Bedding a chassis?

[Turpentine21]

Guys my 6.5-06 is pretty accurate. It'll do half moa or less 3 shot groups at 100 easily and consistently from one day to the next as long as I hold up my end. With my physical limitations I find a chassis to be more comfortable to shoot. Particularly with the grip. Plus no bottom metal and the ability to use different mags is nice.
Lately I have been considering bedding the recoil lug/ front action screw area as well as the tang with Devcon. I could easily do the full length of the action as well but I don't think that would be necessary. I like to drill small holes in the areas that I bed to give the bedding compound a bit more bite. I skim bedded my 308 stock with bedding block with Devcon and it helped that rifle a lot. My gut feeling on the chassis is that it couldn't hurt and would have to provide a more solid, consistent fit with the action. I'm not worried about resale value of the chassis. I'd like to hear what y'all think.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Do it, full length bed that hog. POI shifts in chassis rifles is a thing since a chassis can't fit everything perfectly. You won't likely see any accuracy improvement but a repeatability improvement is likely.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Agree with above. It won't hurt anything and as pointed out, it will have more consistent and repeatable contact which should result in more repeatable results.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I like what you're saying. You might want to consider bedding the tang too.
Go for it and please let us know if the accuracy/precision gets a little better.

 

[Greyfox]

I have put together five different chassis rifles over the years(4-MPA, 1-MDT). All used for competition and LR(1000Yds), with heavy barrels. All were checked for contact at the tang and lug areas using carbon black. which turned out to be "nuts-on". Just out of curiosity, I tried a skim coat on one of them and found no difference in performance. All rifles were consistent sub-.5MOA performers. Unless I experienced performace issues or found contact area problems, I personally wouldn't bother….At least with the brands I've used. I think this aspect is one of the advantages of a quality chassis.

 

[ntsqd]

I would consider removing any coating that the chassis has on it in the areas where you plan to put the bedding material. Given that the chassis is likely to be made from aluminum I will suggest that Devcon's Aluminum Putty be used instead of the more commonly used Steel Putty.

 

[BrentM]

Guys my 6.5-06 is pretty accurate. It'll do half moa or less 3 shot groups at 100 easily and consistently from one day to the next as long as I hold up my end. With my physical limitations I find a chassis to be more comfortable to shoot. Particularly with the grip. Plus no bottom metal and the ability to use different mags is nice.
Lately I have been considering bedding the recoil lug/ front action screw area as well as the tang with Devcon. I could easily do the full length of the action as well but I don't think that would be necessary. I like to drill small holes in the areas that I bed to give the bedding compound a bit more bite. I skim bedded my 308 stock with bedding block with Devcon and it helped that rifle a lot. My gut feeling on the chassis is that it couldn't hurt and would have to provide a more solid, consistent fit with the action. I'm not worried about resale value of the chassis. I'd like to hear what y'all think.

I've done a couple and it is very common. Usually the notable differences are in the temp swings and consistency season to season vs noticeable accuracy improvements. Not all chassis are made the same though. Some really do benefit from bedding and others not so much. I will say that a proper bedding job is a mental thing for the shooter as that variable is gone and you know its gone.

 

[Turpentine21]

This chassis is just an inexpensive Oryx. I do not experience POI shifts from day to day or with temp changes. I don't experience shift as the barrel heats up but I don't do long strings and never shoot it hot.
I built this 6.5-06 for a long range depredation gun and for some informal long distance shooting out to 1300 yards. Oryx Chassis, Mac brothers long action, triggertech 2 stage trigger, and Criterion stainless heavy varmint profile barrel throated for longer bullets like the 140s and 147s. It shoots best with 147s and Lapua 30/06 brass.

I have just been thinking that bedding would give me more consistent contact and possibly help with vibration and harmonics. And maybe help a little in the accuracy department. Maybe give me a little more peace of mind.

One question. How would you go about bedding the recoil lug?
Thin layer of tape on sides?
Thin layer of tape front, rear, and sides or just on rear and sides. Or on front only.
Just curious as to what ya'll have found to work best. It's been so long since I bedded my two stocks with aluminum bedding blocks that I have forgotten.

 

[BrentM]

This chassis is just an inexpensive Oryx. I do not experience POI shifts from day to day or with temp changes. I don't experience shift as the barrel heats up but I don't do long strings and never shoot it hot.
I built this 6.5-06 for a long range depredation gun and for some informal long distance shooting out to 1300 yards. Oryx Chassis, Mac brothers long action, triggertech 2 stage trigger, and Criterion stainless heavy varmint profile barrel throated for longer bullets like the 140s and 147s. It shoots best with 147s and Lapua 30/06 brass.

I have just been thinking that bedding would give me more consistent contact and possibly help with vibration and harmonics. And maybe help a little in the accuracy department. Maybe give me a little more peace of mind.

One question. How would you go about bedding the recoil lug?
Thin layer of tape on sides?
Thin layer of tape front, rear, and sides or just on rear and sides. Or on front only.
Just curious as to what ya'll have found to work best. It's been so long since I bedded my two stocks with aluminum bedding blocks that I have forgotten.

It really depends on how tight you want that action in the chassis. If you want it tight..... You can go tapeless and let make dang sure the lug is well prep'd so it won't stick. If it is a taper or wedge lug, you can get away with it. Straight side lug I'd tape sides and bottom and front. The lug will now have a perfect at the rear for the recoil but more float for removal. I've done it both ways many times but only full bed on wedge lugs. I have also done 2" forward of the lug to support the chamber and had very good results.

 

[ShtrRdy]

It really depends on how tight you want that action in the chassis. If you want it tight..... You can go tapeless and let make dang sure the lug is well prep'd so it won't stick. If it is a taper or wedge lug, you can get away with it. Straight side lug I'd tape sides and bottom and front. The lug will now have a perfect at the rear for the recoil but more float for removal. I've done it both ways many times but only full bed on wedge lugs. I have also done 2" forward of the lug to support the chamber and had very good results.

I'm pretty new to our modern chassis systems and while installing a barreled action into one the other day I had to be careful to make sure the receiver was rotated just right so the action screw hole in the receiver was centered, side-to-side, in the chassis. When you bed an action into a chassis how do you ensure the action is centered?

 

[VinceMule]

Check the bedding on any stock with this method:

Stand the gun up on the butt.

Jam your index finger in between the barrel and tip of the forearm.

Now loosen and tighten the front guard screw. If you feel ANY movement with your index finger, the gun is out of bed.

Actions can/do warp during heat treatment. When milling the Bedding block, Setting up the Al block in the jig fixture during milling can create issues. Also, the CNC machines and jig fixtures wear.

Your finger can feel a couple of thousandths of movement.

Assume nothing.

 

[sable tireur]

Maybe give me a little more peace of mind.

It's very possible that this is the real answer to your question. Nothing wrong with peace of mind at all.

I don't see any potential for improved accuracy with your track record. Chassis can 'vibrate and produce some harmonic action' but the potential is small for your needs/wants.

I use the best chassis (plural) for ELR competition shooting and I do NOT bed any of them. Your findings may be different depending on the quality of the chassis you choose.

Enjoy your search!

 

[Turpentine21]

Got it. The lug is .244 and tapered. So I'll likely do front and bottom. As this is a Remage setup I likely won't do anything forward of the recoil lug. I'm sure I will swap out the barrel eventually

 

[VinceMule]

Sides also.