Weatherby mkv bedding

[nealm66]

Should you bed all the way around a weatherby mkv recoil lug? I did one a year or so ago and it shot great but was immediately pulled and now recently when trying to put it back on it's extremely tight and shots are everywhere. Devcon 10110. Almost like it swelled somehow or the stock shifted. Not my rifle and not sure how the stock it was stored. Wondering if I should dremel out in front and sides. 30-378

 

[Dr. Vette]

I always bed them all the way around. When you do it you can put some tape on the front or sides, but you don't have to.

I would suspect that the action screw torque is different now, or something else is going on.
Yes, they're tight if you don't clearance them but I'd pull it and see if anything else obvious occurred.

Or, it's your scope and/or scope mounts.

 

[nealm66]

Thank you

 

[tobnpr]

If after checking mount/rings and scope nothing is found amiss, I suspect the bedding job was improperly done and stressed the action.
You could probably find the "sweet spot" with the action screw torque and restore the accuracy, alternately you could re-bed the rifle.
With a properly bedded rifle, action screw torque might have some- but at most minimal affect on accuracy- certainly not "shotgun" patterns. Devcon doesn't shrink over time and remains dimensionally stable over a wide range of temperature and humidity- it's why it's one of the more commonly used bedding epoxies.

 

[nealm66]

It's just odd that it shot excellent before he pulled it. It's almost like the bedding swelled while it was sitting without the action in it

 

[nealm66]

I can relieve it from the front and sides and see what happens. Maybe it's not allowing it to bottom out like it's supposed to for whatever reason

 

[nealm66]

I just wasn't sure if the mark v needed to be bedded all the way around because of how it's designed

 

[tobnpr]

It's just odd that it shot excellent before he pulled it. It's almost like the bedding swelled while it was sitting without the action in it

Some more info would be helpful- could be anything from a '50's walnut stock to a new composite as I didn't see where you specified.

Purpose of bedding is simple, to prevent movement of the action in the stock under recoil.
Having just the lug bedded in a walnut stock, would be completely different than having just the lug bedded in a composite stock fitted with factory pillars. Lacking pillars in a wood stock is more problematic as the wood changes dimensionally with temperature and humidity more so than modern composites. Wood or laminate stocks should absolutely be pillar bedded.

What's the model/stock type?

 

[nealm66]

Oh geeze, ya, sorry about that. It's the composite stock. McMillan I believe. I didn't just bed the lug, I bedded all the way back to the tang as the original had a nasty rock to it. It was not shooting very well at all when he originally brought it to me and I had it shooting almost inside a 1" square when I was finished with the bedding and load work up. He had a chassis built for it for god knows why and just recently brought it back and it was extremely tight to get the original stock that I bedded back on. I was thinking it might not be allowing it to bottom out so I was going to relieve the front and sides and was curious if I needed to re bed. I'm not really that knowledgeable or experienced and the weatherby is different than the 700 types I have messed with before

 

[tobnpr]

Let's back up a bit...I think we may be looking at the wrong shiny object.

It was not shooting very well at all when he originally brought it to me and I had it shooting almost inside a 1" square when I was finished with the bedding and load work up. He had a chassis built for it for god knows why and just recently brought it back and it was extremely tight to get the original stock that I bedded back on.

So a "friend" (you say you're not that knowledgeable or experienced, so you're not a smith) brings you a rifle to see if you can improve its accuracy, you bed it and it's shooting better- give it back to him. He puts it in a chassis- how did it shoot for him in the chassis? How many rounds did he put down the tube? Factory or handloads?

A bedded action should be tight when removing or replacing- especially so if the front and sides of the lug weren't masked off to create the few thousandths clearances there (that's the only reason to tape those areas- ease of removal). You don't want to excessively "rock" the action when pulling it as that can damage the bedding job.

What I'm getting at is it's not necessarily stock related as the rifle has been out of your possession for how long/how many rounds?
Could be fouling, could be bore damage from improper cleaning, could be just plain shot-out if he shot a lot of hot handloads.
Just saying it's almost certainly not the bedding as taking a barreled action out of a bedded stock and putting it back in does not affect repeatability, so other possibilities should be looked at.

 

[nealm66]

Really appreciate the feedback and advice. I'll do some investigating.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Let me just say this, I have seen ham fisted people completely ruin a perfectly good bedding job because they don't expect the rifle to fight them when removing the stock. The tightness is foreign to them so they arm wrestle the action out of the stock.
If this is what your friend has done, then the entire bedding will require removal and doing again.

Cheers.

 

[Rflshootr]

I would start with carefully relieving the front, sides and bottom of the lug area and then give it a try. If that doesn't do it, then re-bed the entire action.

 

[nealm66]

Let me just say this, I have seen ham fisted people completely ruin a perfectly good bedding job because they don't expect the rifle to fight them when removing the stock. The tightness is foreign to them so they arm wrestle the action out of the stock.
If this is what your friend has done, then the entire bedding will require removal and doing again.

Cheers.

Boy, you nailed the ham fisted. I haven't heard from him yet, he's been salmon fishing. Appreciate all the feedback for sure. I'm thinking I'd like to put something in the bottom of the recoil recessed area to make sure it's allowing full contact but haven't figured out what yet