I never posed my bedding job that I did this past weekend, so here it is...
A member sent me a stock a while back for my T44 build. He told me the ferrule was out of alignment straight from McMillan. It was! I measured a 5˚ difference between the ferrule and the heel of the receiver.
I used a heat gun to break down the glue that held the old ferrule on and destroyed it getting it off. I bought a new NM ferrule and filed the fiberglass on the left side of the stock where the ferrule slips over until it was in agreement with the right side. I also filed some from around the rest of the area until the new ferrule would slip on without distortion. I kept at it until it would slip on easily without flopping around and until the top of the ferrule was in agreement with the heel of the receiver.
Heel...
Ferrule...
It's now glued in place and aligned.
If you have an out of level ferrule, it can be reworked in less than 20 minutes with a hand file and some sandpaper. Then glue a new ferrule in place or the original, if you managed not to destroy it getting it off.
I had an idea a while ago and I was also PM'd by someone a while ago as well about using JB weld to make a barrel fulcrum device to use when bedding. I made one last week and wanted to show anyone who is curious what I did. After I posed this on the M14 forum others chimed in and said they do the same thing. One member has an assortment of JB fulcrums labeled with stock type and barrel type as well as which side is front and back.
First I layered the stock with tape so I wouldn't have a permanent block in my stock. Then I put a couple of blobs of clay between the gas cylinder and the operating rod guide. I set the action down into the stock and let the barrel smash the clay into shape.
Clay mashed into shape of the barrel contour...
After I took that picture, I cut the surfaces of the clay straight down to make a perfectly vertical wall where the epoxy will be. Then I filled the area with JB weld until it was full. I de-greased the barrel and sprayed some release agent on the exposed surface of the barrel.Then I set the action down into the stock and made sure my front band was contacting the stock ferrule. I also locked the trigger group into the receiver to ensure that the action was centered in the stock. So my receiver is centered, my ferrule is centered and the JB weld is curing...
24 hours later....
I let this block cure for a few days, then I tested the fulcrum by adding some steel shim stock to bring the heel off the action about 1/4", then clamped it overnight to make sure that the action returned to the same height as before. The block showed no sign of compression, I left it in place until my bedding job was done.
I got the McMillan stock all routed and removed most of the old stuff (Bisonite, maybe?). I broke out the bedding supplies and the Marine-Tex and went to town!
Shims under the bedding fulcrum I made out of JB Weld. This gave me about 1/4" of heel suspension off the stock when not compressed.
A paint job, or hydro-dip is in order! I cleaned up most of the excess with rags and acetone while the epoxy was still soft.
Most of the bedding came out great but the upper edges of the forward part of the receiver came off when I knocked out the receiver. The legs and vertical surfaces came out great! The heel was great as well. About 1/3rd of the upper front bedding came off. I only let the epoxy set for 8 hours this time. I may not have roughened the surfaces where the epoxy came off.
At this time, the bedding is probably good enough to be used. If I was doing this for someone else, I'd redo a skim bedding job immediately and all would be done.
I'd say about 90% of the bedding was useful. Draw pressure was VERY firm! 5-fingered man-handshake kind of firm! Thanks for reading!
Tony.
A member sent me a stock a while back for my T44 build. He told me the ferrule was out of alignment straight from McMillan. It was! I measured a 5˚ difference between the ferrule and the heel of the receiver.
I used a heat gun to break down the glue that held the old ferrule on and destroyed it getting it off. I bought a new NM ferrule and filed the fiberglass on the left side of the stock where the ferrule slips over until it was in agreement with the right side. I also filed some from around the rest of the area until the new ferrule would slip on without distortion. I kept at it until it would slip on easily without flopping around and until the top of the ferrule was in agreement with the heel of the receiver.
Heel...
Ferrule...
It's now glued in place and aligned.
If you have an out of level ferrule, it can be reworked in less than 20 minutes with a hand file and some sandpaper. Then glue a new ferrule in place or the original, if you managed not to destroy it getting it off.
I had an idea a while ago and I was also PM'd by someone a while ago as well about using JB weld to make a barrel fulcrum device to use when bedding. I made one last week and wanted to show anyone who is curious what I did. After I posed this on the M14 forum others chimed in and said they do the same thing. One member has an assortment of JB fulcrums labeled with stock type and barrel type as well as which side is front and back.
First I layered the stock with tape so I wouldn't have a permanent block in my stock. Then I put a couple of blobs of clay between the gas cylinder and the operating rod guide. I set the action down into the stock and let the barrel smash the clay into shape.
Clay mashed into shape of the barrel contour...
After I took that picture, I cut the surfaces of the clay straight down to make a perfectly vertical wall where the epoxy will be. Then I filled the area with JB weld until it was full. I de-greased the barrel and sprayed some release agent on the exposed surface of the barrel.Then I set the action down into the stock and made sure my front band was contacting the stock ferrule. I also locked the trigger group into the receiver to ensure that the action was centered in the stock. So my receiver is centered, my ferrule is centered and the JB weld is curing...
24 hours later....
I let this block cure for a few days, then I tested the fulcrum by adding some steel shim stock to bring the heel off the action about 1/4", then clamped it overnight to make sure that the action returned to the same height as before. The block showed no sign of compression, I left it in place until my bedding job was done.
I got the McMillan stock all routed and removed most of the old stuff (Bisonite, maybe?). I broke out the bedding supplies and the Marine-Tex and went to town!
Shims under the bedding fulcrum I made out of JB Weld. This gave me about 1/4" of heel suspension off the stock when not compressed.
A paint job, or hydro-dip is in order! I cleaned up most of the excess with rags and acetone while the epoxy was still soft.
Most of the bedding came out great but the upper edges of the forward part of the receiver came off when I knocked out the receiver. The legs and vertical surfaces came out great! The heel was great as well. About 1/3rd of the upper front bedding came off. I only let the epoxy set for 8 hours this time. I may not have roughened the surfaces where the epoxy came off.
At this time, the bedding is probably good enough to be used. If I was doing this for someone else, I'd redo a skim bedding job immediately and all would be done.
I'd say about 90% of the bedding was useful. Draw pressure was VERY firm! 5-fingered man-handshake kind of firm! Thanks for reading!
Tony.
