How often do you remove your rifle stock?

AB.boy

AB.boy

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Hello,

I am kinda new to the Precision Rifle scene and I recently purchased a REM LTR and was wondering how often I should remove the stock for a thorough cleaning of the entire rifle. Naturally if I had out in bad weather or real dirty conditions I think it would be warrented, but since 95% of my shooting is at the range in good weather I wanted to get some opinons. I figure its something you wouldn't want to do really often as I thought anytime you remove your stock you would have to re-zero. I even read in one publication that stock removal and replacing on a precision/sniper rifle should only be done by a qualified smith or armourer. That seems a little extreme to me.

Also the manual indicates the screws should be torqued to a specific measure. Do all of you precision shooters have torque handles to put your stocks back on?

Any opinions, tricks and tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I remove my stocks on all my hunting guns once a year, unless I get them very wet, you will find crut pine needs etc I clean with Hoppes and put coat of remington oil on under action, I torque front screw at 45 inch pounds on my lighter calibers .223 etc and on my 7mmwsm at about 50 in pounds on back screw mutch less about 25to 35 in pounds.
With out torque front screw good and solid twist on screwdriver rear just firm
Good Luck
 
A rifle with a properly bedded stock can be removed as often as the owner wants with NO LOSS OF ZERO (at least within 1" at 100yds) and can be reassembled with just a screwdriver - no torque wrench need apply.

Properly bedded rifles do not include ANY alum chassis stocks!

There is lots of discussion on bedding in this forum so enjoy the reading.

Jerry
 
Ditto what Jerry say's I have taken my LTR out of the stock(glass bedded) a few times and have been within a click or two of zero but I do use a torque wrench
 
I bow to your guys superior experience, but I'm curious why taking the stock off should change zero. I would think zero only depends on the relationship between the receiver/barrel and the scope, and that the stock is just something that lets the shooter point the receiver/barrel.
 
If the bedding surface is uneven, higher torque values on one screw or another will change the pressure on the receiver and barrel, resulting in changes in POI. If the bedding is done properly, the bearing surface of the receiver contacts evenly along it's entire length and the barrel, beyond the chamber, is free floating so there is no pressure exerted on it, thus, within reason, there is no appreciable change in POI if the action screws are not torqued evenly.
 
The concept of the alum chassis was that the action could be dropped in, screws tightened up, and all was well. Problem is that generous inletting and variance in action sizing, causes gaps and misalignments. Essentially, the chassis does little to hold the action in place thus all the recoil stress is placed on the screws. Some chassis are so out of whack, the recoil lug doesn't touch the rear of the stock mortise.

Upon firing, the vibration causes the screws to move and loosen. This causes all manner of accuracy inconsistency. It also allows the action to roll within the stock causing more canting errors and changes in POI.

Worse part, the slop in the chassis can cause the actions to be bent when the screws are tightened up. This really screws with your accuracy and possibly feeding/bolt function.

If the chassis was sized to be an exact fit to one particular action, sure, it works. Just look at the LR unlimited BR alum stocks - amazing. Unfortunately, the inletting that comes with ALL alum chassis aftermarket stocks has so much slop (drop in fit), it doesn't really count as inletting. Horrid.

The solution is to skim or bed the action into that stock. Bedded so that the action is flat and stress free with the barrel floating. When done properly, the action screws do not need to be he man'ed tight to hold things together. Just hand tight is all that is required and they will not loosen with use.

I want the inletting to be an interference fit around the action AND recoil lug (all sides). Done this way, the action 'returns to battery' each time the parts are removed thus POI is retained. Doesn't take much slop to cause major change in POI and tuning.

Hope this clears things up.

Jerry
 
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