stock bedding won't release

boltonscouter

boltonscouter

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Hi All:
Well I recently picked up a beautiful Parker Hale in 270 Win built on a Mauser 98 action. Now the thing of it is that the previous owner got it off some old guy years ago that was a gifted old world style stock maker so it's in a to die for heavily hand checkered custom stock that has been bedded to the action. The barrel is free floated as I can run a $5 bill down & around no problem. When I undo the action screws it doesn't budge. From a shooting perspective I suppose this is a good thing but from a maintenance perspective or if I want to put a beater stock on for hunting it's not happening.

I thought about maybe backing off the action screws and tapping them with a hammer to loosen things up but then decided that might not be best. I should also mention that it appears the custom stock has no cross bolt the way most Mauser's do so it must be fully bedded around the recoil lug. Might make getting it apart a B!TCH.

So to the collective wisdom of CGN .......... any ideas?
 
Try freezing the action and stock in a chest freezer overnight and then give the action a wack with a rubber mallet.
Good luck!
 
twistedbrilliance is giving you some very good advice. If the rifle is accurate after being properly cleaned then leave it alone. Back in the day when glass bedding first became popular release agent often wasn't used. I can remember a similar stock maker back in the early sixties, who was also a bench rest shooter telling me his glass bedding technique was to cut grooves in the stock out past the receiver and fill them with glass as well as all around the receiver. He always bedded the actions without release agent for his personal rifles. He did this because he assumed it created more rigidity and eliminated any chance of the receiver moving in the bedding. He also felt it reduced the importance of torqueing the action screws to precise settings and proved this by shooting the rifles without trigger guards or mags. He was right, the receivers never budged and the rifles were as accurate as they could be with the available bullets of the day.

You might be able to heat up the receiver and stock by finding some method to get around 350F degrees all around the receiver and bedded area of the stock. This might be enough to soften the bedding compound but not enough to ruin the temper or cause discoloration of the stock.

The only solution available back in the day was to cut the stock away from the receiver.

I bought several sixties era bench rest rifles from a fellow that followed this practice. When the rifles wear was to the point the barrels needed to be replace he just bought a new action and utilized his old bolt. Didn't even try to salvage the trigger. In those days all of the commercial firearms manufacturers would sell receivers, bolts and other components separately. I see Remington actions are available again.

To make a long story short, no matter what I did including heat and even boiling water wouldn't remove the receivers from their beds. All of the stocks back then were made of very straight/dense/expensive hard woods. Highly figured stocks don't make good bench rest rifles shoot well. I couldn't save any of them. A friend of mine used the butts to make up butts for his pump shotguns.

Even then, getting the glass off the metal was a huge chore. I declined on another batch he offered me a month later that he picked up from one of his competitors.

I have a sportered Pattern 17 that was bedded similarly to your rifle. It has been in the bed since the late fifties. It still shoots very well. Unlike your rifle this one is bedded all the way to the end of its 20 inch muzzle, which has been capped with horn. Beautiful rifle. The trigger guard/mag well are removable. That is a good thing because I can keep everything clean that needs t be cleaned. The trigger breaks at a crisp 2+ pounds cleanly. The stock grain is as straight as can be but very dense Circassian Walnut. It must have been very well cured because the rifle is consistently accurate no matter what the weather.

As mentione, if the rifle is behaving itself do yourself a big favor and leave it alone.
 
First I'd like to thank everyone for their input ..... MUCH appreciated! I've also had a few helpful PM's so I'm quite pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming support from the CGN community. I have decided doing nothing for now is best so will leave it be.

Yes it has a detachable magazine, PH marked for 30/06 or 270.

I can see how bedding as described with notches etc would really grab. Kind of like how I do with the tang of a knife when using epoxy etc............. this would be problematic & as suggested would eventually lead to destruction of the stock.

Now since you asked, without any further adieu (I think it's beauty!) .........











 
Here's a few showing the bedding compound oozing out around the barrel near the receiver and inside the mag well. I think I'll just leave everything alone! Look at that checkering !!!







 
Drop the mag out. Take and push the pin out that holds the mag release lever,,,,,there is a bolt underneath it that you cant see with it in!!!!
 
I'm sort of thinking that the guy that did the bedding isn't the same guy that carved and checkered that stock. That sort of craftsman would not have left the oozed out bedding all lumpy like that and he would have taken the time to ease the margins to let the action just barely slip out short of using a hammer.
 
icehunter121 said:
Drop the mag out. Take and push the pin out that holds the mag release lever,,,,,there is a bolt underneath it that you cant see with it in!!!!
Click to expand...

If you mean the pin that goes cross ways through the trigger guard ....... that's pretty small! Don't think I have a punch that small but I do think I see where you're talking about and another screw head? Have to get a flashlight and maybe dull a small nail or make a tiny punch somehow & have a look see! Thanks!
 
BCRider said:
I'm sort of thinking that the guy that did the bedding isn't the same guy that carved and checkered that stock. That sort of craftsman would not have left the oozed out bedding all lumpy like that and he would have taken the time to ease the margins to let the action just barely slip out short of using a hammer.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmm ........ maybe? Who knows?
 
boltonscouter said:
If you mean the pin that goes cross ways through the trigger guard ....... that's pretty small! Don't think I have a punch that small but I do think I see where you're talking about and another screw head? Have to get a flashlight and maybe dull a small nail or make a tiny punch somehow & have a look see! Thanks!
Click to expand...

That's the one. I just finished up working on 2 of those rifles. It wont be under much pressure. Just make sure that when you take the mag release out do it slow,there is a small spring behind it that fits in a hole in the trigger guard. They is real simple!!
 
Just as I suspected...you have a "clip release" model. You need to remove the mag latch by drifting the pin left to right. It will expose a hole that captures an allen head screw. Remove this screw then the rear tang screw and the trigger guard will drop out. Remove the front tang screw and tap the action gingerly. It should be free to remove from the stock. I've done many, many of these. Ron
 
icehunter121 said:
Drop the mag out. Take and push the pin out that holds the mag release lever,,,,,there is a bolt underneath it that you cant see with it in!!!!
Click to expand...

Exactly... he removed two of the action screws, leaving the third action screw tight... very hard to get it apart that way...
 
Glad I didn't try to force anything earlier! Made a tiny punch. drifted out the pin and unscrewed ALL THREE bolts & the action wiggled out of the stock nice & clean!!!

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!

On another note ...... I'm a little surprised to see an Allen screw used in a PH of what I assume is probably late 60's early 70's vintage? Didn't realize they used them back then!
 
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Use a press or milling machine with vice, without any chuck. Place rifle across vice so the action fits between jaws loosely and stock rest on top of jaws. Now put a steel 4" X 3/16 " rod through the forward screw hole and bring the press down to push the rod down slowly push the action out of stock.
 
Glad I stumbled in here, I want to refinish my PH 1200C stock this year and that third screw would have stumped me as well.

boltonscouter - that is a nice PH you have there. You can look up the serial number and find the manufacturing date, I would offer to send you the pdfs I once had, but they were lost on my last computer.
 
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