Another Savage, another bedding question, another newb...

[Forester]

I have been reading here for a few days, more pages of information than I can even think about and I have a question I can not seem to figure out.

I have a new Savage 12fv .308 I am working on a bit. If the gun shoots well I will likely find a better stock for it (this one is truly junk, but I knew that when I bought it). What I would like to do is try my hand at bedding it so that if I screw the pooch on the job I did not ruin a more expensive stock, and I can do a better job when I have a nicer stock.

I have read pages and pages about how to bed a rifle and a Savage specifically, but the thing I am unsure about is the magazine area. Should I tape/putty the holes in the magazine and bed the lower part of it too? If I bed all the way up it will be locked into the stock...is that just the price of doing business (new magazine if I replace the stock)? Or should I stay out of that whole middle area with bedding material?

Is there any chance someone could post a picture of a correctly bedded Savage factory stock I could take a look at?

I will shoot the gun some as soon as I have some loads put together to get the barrel broken in (this weekend probably). I am also planning on opening up the flimsy forearm to try and keep it from smacking the barrel in recoil.

P.S. About me...not at all new to reloading or shooting, and I have done some decent gunsmithing on my USPSA/IDPA race guns...but doing more with a rifle than reloading for it and shooting it is a new ballgame for me.

Thanks!

 

[James Jones]

You need to remove the mag box , its kind of a pain in the pee-pee but it'll make things alot easier , then fill the mag well it playdough , I use playdough over modeling clay cause its ALOT easier to clean up. if you have seen some pics of Savages bedded you will see that it looks like the rear tang is bedded , with a good job its not , it can look that way but their needs to be a little gap , two to three pieces of duck tape will be thick enough to relieve it. Also a couple wraps around the barrel nut will keep any tension off the barrel so that the action is fully supporting the action.
Biggest things are to use pleanty of masking tape and release agent , make a couple dry runs before you fill the stock with bedding compound.

 

[geargrinder]

Stay out of the mag well, but try to bed all the way around it.

Here is a link with some pictures from Savage shooters.

what to use for release agent

 

[Forester]

Thanks for the info...now those pics are exactly what I was looking for...Usually if I can see something I can figure out how to accomplish it. T

This gun is going to serve a few purposes for me, first it will be a deer rifle, though a little bit heavy one. I will also use it on a few varmits if it shoot the lighter bullets ok. Second it will be a way/reason for me to improve some of my rifle reloading know how and longer range shooting (500 yards is the limit at the only range I can get too often, I can shoot to 6-700 or a little more on occasion. Lastly it is to try my hand with some minor gunsmith type work on a rifle (like bedding, maybe a barrel at some point)

Is there any reason not to open that forearm up quite a bit and keep it away from the barrel? How about bedding a rod, or arrow shaft into the groove in the bottom to stiffen it up, just don't let it quite reach the recoil lug?

 

[MachV]

The main problem with trying to stiffen up the forearm is that it flexes at the recoil lug. I have had better luck moveing the sling stud back a couple of inches=just enough so the gun is still a little butt heavy.
This is a little drastic but works quite well for me

 

[Forester]

Well the bedding is in the stock now and the action sitting on it...so hopefully I don't have a bad surprise tomorrow afternoon when I try to separate the two. I wound up going with Acraglass since it was what I could find locally, and since ultimately I will probably be replacing this stock anyway, so super longevity is not a big deal.

I also opened the forearm up some with a piece of 1" dowel rod with sandpaper wrapped around it. I made a pretty good improvement I think, but I will likely open it up a little more still after the bedding job is done... assuming I don't have to destroy a stock to get my action back.

 

[LEFTYM77]

did you take any pic I would like to see

Well the bedding is in the stock now and the action sitting on it...so hopefully I don't have a bad surprise tomorrow afternoon when I try to separate the two. I wound up going with Acraglass since it was what I could find locally, and since ultimately I will probably be replacing this stock anyway, so super longevity is not a big deal.

I also opened the forearm up some with a piece of 1" dowel rod with sandpaper wrapped around it. I made a pretty good improvement I think, but I will likely open it up a little more still after the bedding job is done... assuming I don't have to destroy a stock to get my action back.