Bedding - Tang and Recoil Lug

Redhouse

Redhouse

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I have read both bed the tang and float the tang. Don't understand why floating it would be of benefit, anyone?

Recoil lug - I did my first bedding job rear of lug only. Then I did the next one all the way around the lug with only release agent on the lug. Was a bit of a pain to get the action out of the stock but man, it's a nice tight fit and the gun shoots a damn. I have another job coming up, should I NOT do all 4 sides plus bottom of the lug for any reason other than fear of welding (OK, epoxying) the action to the stock?
 
If the rifle has pillars at the rear screw, then no reason to bed the tang. Never heard of floating the tang... The trick is to get a reapeatable amount of stock crush at the tang.
People prefer to bed only the rear edge of the lug to avoid un-needed forces/interference at the other surfaces. For example- if the bottom surface is bedded, it can interfere with stock crush.
 
Put 2 layers of tape on the bottom and one layer of the front of the lug when you bed it. Once the tape is removed after bedding, the action will come out of the stock easier.
 
maynard said:
Put 2 layers of tape on the bottom and one layer of the front of the lug when you bed it. Once the tape is removed after bedding, the action will come out of the stock easier.
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The reading ive done, and how I"ve done it on quite a few rifles in the past. Tape the front, bottom and Sides of the recoil lug, more tape on the bottom and bed 2 inches or so of the barrel, I also bed the tang as well. I also float the rest of the action so that nothing else is touching, just the 2" of barrel, the recoil area and the tang, the sides of the action and remainder of the barrel are free floating.

Do others tape the sides fo the lugs or leave them.?
 
Of the 4 target rifle I have one is in an aluminum stock and flexi-bedded(TM) 2 are in a McMillan prone stocks, one in a Robertson(also bedded in a pink Remington 40X Smallbore stock for my daughter). Not one of these rifle has bedding foreward of the recoil lug. The rifle in the aluminum stock does not even have a recoil lug between the barrel and action.
 
Clearance around the lug is not required and the tang should be very well bedded. Proper clearances for certain actions are required but most will shoot very well with a full bedding job. Plastic stocks will not keep the bedding for long along the length of the action so tang and lug is about all you can do reliably. Others have said pillars don't require bedding, this is not true the pillar is there to prevent compression of the stock and has nothing to do in keeping the action centered.
bigbull
 
Gents - My comment about tang pillars refers to the average hunting rifle. The absence of a tang pillar is one of the more common bedding faults, IMHO. Years ago, I did a calculation of column stiffness for a pillar and stock wood (1/2 dia) - the pillar is more than 10 times stiffer! I also did a series of trials to establish that hunting rifle performance is extremely sensitive to stock crush at the tang, particularly if you've bedded the lug area with (rigid) epoxy.
If the rifle doesnt have a tang pillar, bedding can at least improve contact area and load distribution, giving improved stiffness, and centre the action described above. If the rifle has a tang pillar, you may likely be able to get away without further attention to the tang. Hope this clarifies the intent of my original post.
 
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That is why Paul Mauser designed the trigger guard/floorplate of his rifles the way he did. Take a good look at one some time.

The front screw is housed in an bushing that is integral with the floorplate and contacts the bottom of the recoil lug where the screw threads in. This screw should be turned in until it is quite tight, and forms what is essentially an incompressible pillar around the front guard screw. This prevents compression of the wood, so the bedding is less affected by changes in temp and humidity especially.

The rear guard screw is housed in a steel tube that floats in the stock and accomplishes the same thing. This screw, however, should only be tightened snug, because the tubing is relatively light.

Mauser really knew what he was doing. :)

Ted
 
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Various actions are treated differently. On a Mauser, for instance, the front screw goes into the recoil lug. There is no real reason to provide clearance at the bottom of the lug. The same is true of the Sako actions, Springfields, Enfields, Weatherbys, or any others wherein the front screw threads into the recoil lug. Providing clearance on the sides is optional and is something I do whenever the sides of the lug are parallel and vertical. The eception is with Remington 700s. I will often bed the sides of the recoil lug in an attempt to prevent twisting in the bedding from firing torque.
As far as the tang is concerned, the story is the same. Different actions are treated differently. I never bed a Savage tang. Why not? Because there is no screw there. On many of my target rifles (all of the single shot bolt actions), the tang is floated. All have at least two screws ahead of the trigger group. This is something I have always done and continue to do.
Otherwise, the tangs are bedded. All of my own rifles which are bedded at the tang are bedded with a fiberglas pillar at the location of each screw. In those cases where the tang is inletted into the stock (Mauser, Winchester, Ruger, Sako etc.), the tang should be clear of the stock at the rear. If it is not, it may affect accuracy and may cause the stock to split. On a Remington 700, where the tang just sits on the stock, clearance is already abundant since there is no contact at the rear of the tang.
I think the concept of bedding the front of the action and compressing the tang area until it's right is silly but anyone can do it if they prefer. In fact, I would encourage all of those shooters who compete against me to bed their rifles just that way! Regards, Bill.
 
Leeper said:
There is no real reason to provide clearance at the bottom of the lug. The same is true of the Sako actions, Springfields, Enfields, Weatherbys, or any others wherein the front screw threads into the recoil lug. Regards, Bill.
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The down side of no clearance at the bottom is if you should get contaminates into the bottom of the lug recess (trap) or scrap off some bedding material off which then is forced to the bottom of a zero clearance bedding job and you might get some unexpected results - losing the perfect bedding fit etc... making a sad shooter...

If you use a Remington which does not have the lug pinned, and you remove barrels or rebarrel, zero clearance will again likely bite you in the ass.....unless you redo the bedding each time... I.E. its hard to put the lug back perfectly without pins..... Of course if you use too thick a bedding, the shrinkage clearance probably helps with the "zero" clearance fit....well almost zero clearance...
 
I was perhaps unclear when I stated there was no need for clearance under the lug. I was referring only to those rifles in which the screw threaded into the lug.
The bedding of the lug with no clearance on the sides of a Remington was done to address a problem with the round receiver twisting in the bedding. This problem is as much one of perception as of fact and it is common practice to tape Remington lugs front, sides and bottom. On those lugs where I did bed the sides, the front and bottom were clear, as usual.
As far as trapping debris under those lugs into which the screw is threaded is concerned; don't get debris in the bedding! If everything is prepared properly there will be no problem with scraping of the bedding material. Regards, Bill.
 
Bedding the underside of the lug is never a good idea, unless you have means to keep it free of bedding scrapings. What can and often does happen is that during assembly it is possible to not have proper alignment.....I.E. the barrelled action goes in at a slight angle. This slight angle can shave off bedding in the lug cavity. Consequently the shaving fall into the bottom and the receiver does not seat properly.
 
So, is there any benefit of bedding a barrel channel the full length of the barrel? In essence, you have bedded the action/barrel stern to tip.
The reason I'm asking is it's a relatively short + heavy barrel on a P14.
 
In most cases I would think for premium accuracy bedding with full barrel contact is not recommended.

The taper of the barrel or contour would present problems when it expands due to increases in temperature, particularily when you it heats up from firing.

The cylindrical barrel has less problems but it gets bigger in diameter (and length) from heating and as a result wants to climb the stock.

On a quality barrel, it is best to free float it.

Coating the barrel channel does help seal the stock from moisture.
 
Brambles said:
The reading ive done, and how I"ve done it on quite a few rifles in the past. Tape the front, bottom and Sides of the recoil lug, more tape on the bottom and bed 2 inches or so of the barrel, I also bed the tang as well. I also float the rest of the action so that nothing else is touching, just the 2" of barrel, the recoil area and the tang, the sides of the action and remainder of the barrel are free floating.

Do others tape the sides fo the lugs or leave them.?
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Bill's exception to the sides and action models noted...
I have seen no benefit at all to bedding the bottom and front of a recoil lug and there is a benefit to having clearance. If there is no clearance, it is hard to remove and install the metal in the stock... and an excellent possibility that the lug will not fully seat back in it's recess... especially if any bedding compound "shaves" off the tight fit and jams in the bottom...

I don't know why anyone would deliberately bed the complete lug(exceptions for certain models)... it is very easy to apply tape to the side, front and bottom and remove this after the bedding has cured...

I tape the bottom, sides and front of the lug on all actions (about 4 thou clearance) and rely on the stress free bedding of the action to do it's job...
 
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I wish

guntech said:
I don't know why anyone would deliberately bed the complete lug(exceptions for certain models)... it is very easy to apply tape to the side, front and bottom and remove this after the bedding has cured...

job...
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I would have done that when I bedded the Shehane stock to the 6BR.:( I thought it must be better to have a tight fit all around.:confused: Hah.......................... was I wrong.:eek: Just as Dennis says nothing but a PITA to get them apart. It will stay like that until I need to screw another tube on then I will relieve it. Do tape the sides, bottom, and front it is worth it.;)

Taped my Rem 700 .243 when I bedded it. That is the way to do it.


Calvin
 
If one is concerned about shaving material into the bottom of the lug mortise, he should also be concerned about shaving material into the area behind the lug if the action is flat bottomed. This especially if the sides of the action are vertical. Don't install the barreled action into the stock at an angle and you won't shave material.
If you bed a Sako action with clearance under the lug, then mount a dial guage on the barrel and check the forend for deflection, you will notice the forend will deflect when the screw is tightened. The cure for this is to (a) bed the barrel under the chamber or (b) bed the bottom of the lug. The same is true of a M54 Winchester, a Howa, a Sportco or any other action on which the screw goes into the lug and on which there is no action bedding surface forward of the lug. A mauser 98 does have some beddable surface forward of the lug so the bottom of the lug can be cleared. The same applies to the P14. The Ruger 77 has beddable surface forwad of the lug and I believe in clearing the bottom of the 77 lug.
Bedding techniques vary according to model, purpose, barrel weight and more. Regards, Bill.
 
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