glass bedding an action

StevieK

StevieK

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Hamilton, ont
So I've read all the posts on here about how to's on bedding jobs, and have watched countless youtube videos, but now I have some specific questions for any of you that have bedded an action before. Firstly, I am mainly looking to bed the action of my model 70 because I sanded the barrel channel of the stock to try and free float the barrel, but as soon as I did this and created a bit of free space the stock has a natural warp/lean to one side. This not only causes an unslightly unsymmetrical look to the gun, but the stock noticably shifts and flexes back sometimes when in my hand. How far down the barrel channel do you think I should bed to eliminate this problem. I'm going to bed and then put a shim between stock and barrel to centre it and let it cure in that position. Should I go halfway, 3/4, all the way? I hope this makes sense to someone.
Secondly, I know that acraglas is what the gun stores sell and seems to be the most common, and devcon seems to be the toughest. But how does JB weld stand up to acraglas. i can get this at CT and it costs a lot less. is acraglass worth the extra $$?
Lastly, When Pillar bedding AND glass bedding is it better to do the pillars before or after the bedding job?
 
I wrap some electrical tape around the barrel about an inch from the forearm tip to center the barrel and glass the first 11/2 to 2 inches of barrel in front of the recoil lug. If the stock is warped you have to sand the channel enough so that the barrel doesn't touch , you can't use bedding to straighten a warped stock as this will put unbalanced pressure on the barrel and defeat the purpose of bedding. As for bedding compounds I have used Acraglass gel which has the advantage of being tintable to match the stock colour or close to it, JB weld has the advantage of being easily obtained , economical and has worked well on the couple of rifles I've used but my favourite is Devcon steel putty as it cures harder and is less runny than the other 2 products but is harder to mix ( not 50:50) and more expensive. As for pillars I've never used them so I'll refrain from commenting except to say most suppliers have instructions for installing them included. Good luck on your project.
 
I question whether I should respond to this because I'm not very experienced at bedding, but after months of research I did just bed my first rifle over christmas and popped it apart last night and it actually looks pretty good, I just hope it shoots now, we'll find out new years day, hopefully I didn't f### up. For the barrel channel, you said it flexes quite a bit, I think I would hog out quite a bit of wood and fill the entire thing up to the recoil lug first, making sure not to pour it too high as to touch the barrel. It will stiffin the whole thing up of course but i would do for peace of mind as well, permanently sealing the entire thing up from water getting in there and into the wood ( I live and hunt in a freakin rainforest so I'm pretty paranoid about this). As has already been mentioned I would be carefull about trying to straighten the stock, it could put stress on it afterwords. I didn't pillar mine as it is synthetic stock but it looks as though it is done before the main epoxy job, you will have to figure out whether to keep the pillar up high, in other words touching the action, or keep it low so the epoxy flows over it. I think I would keep it low just so I don't have to screw around getting the right height. After the barrel channel is filled and you are starting to grind everything down make sure you grind lots out of the epoxy from the barrel channel where you will bed the first inch or two of the barrel, you really want to key into it so lots of epoxy flows from the main bedding area into this area for a good mechanical lock, you don't want this area to be a flex point. Make sure you study your action carefully so you can relieve pinch points on the parallel vertical surfaces. I found Nathan Fosters videos on Terminal ballistics research to be the most detailed and helpfull.
Like I said take all this with a grain of salt as I did best I could with the knowledge I could find, if anybody has any polite critisism I'm happy to hear it and learn more as I have 2 more stocks to bed after this one. I'll let you know in a few days if all this worked and if the rifle shoots. Good luck
 
StevieK said:
So I've read all the posts on here about how to's on bedding jobs, and have watched countless youtube videos, but now I have some specific questions for any of you that have bedded an action before. Firstly, I am mainly looking to bed the action of my model 70 because I sanded the barrel channel of the stock to try and free float the barrel, but as soon as I did this and created a bit of free space the stock has a natural warp/lean to one side. This not only causes an unslightly unsymmetrical look to the gun, but the stock noticably shifts and flexes back sometimes when in my hand. How far down the barrel channel do you think I should bed to eliminate this problem. I'm going to bed and then put a shim between stock and barrel to centre it and let it cure in that position. Should I go halfway, 3/4, all the way? I hope this makes sense to someone.
Secondly, I know that acraglas is what the gun stores sell and seems to be the most common, and devcon seems to be the toughest. But how does JB weld stand up to acraglas. i can get this at CT and it costs a lot less. is acraglass worth the extra $$?
Lastly, When Pillar bedding AND glass bedding is it better to do the pillars before or after the bedding job?
Click to expand...

Let me get this right....you are going to bed the action...then place a shim between the barrel and stock to center the barrel?? DONT do that.you are placing torque and pressure on the barrel. Do this instead..if you are worried about a unsightly gap between the stock and barrel,simply sand out the barrel channel. Then on the bottom of the barrel apply masking tape,2 pieces butted up side by side for the length of the barrel. Apply another layer to give you a free float area. Cover the tape with release agent and bed the action and barrel all in one shot. Take it apart,take the tape off and you have a bedded action with a nice even free float on both sides of the barrel...and no pressure either!!
 
icehunter121 said:
Let me get this right....you are going to bed the action...then place a shim between the barrel and stock to center the barrel?? DONT do that.you are placing torque and pressure on the barrel. Do this instead..if you are worried about a unsightly gap between the stock and barrel,simply sand out the barrel channel. Then on the bottom of the barrel apply masking tape,2 pieces butted up side by side for the length of the barrel. Apply another layer to give you a free float area. Cover the tape with release agent and bed the action and barrel all in one shot. Take it apart,take the tape off and you have a bedded action with a nice even free float on both sides of the barrel...and no pressure either!!
Click to expand...


Yes you're right...After I had typed out my idea and thought about it I realized the technical flaws in it and realized that centering the barrel channel would be better served by this approach
 
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