attempting my first bedding job

[Gutpile]

I traded for a 7mm STW that just doesnt shoot the way I want with the SPS plastic stock so I decided to attempt a do it yourself bedding job. I watched a bunch of vids and decided I could definately do this. I completely ground out the areas to be bedded with a dremel tool. probably went over board. I then packed theaction well and magazine well with modelers clay. on the action I covered any areas i didnt want bedding compound to contact with electricians tape. i then slathered neutral kiwi shoe polish over the entire action as a release agent. I then mixed the putty filled the stock and screwed everthing back together. now the wait begins. Either it releases and Im squared away, hopefully with an accuracy increase or I glued my action to my stock.

Wish me luck.

Stock all prepped with clay. All other areas will be filled with bedding compound.



Compound has been applied into all areas that will contact the action. and the barrelled action is set into place. Notice how some is pushing out? This tell that we should have good contact with the bedding compound and action for a firm bed.

[Widgeondeke]

LUCK. 

Hope it works out

[BULLBLASTER]

Good luck! Hope it.works. I been thinking of bedding my sendero but don't want to pay a smith to do it. Keep us posted.

[Encore 280]

Was it "free floating" before? I thought that was the way to go.

[wraithen]

Bedded action free floating barrel is. I believe he is talking about bedding the action and stiffening the stock?

[BOWHUNTER45]

  I sure hope not Gutpile 

[400out]

  good luck! I'm sure we will be postd on the end product 

[Gutpile]

Was it "free floating" before? I thought that was the way to go.

It was floated. Basically you dont want anything touching the barrel (floating) and you want the reciever to be perfectly seated to the stock so it has no movement at all (bedding). The SPS stock on this rifle was a terrible fit.

[wraithen]

Bet it was better than my gumby. Figure if I threw 250 bucks into my stevens it would be BA. Still have yet to want to do it though 

[iusmc2002]

What did you use to bed it?  Looks kinda like Devcon, but not sure.  That stuff rocks BTW.  I bedded a V-block with JB Weld and it shrunk my groups over 1 inch.  Made me happier.  I liked the JB because it set SOOOOO much slower and I was able to clean up any mistakes before it set all the way.  Stock looks/works good now. 

If you used enough Kiwi, it will come out no problem.  From the looks of the rest of the stock, you should have no problem with a mechanical lock     It will still be tough to get out, but use a rubber mallet or stick it in a freezer if you have to, when you're ready to pull it apart.

Good luck

[Gutpile]

Yep it was Devcon. I sure hope I used enough kiwi. I'm optimistic. Can't wait t pull this badboy apart

[high country]

You will be fine. Even if it went gunnybag you can warm up the action and it will release. Be careful, about 20 years ago I bedded my first rifle....now I can't leave anything untouched. Here is the rifle I bought last week after I spun a couple thou of crap work out of the way.....

 

Once you buy the tools that come after the dremel......it starts to get kinda spendy, but the rewards are sweet.

[Huntbear]

Gutpile,

Before you try and disassemble everything.  Take a small hammer or a 2x4 and just lightly tap your way around all the edges, and the places that the action was bedded.

It will come apart hard.  Did you put some layers of tape on the back side of the recoil lug to give it room to come free?   

Once you have it ready to come out, turn it upside down, and tap on the stock and the barrel, lightly till you see it begin to move.  Then slowly work it apart.

then get all the clay and stuff cleaned out, then start working down the excess that was squished out.  I will tell you this, if you used Devcon everywhere, you added some weight to that weapon.   

Normally I only use it on recoil bearing surfaces.  Then Accra Gel everywhere else.  If you have any questions pm me, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

High Country, what brand of lathe you have there?  How much did it set you back?  If you do not mind me asking.

[high country]

It's a precision matthews 1440bv with the full frequency drive. I did some extreme horse trading to get into it. I paid $3800 for it used, but still under warranty. With everything it came with, I saved about twice that.....lol. I did even better on my mill!

[Gutpile]

Thanks guys. IT CAME APART!!! I was scared though I started to panic a little because it was sure stiff. I did tape the lug up, sure glad of it.  Anyways I got her all cleaned up and Im real happy with it. Its not perfect but it worked. Sure hope the accuracy is better, we'll see I guess. now for my other rifles. 

heres the finished product. couple air bubbles but Im pretty happy.
 
 
 

[Huntbear]

Looks good there..  Now get er cleaned up, and slapped back together and see how she shoots! 

[BULLBLASTER]

When you bed the action do you only bed the areas where the bolts hold the rifle together? It looks like the back area by the safety then skip the magazine area? Then bed at he front bolt to a bit in front of the recoil lug?
Or is the entire thing bedded (around magazine and everywhere)?

[Huntbear]

Bullblaster,

I always bed the 1st inch of the barrel, and the recoill lug area, with Devcon.  I use Acra Gel to bed the rest of the action, so as to get as close a 1 to 1 fit as possible (a lot of this is for aesthetics) and then bed the rear tang area, to make that area stronger as well as give it a good tight fit.

All of my rifles, fit tight enough that I can take all the screws out, turn the whole thing upside down, and the barreled action will not move or fall out.

That all said, I did not answer part of your question.  No, the magazine area is usually not bedded, it simply is there to hold shells.   Just bed the action, it is the part that is critical.

[Huntbear]

Gutpile,

The air bubbles are from stirring to vigorously when mixing.  If you mix slower, keeping your mixing stick always in the compound, there will be a lot less bubbles to worry about.

[BULLBLASTER]

Thanks huntbear. Another question. Other than gluing gun together could this process make a gun shoot worse? I want to give this a shot but am scared to disassembly my gun and don't want to screw up.

[whacker1]

Thanks huntbear. Another question. Other than gluing gun together could this process make a gun shoot worse? I want to give this a shot but am scared to disassembly my gun and don't want to screw up.

Try it first with something you care less about, maybe a .22 long rifle or some less expensive make or a cheap aftermarket stock, like a ramline.  I am willing to bet you will find some things you will differently the second time around.  Like Gutpile was saying earlier that this was cheap synthetic stock to begin with.  This way you can be prepared to replace it with a good aftermarket stock if you don't like the results of your bedding activities. 

[Camp David]

Thanks huntbear. Another question. Other than gluing gun together could this process make a gun shoot worse? I want to give this a shot but am scared to disassembly my gun and don't want to screw up.

If you mess it up; worst case..... you get to buy a new gun 

[whacker1]

Thanks huntbear. Another question. Other than gluing gun together could this process make a gun shoot worse? I want to give this a shot but am scared to disassembly my gun and don't want to screw up.

If you mess it up; worst case..... you get to buy a new gun 

or a new stock?

[Huntbear]

The biggest thing to remember is LOTS AND LOTS of wax or release agent.  If you do not get release agent on the gun itself, you now have a one piece gun.  I know a guy that had to take an ax and chisel to get his gun out of a stock.. but then he forgot the release agent completely.

As long as you read, watch some youtube tutorials, and follow the instructions to the "T" you will be fine.

Where are you located at?  I am always willing to help or ?

[BULLBLASTER]

I'm in Spokane. Having to buy a new gun/stock or paying a smith to fix what I f up is my biggest fear... I like my.gun.
Sorry gutpile.. didn't meant to jack your thread. Been good at that lately.

[Gutpile]

No problem. LOL. I did my 30-06 ADL this morning. the second run goes a lot quicker. Just start with one you dont care about and give it a go. there are some great vids on youtube so watch them. I have several beddef rifles and they all shoot well under an inch so I figured bedding this 7 stw couldnt hurt unless i screwed up on the release agent and glued the stock to the reciever. Its accuracy (lack of) was giving me fits but I wanted to use the lightweight stock not the heavy wood one. I sure hope it does the trick. Anyways bedded rifles shoot way better I hope it holds true on the jobs I'm attempting.

[high country]

Be careful of too much release. I have seen guys get silly with it and after polishing it off it is not right. When you mix your material, work it on a thin wide surface and go back and forth....not in circles. Leaving it thin will afford you extra time also as it slows the reaction. You can add material to the action and the stock and it will help the air bubbles. In the event you should fail to get release on your action......don't panic.....and don't destroy a stock. Pull the scope, insert a copper bar or place an iron on top of the action and let it heat up. Devcon turns to goo and releases around *400

[BOWHUNTER45]

how did it trn out 

[high country]

If you are going to bed a bunch of rifles, go find a few 1/4-28 bolts about 3" long. Cut the heads off and use them to align the action and prevent goo in the threads. Next you need to try your hand at setting some pillars. It's pretty easy and a big help on cheap stocks.

[Gutpile]

how did it trn out 

good. i put pics up. the adl came out better. 

If you are going to bed a bunch of rifles, go find a few 1/4-28 bolts about 3" long. Cut the heads off and use them to align the action and prevent goo in the threads. Next you need to try your hand at setting some pillars. It's pretty easy and a big help on cheap stocks.

. When I get the nerve I'm going to do pillars. Baby steps to start though

[high country]

If you need me to spin you some....just ask.

[Gutpile]

If you need me to spin you some....just ask.

[wraithen]

What did you pay for the clay and bedding compound? I kind of want to try this on my stevens stock... Which I've nicknamed gumby, so if I ruin the stock... or ruin it more I should say, I won't be broken hearted about it. I'm all about learning the hard way and DIY projects that won't get me in financial trouble.

[high country]

Play-doh is a good option as it shrinks when it dries, plumbers putty works too. You can get it at lowes/hd for a couple bucks.

[Gutpile]

My daughter bought a huge brick of it for 15.00 at hobby .....lobby? Something like that. I paid $35.00 for the Devcon steel putty. The jar will do several rifles but thete are other products on Midway or Brownels. 3.00  for the kiwi neutral. You can pick up extra long action screws at a hardware store for cheap or order custom made screws for your rifle. That actually what I did as I wasnt quite sure exactly what I was doing so I didnt need to order those. I tried to find more Devcon in stores here in town but couldnt so I just ordered another so I can do my other rifles. I used too much on the first one.

They have steel, aluminum or titanium putty. A lot of guys use the titaniumand I was tempted but its $100 per jar and the steel gets good reviews. Not sure about the aluminum putty but its $50 per jar.

[Gutpile]

Id recommend watching all of the vids on youtube then ordering your stuff. While you wait Itll give you plenty of time to prep your stock. Trust me its really pretty easy, you just have to slow down and take your time.

[high country]

You can usually get devcon at the auto paint stores in town. I use Johnson's paste wax for release, a single $5 can lasts for about 18,000 rifles.

[wraithen]

Thanks for the advice! Why the different hardware? Is it due to the extra thickness after the bedding compound?