedded by a competent gunsmith and since i have them they always shoot very good.

Maybe this have more to be with the compound used and the gunsmith who do it ...
I will have one of my Sako 6ppc and a Tikka Master sporter 595 bedded with Devcon. Hope this will clear this uncertainty in my mind and the bad experience i had...
 
For 40 years I have been recommending glass bedding the action, free floating the barrel, touching up the crown, working the trigger crisp and light, having the scope mounted properly before taking a new gun out to shoot...

Factories don't have time for these 'little' things that wring the best in consistent accuracy out of a rifle.
 
Charles said:
...I remember a rem 700 police who can shoot 1/2 moa with regularity at 100 to 300 yards and after the bedding i was not able to shoot under 1 moa.
I have imagined that the harmonic was change because of the bedding what i think is logic. With this in mind i played with my load and after one thousand shots i give up ...

Same thing have happen with a semi custom rem 700 sit in a Mcmillan A5 stock...
Click to expand...
Here's a simple test.
Unbed that 700P and see what it does or drop it into another unbedded stock. You can rebed it again and try it once more afterward.
A properly bedded rifle will never shoot worse.

BTW, I also have a 700 .308 varmint barrel that would shoot 1/2 MOA. Now that it has 2,500 rds it won't shoot any better than 1 MOA. Rifle was bedded properly from the start. I know this barrel isn't shot out, but it went south around that round mark.
I need to get a good borescope and maybe see what happened, but it's a factory tube and gets shoved in the corner for the time being.
 
Charles said:
Badasmo: The 700 p was a 1/2 moa and better after 2000 shots. I have bedded this rifle especially to see if this will have a positive effect. After the result obtained this is why i have beginning to ask me question.

QUOTE]

Ho ho hold the phone! You have 2000 rounds through it!

See this is the thing.... the bedding is not the only possible reason the rifle no longer shoots as well as you say it once did.

Maybe... now this might be a longshot... but just maybe... its because it has 2000 rounds through it.

That might be a better qustion to ask.

How many rounds can you shoot before the barrel is no longer 1/2 moa?

Quick answer... Less than 2000
Click to expand...
 
So you ran 2000 rnds though it.

Then you bedded it to see if it could be "more" accurate.

Ran another 1000 rounds through it and the accuracy "didn't improve"....... It got worse.......

I'm thinking its not the bedding that is the problem.......

Most of the bench rest guys I know swap out barrels after 1000-1500 rounds as the accuracy starts to drop off.......

What calibre is this rifle?
 
Keep in mind that,

1) Bedding is really easy to do correctly
2) Bedding is really easy to do badly

Just because a gun is bedded doesn't necessarily it was done well. Considering that bedding is really not a difficult operation, perhaps getting the "bad" examples that you have rebedded my very well solve the problem. Further, keep in mind that while a good bedding job will certainly help a rifle shoot better, it won't necessarily make it shoot as good as you want it too. There are simply too many variables in shooting to put all the blame for a poorly shooting rifle on a bedding job.
 
I purchased a rem 700 BDL, 22-250 in 1980 that shot 1.5-2.0 inch groups with hand loads. I bedded it in agraglass gel and floated the barrel,reworked the trigger and had it recrowned. The fellow that recrowned it informed me the barrel was drilled off center. It wasnt much but noticable about 1/16". I reworked a load for it and it shot 5/8" 10 shot groups with win brass, sierra 52 gr hpbt, imr 3031 and cci lr primers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom