Bell and Carlson a2 tactical fit issue on howa 1500 short action question

[canuck75]

Hi all,

I just purchased a bell and Carlson tactical medalist a2 short action stock for my howa 1500 in .223. Upon installing it looks crooked. Does it matter? It is very tightly free floated, and the barrel channel is a little uneven. I have not shot it yet.

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Thanks for any advice.

 

[Trinimon]

Bed the action but when you do, wrap several layers of tape around the barrel to the diameter of the channel in the stock. When it cures, your barrel will be centered and nicely floated.

 

[mnr]

I would mark the bottom of the action with something and see how it is contacting the stock (cheap bright lipstick is what I used for this).

I just put a Howa 1500 into a B&C Medalist and there were a few high spots in the stock I had to grind down with my dremel that were making the action sit unevenly. I checked this with a combination of the lipstick, and watching/feeling how the action moved as the action screws were tightened. I ground away high spots until I saw no pink from the lipstick and the action stopped moving when the screws were tightened in either order. This might fix your issues, or let you know if you have a warranty issue with the stock (action screws not straight in aligment, etc). Mine also had pressure pads near the front of the barrel that I removed.

Like the previous poster recommended bedding might fix your issues - as long as you can center the barrel without causing a bunch of stress from the action screws trying to pull everything back into misalignment this might be a valid option. I wouldn't bed it until you can verify there are no high points first though, as mine definitely needed some finishing work.

I just bedded mine (in 375 Ruger) with Devcon and it was super easy. Would definitely recommend it, mine shoots amazing now.