bearhunter: I won't be using this rifle very much, but I appreciate the heads up on the bedding etc. The stock isn't exactly a work of art, but neither am I.
kjohn, this is just a heads up.
I don't know what you call "very much"
I had one that I installed a steel recoil shoulder into and didn't bed it in place. Just screwed it down.
That stock split while sitting in the safe between November and early March.
IMHO, it's the luck of the draw.
As such, the very first things I did, even to new in box rifles was to relieve the barrel channels and glass bed the actions into the stock.
I also made up a batch of thin, clear bedding resin to spread thinly on the bottom of the barrel channel and around the trigger guard area.
I now do this with most wooden stocks, even laminates. Saves all sorts of non needed issues later, while out in the field, where it's least needed.
I've had similar issues with BSA rifles and learned my lesson there.
At least BSA saw there was a problem with their stocks cracking from recoil, etc and they installed a tapered dowel, just in front of the trigger. Problem being, they used a non waterproof glue and the dowel would dry and slip out, usually unnoticed, and lost.
