Bedding Question

[earlcurtis67]

I just bedded the lug on my remmy, ill try to post some pics tomorrow after noon. I used my bolts to snug down the action, the only problem I had was I did not put in enough epoxy the first go round, I had to remove it and mix up some more. be patient and think ahead and you'll do fine

 

[Dr. Vette]

Dr. Vette, thanks for the links. I think I got a good grasp on this deal. I am ready to rock. I think I am just gonna do the lug on my first one to just get my feet wet and get used to handling the material and whatnot. Then I will dive in to a full bed after that.

Doing "just the lug" isn't that much less work than doing the whole thing unless you are really trying to only get compound in the lug recess only and absolutely nowhere else.

That's not always as easy as it sounds. I have done it only once in order to try and get a plastic stock to work better. Ironically I found a used Bell & Carlson shortly thereafter that I used instead and never did shoot the rifle in the plastic stock.

 

[mrb1982]

I just bedded the lug on my remmy, ill try to post some pics tomorrow after noon. I used my bolts to snug down the action, the only problem I had was I did not put in enough epoxy the first go round, I had to remove it and mix up some more. be patient and think ahead and you'll do fine

Awesome, thanks. My epoxy should come in the mail in the next few days. I got most of the other stuff. Might have a quick Walmart run and then have everything I need. We'll see I guess. I am pretty excited to do it. I got some 180gr test loads ready to start working them up but want to get the lug bedded and have my adjustable cheek piece installed before I start the work up.

 

[earlcurtis67]

came back from the doc this afternoon and got right to work. i took a few pics while i was taking it apart and during clean up. the lug area turned out pretty good with only a little squish through under that splicing tape that i used for a dam, but i had put plenty of kiwi there in case that happened. there is now about .006" clearence in the lug pocket, wished i would have gotten the before measurment, but it was pretty sloppy which was my reasoning for doing only the lug, instead of the whole action. the rifle was already floated so i bedded on out passed the lug about 1.5" and made sure the action was sitting properly when i snugged down the action bolts ( used .0005 feeler gauges) hope this helps.... E

 

[earlcurtis67]

just before i took it apart....

 

[Daveinjax]

You might want to do a little more bedding. The rear face of the lug shouldn't be covered by tape and the other critical bearing surface is to the rear of the recoil lug not in front of it. Less wax too. The wax should be just a very thin film without build up. You have the mechanics down but the finer points need polishing. I could be wrong but I don't think it will shoot well like that. When I'm done you can clearly see all the machine marks and any stamping in the bedding. You want full contact on the rear of the lug and the area between the lug and the magazine well. Don't stop now , you're getting there.

 

[Hired Gun]

The metal and the impression in the epoxy look very rough. Did you polish out the Kiwi before making the cast? Where do the .0005" feeler gauges go? I can't picture what they are for.

A floated barrel has no contact anywhere from the front of the lug forward. If you can help it I would try to minimize the amount of epoxy forward of the lug. This will make the cleanup a lot easier.

Remember the goal is consistent stress free bed for the action. It only takes 3 inch pounds to bend a Remington action. To secure the action in place during bedding a zip tie or one wrap of surgical tubing is all the pressure you need.

You haven't burnt any bridges. This can all be fixed pretty easy. Don't be discouraged from sharing. A guy has to learn somewhere.

 

[rooster721]

How long are you guys waiting to machine/file-down the excess bedding inside the mag-box area 'n all ?

I have a sendero in an HS stock, and did it yesterday... waited the 24 hour cure time the kit reccomended, then tonight pulled the action apart. Had a couple very small chips (1/8" or so, must be from air bubbles) both are between the pillar hole and the recoil lug, I don't think they'll hurt any... lug itself is very-good, and the rest overall is just about perfect*

I'm just wondering if I shoud give more time for the bedding to cure longer-yet before trying to mill/grind/dremel any of the other excess off the edges of my mag-box and safety/bolt-handle recess areas ?

...last thing I want is to get in there too soon and risk chipping due to a file or dremel-bit ! This is (my) first bedding trial, and it looks ****-good so far, really don't want to botch it NOW

 

[Daveinjax]

As soon as it starts to harden is when I clean it up. When your fingernail can no long make an impression in the compound left on the pallet and it is hard enough to pull out of the stock is when I clean it up . If you wait until it's fully cured then it is harder to work on. I don't use a dremmel tool anymore to work on stocks. I did serious injury to three stocks before I wised up and kept it to hand chisels and files. One slight slip and you can do a bunch of damage with a dremel tool.

 

[mrb1982]

thanks for the pics. This helps a lot with learning and feedback from the other more avid bedders.

So I am gathering that you don't just gobb the polish on. You are better off to put it on, the lightly brush it off, and may do that for a couple good consistent thin layers rather than one thick layer?

As far as just zip tieing it down while bedding, it seems that if you are just doing the lug, you would want to torque it down to spec so that you don't get added force on the bottom of tge lug from bedding to the time you torque the stock back on. Is my logic correct there?

If I were to put a layer of tape in the barrel channel with a good layer of polish so that it would be easier to get any excess out afterward, would that work?

 

[Dr. Vette]

As I posted before, Kiwi is best treated just like car wax. Wipe it on, buff it off, repeat if you're anal and want to be sure you didn't miss anything. . I often do it 3 times to be sure, but it is all but invisible after buffing off the last coat.

Personally I never zip tie, torque, or in any other way hold down the action. The action will not push up and out of the stock, and anything else induces stress.

 

[earlcurtis67]

it was not my intension to hijack mrb1982's post, only to share an idea, E

 

[Daveinjax]

As soon as it starts to harden is when I clean it up. When your fingernail can no long make an impression in the compound left on the pallet and it is hard enough to pull out of the stock is when I clean it up . If you wait until it's fully cured then it is harder to work on. I don't use a dremmel tool anymore to work on stocks. I did serious injury to three stocks before I wised up and kept it to hand chisels and files. One slight slip and you can do a bunch of damage with a dremel tool.

I want to describe my personal technique and maybe learn some and an educational opportunity for others. I use the action screws to pull the action down into the bedding and the Dr and others don't. When I put my action into the bed it is supported by the built up tape keeping it centered in the channel and the back end of the tang. I have dry fitted it ahead of time and made any adjustments needed to get it where I want it. I set the action on the screws and tart to slowly pull it down. As it comes tight I apply just enough pressure to settle everything right and let it sit for a minute. I then back off the screws until free then re tighten until they just start to bump again. Maybe an inch pound of pressure. I let it set like this. My thinking is this results in less torque and deflection when finally assembled for firing. With the pressure I'm using I should not be deflecting the action but I am assuring perfect alignment with the way the action will be torqued down to when assembled. If I don't use the screws and bottom metal then I have no precise reference and the action can be set slightly off in any direction from the bottom metal and screw angles. These small offsets will induce torque and deflection in the final assembly. So , my question to those wo just set the action in the stock is how do you get precise alignment of the action screws to action ? Btw , I don't know why it is quoting me as I didn't use quote .

 

[mrb1982]

it was not my intension to hijack mrb1982's post, only to share an idea, E

No worries, you're fine. Don't worry about it, it's good information. I am enjoying the pointers.