Bedding a Tradex Husqvarna

W

Why not?

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Several here have asked about bedding the Husqvarna rifles, so here's one I just did. Got it from Anthony with their usual top-shelf service and delivery. Took it to the range for the 30-06 to 9.3X62 case reforming thread that I started a while back. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=663917 (Which reminds me, I need to get back there and post some more information about that.)

It is a 98 action and shot fine, but decided to bed it for strength, if nothing else. Scraped and cut away all the varnish and oil from the beech stock, in the area to be bedded, using a very sharp morticing chisel. Notice how large the factory hole for the front of the floor plate is. We will take care of that. :)

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Taped barrel at forend contact to center it in the barrel channel, and 2 1/2 inches ahead of receiver ring to limit bedding compound. Applied two coats of Johnson's Paste wax for release agent to all metal parts, especially front guard screw and inside threaded screw hole in the action.

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Taped off stock to protect from any wayward bedding getting on finish,

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and to hold magazine/floor plate assembly in place.

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Used AcraGel with some brown stain added to match stock finish.

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Settled barrelled action into stock and snugged up action screws.

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Removed barrelled action after six hours and trimmed excess bedding from above stock. You can see the negative impressions of the serial number, inspector's stamps, and the barrel index mark in the bedding. That Johnson's Paste Wax is great stuff!

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Put it all back together for 48 hours to cure completely. Bedding flowed nicely into huge area under receiver.

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The finished product after sanding down to match stock profile, ready to go hunting!


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Did not bed the tang yet. Will see how it shoots like this first.

Ted
 
Last edited:
Ted, where are you getting your Johnson's Paste wax?

The last tradex rifle I bedded, I used Acragel and their own release agent, and now I have a fine shooting 9.3x57 with the stock permanantly attached!

It seems their (Acragel) agent has stops working after a while. The first two rifles I did with it worked great, then one where I had to freeze/thaw the rifle a couple of times, and use a rubber mallet to get it to release, and the last one would not come out no matter what. And I made sure I did a good job on applying the release agent after the troubles I had with the previous one.

So everyone watch out for Acragel release agent unless it's right new, and follow Ted's advice of the Johnson's Paste wax.
 
Nice job, Ted. Very informative.

Couple of questions and comments.

Did you bed around the rear guard screw?

Did you have any problem with the epoxy getting into the front guard screw hole when you installed the screw? The dried epoxy can be a real bear to get out.

Usually I apply a couple of coats of Brownell agent and have never had a problem. If necessary, I will use some sort of past wax. I've found that most paste wax will work just fine - doesn't have to be Johnsons.
 
Mauser98 said:
Nice job, Ted. Very informative.

Couple of questions and comments.

Did you bed around the rear guard screw?

Did you have any problem with the epoxy getting into the front guard screw hole when you installed the screw? The dried epoxy can be a real bear to get out.

Usually I apply a couple of coats of Brownell agent and have never had a problem. If necessary, I will use some sort of past wax. I've found that most paste wax will work just fine - doesn't have to be Johnsons.
Click to expand...

No doubt any good paste wax will do. A lot of guys use wax shoe polish.

I did not bed the rear guard screw area yet, and have edited the original post to reflect that. Appreciate the heads up.

I always put plenty of JPW on the inside of the screw hole first, and then turn the screw fully into the hole. This forces the wax out, and everything gets coated very well. Then wipe everything down very well with JPW on a soft rag. Finally, the entire screw gets coated with the wax.

The first coat of wax is drying while all the wood prep is being done. The second coat is applied and is drying while the masking tape is being applied, and well before the bedding compound is mixed. I do not buff the wax at all, however some people do.

I have never had any problem with the guard screw getting fouled with bedding.

Thanks for two very important questions!
Ted
 
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Ardent said:
Clean job Ted, nicely done. Plain old axle grease is a fantastic release agent too, what I've used every time, and easy to wipe off once the job's done.
Click to expand...

No doubt that will work. The nice thing about the paste wax is that you can just buff what is left on the metal parts, and end up with a fine rust protection.

Ted
 
Acraglass is too hard to get here. Some mail order places won't ship fluids or gels so I've switched to Devcon with paste wax for release. Only done a few rifles, but with great results.

Nice job on the M98 BTW, esp the front guard screw hole fix.

.
 
Nice thread, Ted.
This may help many fellows.
While I did not have to perform bedding on most of my own HVA rifles, when it comes to the thiny barrels, I do prefer FL bedding, or with a pressure point at the forend, though.
 
SuperCub said:
Acraglass is too hard to get here. Some mail order places won't ship fluids or gels so I've switched to Devcon with paste wax for release. Only done a few rifles, but with great results.

Nice job on the M98 BTW, esp the front guard screw hole fix.

.
Click to expand...

I too have been having a hard time finding Acra-glas in Canada. Wholesale Sports had it but the shipping was stupid expensive because of the hazmat fee.

The problem is that the release agent is flamable thus the hazmat issue.

Brownells now offers a Acra-glas Gel kit with non-flamable release agent that they shipped to me no problem. Shipping cost was around $6.00 but took almost a month.

It is also possible to buy only the resin and hardener and use something else as a release agent.
 
Great post. It is a wonderful feeling to open up the rifle and see that the bedding turned out as nice as your job did.

I find Devcon F putty easier to work with than Acraglass. Not as runny.

I use silicon spray mold release as a release agent.

One thing to do is to run an 11/32 drill through the screw hole to remove the bedding compound and thread marks. You don't want the action screw acting as a recoil lug.

One thing I do differrent than you. You routed out a tenth of an inch of wood to make room for the bedding material. If the front screw is snugged, the action can pull down into that void. So I leave a small bit of wood behind the action screw at the original heght to locate the action at the right height.

Here is an action, ready to be bedded. It is hard to tell in this picture, but the strip of wood just in front of the mag well has not been touched.

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Good point!

I know it is hard to see, but there are a few high spots left behind to prevent the receiver pulling down too far. As well, I use enough turns of tape ahead of the reciever ring to restrict the flow of the bedding in the barrel channel. That also keeps the action from being pulled down too far, and keeps everything where it should be.

I like the shallow holes bored into the wood. That will lock things up tight. I did that a couple of times when bedding poly stocks with Marine-Tex, and it sure worked.

Thanks,
Ted
 
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