Taping a Rem. recoil lug before bedding...thoughts??

icehunter121

icehunter121

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Got a couple of Rem 700 to bed in the coming weeks. I been thinking about taping the front and sides of the recoil lug to ease the disassembly. I never have yet in over 60 of them I have done,but, these are stainless rifles and I dont want to mark the finish. Usually I lay down a piece of leather on the turned over rifle,then lay a piece of 1x1 hardwood on that and give it a crack with a hammer ( blued barrel models). Knocks them loose real fast but you still have to do the wiggle back and forth thing to get them apart. Putting them back together after cleanup of course you have to squeeze the stock and action together to get them seated. Was thinking taping them might make life easier. Has anyone noticed any accuracy difference doing this versus not taping them? An these are synthetic stocks so wondering about the strength in the using my old fashioned method!!

Suggestions??
 
I tape the front, sides and bottom with one layer of masking tape... I have for many, many, many years... I recommend everyone do that... it makes disassembly and assembly so much easier... I start with 1 inch tape and cut a radius out so it matches the bottom of the barrel... gets the tape a bit higher on the sides that way...

it in no way is harmful to accuracy, in fact I think it is a more accurate way as the lug slides in and out without scraping and forcing debris into the recess...
 
guntech said:
I tape the front, sides and bottom with one layer of masking tape... I have for many, many, many years... I recommend everyone do that... it makes disassembly and assembly so much easier... I start with 1 inch tape and cut a radius out so it matches the bottom of the barrel... gets the tape a bit higher on the sides that way...

it in no way is harmful to accuracy, in fact I think it is a more accurate way as the lug slides in and out without scraping and forcing debris into the recess...
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by the barrel radius cutout. I always bed the first inch of barrel also and have always had good luck with it and free float the rest. I never leave any barrel pressure at the end of the stock. Oh and sayyyyy....little while back someone had mentioned some recoil pad spacers and you said you have some,still got em?
 
Anyone tried waxing the metal instead of tape? did this on my rem 600 in 222 and it came out well, wasnt too hard to get the wax off again. Its snug as to say but not wicked to get appart and together.
 
Cut the tape on the front of the lug so that it matches the radius of the receiver.
You can still set the first inch or so of the barrel in compound.
 
If you tape front and sides you might as well not bed. What is the reason of bedding if it is not bedded. The bottom of the lug can be taped or area relieved after bedding to avoid compression of dirt or grease etc when fitting. If one adds tapes to the sides the rifle can twist back and forth under torsion, tape the front and the rifle can bounce back and forth only relying on the friction of your action screws.
All remmy type recoil lugs we bed only have tape on bottom of the lug, we use proper release agent and oven cure the bedding. I recon we have done easily 100 like that. Hunting, tactical and FTR rifles.
edi
 
hammering hank said:
Anyone tried waxing the metal instead of tape? did this on my rem 600 in 222 and it came out well, wasnt too hard to get the wax off again. Its snug as to say but not wicked to get appart and together.
Click to expand...

You still have to wax the tape, if you want it to come out with the receiver.

EJG, I don't tape either. I just use release agent such as paste wax or Kiwi shoe polish. I don't mind the receiver being tight around the recoil lug. Not only that, it's not difficult to relieve the recesses if it's necessary.

Mind you, I still remember BR shooters that never used release agents at all and just permanently bedded their actions into their stocks. Never saw any realistic benefit to that either.
 
Epoxy does not bond to packing tape (well, it does, just not well enough to glue anything) - I generally use that ... a couple of layers should be good for your recoil lug.
 
icehunter121 said:
Got a couple of Rem 700 to bed in the coming weeks. I been thinking about taping the front and sides of the recoil lug to ease the disassembly. I never have yet in over 60 of them I have done,but, these are stainless rifles and I dont want to mark the finish. Usually I lay down a piece of leather on the turned over rifle,then lay a piece of 1x1 hardwood on that and give it a crack with a hammer ( blued barrel models). Knocks them loose real fast but you still have to do the wiggle back and forth thing to get them apart. Putting them back together after cleanup of course you have to squeeze the stock and action together to get them seated. Was thinking taping them might make life easier. Has anyone noticed any accuracy difference doing this versus not taping them? An these are synthetic stocks so wondering about the strength in the using my old fashioned method!!
Suggestions??
Click to expand...


Can not tell you the where or the why, but I have never tried any other way except to put layer of tape on sides, front and bottom of all recoil lugs. I do not think that thing's job is to do anything except transfer recoil force to the stock. Side tilt or wiggle of the action within the stock is not what that recoil lug is for. Tape layer makes initial and subsequent removal and replacement much easier - I almost always have a glob of bedding under the chamber area of the barrel. Sometimes goes back to the bedding material around the lug area, sometimes doesn't. As I said, been much too long to remember "why" - just the way I have and continue to do it. I rely on a section of bedding behind the recoil lug to hold the action "straight" within the stock. Look at the front action screw - about an equal amount of bedding ahead of and behind that screw, so it has something even to be pulled down against, without bending the receiver or the receiver-to-barrel connection. I have gone completely away from using action screws when bedding - I install those headless stock maker screws - often with layers of tape to be snug within the rear pillar and then slide down into position - usually a couple wraps with surgical tubing or electrician's vinyl tape to hold it in place while the epoxy sets up.

Edit - almost all that I have done are Mausers, Win Model 70, P14 and M1917 - have only done two "round" receivers - a Rem 788 and a Schultz and Larsen Model 61. Did the same for all...
 
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EJG said:
If you tape front and sides you might as well not bed. What is the reason of bedding if it is not bedded. The bottom of the lug can be taped or area relieved after bedding to avoid compression of dirt or grease etc when fitting. If one adds tapes to the sides the rifle can twist back and forth under torsion, tape the front and the rifle can bounce back and forth only relying on the friction of your action screws.
All remmy type recoil lugs we bed only have tape on bottom of the lug, we use proper release agent and oven cure the bedding. I recon we have done easily 100 like that. Hunting, tactical and FTR rifles.
edi
Click to expand...

No one has ever demonstrated any benefit to bedding all around a 700 recoil lug... they theorize that it may be better... in reality it is a pain in the ass for the owner when removing and installing the stock. I also make sure the action screws have clearance in the holes.

I gave up bedding the whole lug long ago and never looked back. Probably done a few thousand this way since 1968 when I first got into glass bedding for accuracy.

The vast majority today, the barrel is totally floated... and the action bedded stress free and left overnight until cured.
 
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I have always taped the front, sides, and bottom. At one time, I tried bedding the sides, on Remingtons, to prevent torquing as the rifle was fired. It worked OK but didn't work any better, for sure. I did find, on those which were bedded tight on the sides of the lug, it took a shot or two, after disassembly and reassembly, for the rifle to settle down. Some builders of Hunter BR rifles would bed with a skim coat after the initial bedding. The rifle was not disassembled after this so the rifle was practically a glue-in. Whether or not this technique persists today, I can't say. I'm out of touch. I bed my own Remingtons so that, when the screws are removed, the barreled action can be dumped out of the stock.
 
I draft/taper the front face & sides of a 3/16" thick tool steel recoil lug.

I fit .010" thick 4" wide pipe wrap tape(wide/thick electrical tape) up to the lug past the fore end tip of the stock to float the Bbl.

The whole apparatus gets 3 coats of release agent(buytal rubber/alcohol) when glued in w/ marine tex.

4" long 1/4"-28tpi studs are used to insert/align the pillars & bottom metal & then removed to insert T handle bedding screws.

6-8hrs later depending on color additive the Bbl'd action is removed by a slight bump on the Bbl.

Excess resin is cleaned/cut off after the action is removed from the stock.

The drafted lug slips back into its bedding w/o scraping any material.

My technique for 35+ years.
 
I use black electrical tape.
Two layers front of lug
1 layer sides and bottom.
Release agent only to backside ....and anywhere else I don't want it stuck.

I find the electrical tape does not stick to bedding.

This is how I was shown by a very good gunsmith I know. It's worked very well for me.
 
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