Barrel Bedding
- Thread starter nedfig
- Start date
Nedfig-
I was in one of those Starbucks/Bookstores today on an extended lunch and spied a shiny new book recently written by Sweeny- some gun guru.
The book was called either "Riflesmithing" or "Gunsmithing for Rifles" - a magazine sized paperback. Figured what the hell I'll check it out...
I read the whole thing. It was an excellent intermediate gunsmithing guide for modern and military bolt actions AND had special sections for building the AR 15, Precision/Tactical rifles and Scout rifles.
I recommend this book to you. I might buy it myself or read it again tommorrow... A whole chapter on bedding with good pictures should be worth it alone.
I was in one of those Starbucks/Bookstores today on an extended lunch and spied a shiny new book recently written by Sweeny- some gun guru.
The book was called either "Riflesmithing" or "Gunsmithing for Rifles" - a magazine sized paperback. Figured what the hell I'll check it out...
I read the whole thing. It was an excellent intermediate gunsmithing guide for modern and military bolt actions AND had special sections for building the AR 15, Precision/Tactical rifles and Scout rifles.
I recommend this book to you. I might buy it myself or read it again tommorrow... A whole chapter on bedding with good pictures should be worth it alone.
nedfig,
The process is probably a little too much to explain on a bulletin board post, though some may try. Bedding a rifle is a trick that sets the action to the stock in such a way as to remove as many variations as possible from the physical interface between them (action-to-stock). It usually is an opportunity to make whatever modifications are necessary to free-float the barrel, if you think it is a good thing to do. There are pros and cons.
Bedding lays in a layer of epoxy-like material (see Acra-Glass in Brownell's) applied in the action area of the stock, that provides a consistent surface against which to mount the action.
Bedding permits torqueing the action to the stock to a specified value which is repeatable. Repeatable is important to accuracy. The action-to-stock interface contorting and shifting (because of humidity, handling, firing and time) is one of the big enemies of accuracy. Bedding helps correct that. The effectiveness of bedding is also debatable. However, it is generally accepted as a good thing to do.
Good quality synthetic stocks, like McMillan and H&S Precision do not require bedding, as they already have a good bedding surface aginst which to torque the action.
The process is probably a little too much to explain on a bulletin board post, though some may try. Bedding a rifle is a trick that sets the action to the stock in such a way as to remove as many variations as possible from the physical interface between them (action-to-stock). It usually is an opportunity to make whatever modifications are necessary to free-float the barrel, if you think it is a good thing to do. There are pros and cons.
Bedding lays in a layer of epoxy-like material (see Acra-Glass in Brownell's) applied in the action area of the stock, that provides a consistent surface against which to mount the action.
Bedding permits torqueing the action to the stock to a specified value which is repeatable. Repeatable is important to accuracy. The action-to-stock interface contorting and shifting (because of humidity, handling, firing and time) is one of the big enemies of accuracy. Bedding helps correct that. The effectiveness of bedding is also debatable. However, it is generally accepted as a good thing to do.
Good quality synthetic stocks, like McMillan and H&S Precision do not require bedding, as they already have a good bedding surface aginst which to torque the action.
I just bedded a McMillian A4 stock for my Remington here a couple of weeks ago. The big thing to look at is before you bed it is how much space there is in the recoil lug slot. They are usually oversized to make sure that the actions fit so it can be sold and fit every rifle. With bedding, the extra space is reduced to tighter tollerences, thereby imporving consistancy and accuracy. Well, at least that's the best answer I can come up with. 