Devcon (steel) bedding a wood stock

Well here is my 1st attempt. Came out great. I did in in 3 steps, I didn't feel confident enough to do it all in 1 shot. So I used devcon to glue the pillars into the stock. then did the front bedding first and the rear after.

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I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading this post ! Very well done.
Been using Devcon for ages . :) I too use Paste wax , great stuff !
Instead of surgical tube or bike tire tube , I use stretchy band stuff from a physiotherapist .
They have it in rolls & cut lengths to do your exercises. Color coded for varying degrees of resistance.
I prefer Green , I use this for holding many odd shapes in place while bonding ,fixing, ect.
Very cheep (most often free for a few ft. ) and Very versatile.
Ed
 
Thread resurrection... someone recommended 5 minute epoxy. Not really a good idea. Pot life and working time are too short, and most 5 minute epoxies absorb moisture over time and deteriorate.

The Devcon epoxy line are slow curing, give you lots of working time so you don’t need to rush (and possibly mess something up) while you get the assembly just right.

The Devcon bedding jobs on my rifles are more than 20 years old and still tight... you want the job to last for a long time, be patient and use better materials
 
Is it really necessary to put a layer of tape on the outer edge of the recoil lug? I would be inclined to not do this in order to get the highest fit possible.
 
Regarding Devcon - it has a "expiry date" on the package - they are not kidding!!! Buying a big tub of it to use over the years is not a good plan - the resin goes nearly hockey puck rubber hard over time. Much better to buy smaller quantity, even though might be more $ per ounce. No savings when have to throw 75% of a one pound tub in garbage because it has set up hard and no longer useable!!
 
"tightest fit" - don't think that is what you are after - you want a "return to battery" fit - metal always coming back to same seating in the stock. Lots of slo-mo videos on Internet showing the flexing going on through the receiver as the thing is fired. "stress free" - do not get that by using action screws to pull receiver into stock - use headless aligning screws for alignment, then surgical tubing wrapped around stock and receiver to hold in place while epoxy is setting up. May have been previously mentioned, but Nathan Forster has credible stuff on Internet and in his books on epoxy bedding techniques for various styles / designs of actions.
 
Years ago the info I found said, one layer of painter's tape on each side of the lug, two layers on the muzzle side and on action side only apply shoe polish (release agent).
The initial removal was tight, getting the tape out made it easier, and if the rest of the bedding was done correctly, you will have no room for movement to the rear of the lug.
This process has worked like a charm fo me.
 
I ended up using no tape on the recoil lug. I had no issues, and am pleased with the tight fit. Now, to find the time to actually test the rifle.
 
If your barreled action gets stuck in the stock because it is too tight or the wrong release agent was used, just toss the whole rifle into a freezer. Once frozen it will pop apart. Thats a mid-1980's tip from B.C. gunsmith Nobby Uno.
 
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Brownells video on how they do it
[video=youtube;36_G9geQTq8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36_G9geQTq8[/video]
 
Over the last 55 years, I have bedded rifles with just about every epoxy you can buy. Devcon plastic steel was one. The only drawback to it is that it is degraded by Hoppes #9. So is Acraglas gel. Acraglas liquid is not. Applying compound to both the stock and the receiver is a good way to eliminate potential voids in the bedding.
Hoppes degradation notwithstanding, I liked Devcon Plastic steel just fine. I also really liked Devcon Clear. I mixed this with a fiberglass floc; just like Acraglas.
 
Is it really necessary to put a layer of tape on the outer edge of the recoil lug? I would be inclined to not do this in order to get the highest fit possible.
I always taped the front, sides and the bottom of the recoil lug for clearance after bedding.
This insures easy removal and installation of the barreled action.
This clearance in no way harms accuracy.
No clearance may detrimentally affect accuracy.
 
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