Bedding question...

The barrel should be floating. Some people bed in front of the recoil lug but I never have. If you have bedding anywhere on the barrel you can just clear that off and float the barrel.
 
No you do not re-bed when you re-barrel with an identical barrel. If installing a different contour, you might have to re-float.
 
Bart, I have a question for you that I know you have the answer to. Why is it recommended practice to not bed in front of the recoil lug? I have done it both ways numerous times and have honestly not ever found a difference except sometimes its hard as heck to get the lug to release. I know there has to be a better reason than that.
 
I am not talking about bedding the barrel in front of the lug. I am talking about fully bedding the lug itsself on its front side.
 
I probably would. I have 2 short action model 70's, made 8 years apart. Same barrel contour. One is in an unbedded factory stock, the other in a McMillan with only the recoil lug bedded. The older rifle will not fit into the McMillan stock bedded to fit the new rifle. There is just enough difference in the recoil lug. If it had fit, I would have shot it to see how well it performed and would have considered keeping it in that stock.

I may eventually remove the bedding material and refit it for the older rifle, but in this case I would have no other option. That leads me to believe that it probably would require re-bedding with any to get best results with any rifle.
 
My reason for not bedding the front of the recoil lug is it makes the receiver a lot easier to remove from the epoxy.

If one can pull the receiver straight up and out of its epoxy bedding when the want to, then it doesn't matter.

Otherwise, the receivers are so tight fitting that they may need to be tipped back and forth a bit to work them free of the bedding. If the receiver lug's bedded on its front part, then that wiggling of the receiver trying to work it out may move the bedding enough to compress the stock material and make that part less of a perfect fit.

The performance difference, accuracy wise, is micoscopic in my opinion. I've done my Winnie 70's both ways with no degradation of accuracy. But I wrap the tape across the recoil lug bottom flat then up to the barrel to have a tiny bit of clearance when pulling the newly bedded receiver clear of the stock; usually when I remembered to do it.

I don't think the barrel's gonna whip and vibrate any different for either way. The receiver's pressed hard backwards when the stock screws are tightened. I don't think the barrel will behave any different if the lug wasn't touching anything as long as the receiver stayed in place for every shot.
 
If you are building on a milsurp Mauser action, that thumb cut on the receiver makes it a good idea to bed under the chamber area of the barrel. Receiver flex issues don't help barrel harmonics.

For anything else, I would float the whole barrel.

Jimro
 
Jimro, receivers bend and flex just as repeatable as barrels do for every shot fired. I think M98 Mauser receivers are stiffer in the vertical plane than Remington 7XX ones. And receiver flexing is a lot less than barrel flexing.

So, I think totally free floating barrels work best with both types.

When benchresters starting their game in the early 1950's the quickly learned that totally free floating barrels without pads anywhere shot most accurate from their salvaged M98 Mauser actions.
 
I put two layers of masking tape on the sides, front and bottom of the recoil lug when I bed a rifle. Afterwards, I further relieve the bottom and front. One of the reasons is to assure that if, when reassembling the rifle, any particles get into the slot, they won't cause the action to rock on the shield. I've seen that happen and the rifle won't shoot.

Pillar-bedding minimizes the tendency for the action to rock on the recoil shield, but I want to make sure extra sure it doesn't happen. It's more important to create the clearance when no pillars are used, especially with wood stocks.
 
I put two layers of masking tape on the sides, front and bottom of the recoil lug when I bed a rifle
Click to expand...

My method as well. Allows enough "play" to allow for easy removal.

Besides, how can you bed the sides of the lug (which I would see as critical to prevent lateral movement of the action) without getting bedding compound in the front? Just seems easier to bed the whole shebang...

I also bed the barrel nut only on my Savages, only because I think it might add a bit more rigidity/support given the weight of the 5 lb. barrel hanging off the front of the action- without affecting barrel harmonics.
 
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