Restocking a rifle - at what point do you bed the action?

L

ligonierbill

New member
I am working on a K29 Mauser made in Radom about 1930. No worries, it had already been modified when I got it, including the stock. Not a bad job either. But I like to work on them. I bought a nice stock from Richards Microfit and have got the thing pretty well fit up. (My second Richards stock, nice wood, but they should call them "macrofit".)

My question for you more experienced folks, should I bed the action now, or do most of my finish sanding first? I know I will be doing some sanding after, as I always manage to get a little bit of epoxy where I don't want it.
 
Either/or it's up to you. Hats off to you for being able to finish out a Richards stock. I've got one I've been working on on and off for about six years now.
 
"My question for you more experienced folks, should I bed the action now, "

Seriously? Bedding the action is ALWAYS the first task. Otherwise how would you know where and how much wood to remove?
 
Do it first.
Trim off the oozing glass in about 5 hours when you can cut it like hard clay. Once it is fully hard it's more like a brittle plastic.
When you trim it well you will not have the tendency to lift splinters from the junctions of wood and metal.
Sand the areas down to look good and then do all your shaping.
 
I let my bedding cure until hard. If you do anything to it when soft, you risk changing the shape and ruining the job.
 
My stocks are 40 + years old from Acraglas. Still hard without any problems .Don't rush it let it cure completely . It won't get in the way when finishing the stock. Yes the accuracy is still there ! :D
 
Here is the Radom Mauser in its new stock. Maple looks good on rocklocks, so I thought I'd try it here. Looking for improved groups with the bedding. At least it fits me well. This has a new Shaw barrel that does pretty good with the old stock. Hoping for improvement. We shall see.
 

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Minwax walnut stain and Tru-Oil finish. Next time I do maple (I have a flintlock that's been "under construction" forever) I am going to try the traditional aqua fortis.
 
It's Spring in Ohio, sort of, so I took the Polish Mauser out for a run to see how my amateur :eek: bedding does in the cold hard world. Turns out, pretty good. I got a flier out 2", but the other 4 are inside an inch. I'm thinking the flier was too much coffee. Load is a 175 Sierra Pro Hunter over Reloder-17.
 

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I finish the stock first, then bed it. Stray bedding material is harder to get off bare wood.

Bag and tape the living heck out of anyplace you may handle when working with the epoxy.
 
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