Howa/B&C bedding issue?

O

oldscot3

New member
Recently I purchased a Howa heavy barrel rifle in 308 Win. I love it, it shoots really well but I wasn't wild about the Hogue stock. I have a Bell & Carlson Medalist on a Vanguard that was a wonderful upgrade, so I bought a B&C Medalist Varmint/Tactical for this new Howa. The action dropped right into the aluminum bedding block, finish is great, ergonomics for bench shooting are good for me; the only slight issue I noticed right away was the forend gap was somewhat tighter on one side. No problem, I adjusted that in just few minutes.

So now I'm shooting it. It has turned in some very good groups, but as my session extends, it begins to string vertically. The trigger guard screws are loosing, re-torquing them cures it until firing more rounds loosens them again.

I have a quality inch pound torgue wrench, I've gone from about 45 in.lbs. to 62 and it still happens. I've used blue Loc-Tite and still does it albeit a little slower. So I'm thinking something must be up with the bedding.

I made some little balls with modeling clay, stuck them in a few strategic locations on the bottom of the action, put it in the stock, torqued it down, then removed it and inspected. Looks good to me, but maybe (probably) I'm missing something.

Any suggestions about a different procedure to identify the offending area? I really don't want to have to grind on the bedding block and re-bed it with epoxy, to me that sort of defeats the purpose of the aluminum bedding block.
 
I've been using blue Loctite. It amazed me that they still loosened.

I've been wondering if perhaps the holes where the guard screws pass through might be slightly askew and contacting the screws. Perhaps if you coupled that with an aluminum bedding block that was holding the action in some tension due to misalignment, recoil vibration could cause the loosening.

Because of the barrel channel issue mentioned, I'm beginning to wonder if that aluminum bedding block is positioned accurately within the stock.

I'd really rather not have to send the stock back or have to invest a big chunk of money to have a pro rework the bedding. That only leaves me to resolve the issue and I don't want to do something like rebedding with expoxy, until I'm sure of the problem.
 
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