How much of the rifle should be bedded?

S

superking75

Inactive
Which is genneraly better and is their any cons.
1. glass Bedding just the action and free floating the barrel
2. glass bedding the action and first few inches of barrel
3.Full lenth glass bedding
4. aluminum pillar bedding used in combination with them all.
This is to be used with a laminated stock on a hunting/target rifle.

thank you in advance
 
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Hi. Your number 2. The whole receiver and out to under the chamber area of the barrel only.
Free floating may or may not do anything. Not all rifles like it. The only way to find out of your's does or not is to try it. Isn't a big deal if accuracy is not improved as putting a pressure point in is not difficult. Requires a wee bit of bedding material an inch or so aft of the end of the forestock. Helps control the vibration of the barrel.
Do not for get the release agent.
NEVER bed the whole barrel channel. Usually best to remove the trigger group altogether, but wrapping it in saran wrap will do.
Pillar bedding is literally AL tubes around the stock screws that hold the entire stock away from the barreled action. Isn't far off the action but it's off. Same issue with the barrel.
 
I won't tell you that I have bedded 100's of rifles so this is for what it's worth. This is my rule of thumb based on the few previous rifles I have done & my past experience on a dozen or more others.

First I have mostly bedded Rem 700's & Win 70's. I stress-free pillar bed the whole action making sure the recoil lug is only touching solid towards the butt. After reassembly I make sure action screws are clear in the pillars. I make sure the trigger is totally clear. Sometimes I bed the trigger guard/floor plate assembly, at least at the point where the pillars touch, depending how happy I am with the fit.

On smaller cartridges, .25 cal & smaller with about 40gr case capacity or less, I float the barrel from the front of the receiver to fore-tip (i.e. the whole barrel). Any cartridge bigger, I extend the bedding to where the cartridge shoulder will be in the chamber & float the barrel from there forward.

IMHO & FWIW

Good Shooting! :)
 
There is no one size fits all answer to this question. It depends on the design of the firearm. For many of the modern rifles with recoil lugs mounted between the barrel and action I would only bed the action, along with putting some bedding compound between the stock and recoil lug to ensure it has a perfect mating surface to push against. I personally believe this makes the largest accuracy difference... How well you bed around the recoil lug that is. I never bed forward of the recoil lug in these action types. For most rifles that have tangs, I leave these floating.

Many rifle designs do quite well with the chamber being bedded, and sometimes a portion of the barrel beyond the chamber. I've never made a rifle off a Mauser action, but I remember being told they respond well to bedding a coupe of 3 inches forward of the chamber. Wood stock military Mausers, IIRC, often do well with shims between the barrel and lower stock to maintain slight upward pressure on the barrel.

OP what action type do you have? That will help answer the question better.
 
Epoxy bed the receiver.
Pillars- nice if possible- not mandatory IMO unless it's a wood stock. Synthetics don't compress nor change with temp/humidity like a wood stock does. Laminates don't compress under action screw stress like natural wood, so I consider them like a synthetic. Can only help- but not usually mandatory if the bottom inletting is tight. They're made/laminated, under thousands of pounds of pressure.

Free float the barrel.

Usually.

I just did a re-barrel for a customer with very heavy, full-bull (1.2 diameter) barrel- and decided to bed the first 1-1/2" or so of the barrel. This provides some support for the barrel and imparts less stress on the receiver as opposed to hanging seven pounds of barrel off the end of the receiver. My understanding is that Townsend Whelend espoused this...

Told the customer, if it didn't shoot as well as expected, it's simple enough to grind down just the surface of that area of the bedding to float it.

Shooting under 2" at 200 yards out of the box with factory ammo- so it iooks like it was the right move. But, every rifle is different.

Key is consistency/no movement of the action within the stock under recoil.
 
I have one rifle that has the receiver and barrel cemented to the stock with J-B Weld. While I was bidding on it through Gun Broker it was voted the ugliest rifle ever sporterized, I thought it was so ugly the builder had to know what he were doing.

Anyhow if all else failed I purchased the rifle for the sum of the parts. I took it to the range with 12 different loads of 10 rounds each. It took me most of the day because it took time to cool. I decided to leave the parts in the ugly configuration because there was nothing I could do to improve accuracy.

Forums tacking the auction had a field day making themselves look good at the expense of the builder. I did not want the attention out of fear the attention would drive up the price.

F. Guffey

The rifle is a M1917 Remington.
 
I know it used to be common practice- and I believe some benchrester's still "glue" the entire barreled action into the stock? I don't mean bed- I mean, NO release compound.

Permanent. Action cannot be removed from the stock.
 
I believe some benchrester's still "glue" the entire barreled action into the stock? I don't mean bed- I mean, NO release compound.
Click to expand...

I hope they have better luck cooling their barrel than I do. Release agent? The stock on my rifle is attached to a piece of wood that covers the barrel; meaning the barrel goes through the piece of wood with the receiver. And then it gets better, the wood that is cemented to the barreled receiver serves as the recoil lug in the stock. Because of the short hook-up I should use sensitive primers.

I was surprised at the shooting range when a man said his father used the M1917 in China when he fought as a Chinese Nationalist, I was even more surprised when the shooter said he father looked down the line and recognized my ugly rifle as a M1917. His father had to be 90 years old.

F. Guffey
 
I have another rifle I glassed into the stock; the metal of the barreled receiver does not touch the wood stock. It is a 7mm57, it is a most accurate rifle.

And then there is this other rifle, I glassed the trigger guard to the stock to add strength, it is stronger and accuracy has not suffered.

F. Guffey
 
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