Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Bedding? Full action, or two pads?

I have always striven to Acraglass Two inches of barrel, recoil lug, and the length of the action all the way to the tang.

I have a local 'smith turning down a couple of heavy barrels and fitting the rifles into sporter stocks again.

He likes to bed a couple inches of barrel and recoil lug, and a dab under the tang at the rear action screw, with the rest of the action floated.


What is your preference?

So many ways to skin the cat. Keeping in mind not all actions require the same treatment.

I've bedded the actions both ways and had good results. As long as there's no binding of the action I'm not sure that one is better than the other.

Edit--- I misread the op. I included the front of action as well, leaving the sides/mag box area unbedded. I have not floated the front of the action.

I think in these kinds of cases you have to talk to him.

A simple conversation - "I would really feel better if the whole action were better, is that something you are willing to do?" If he says "no" then make a decision as to whether or not he will do the bedding or you will do it yourself.

To each his own. I typically only bed the lug area and the tang, some want to bed everything. Some like to float the barrel while some bed the entire length. Whatever makes it shoot is the answer. I would let the gunsmith do what works for him as long as the finished rifle shoots the way you want.

That's where I am at. If they don't shoot when I get them home, I can rebed them. One is a
Win 70 Classic in 264. The other is a SS Ruger Mk II in 260. The Ruger is going into a Ruger LW synthetic stock, not zytel, so no bedding under the barrel.

Type of stock also makes the choice - synthetic vs. wood..

If it’s a synthetic stock and will be a hunting rifle…..I prefer full-length bedding. It will virtually eliminate debris from getting into the stock barrel channel and creating a pressure point or water getting into the stock barrel channel, then freezing and creating a pressure point! memtb

If he does it his way and it doesn’t shoot then he should fix it but if he does it your way then you’re on the hook if it doesn’t shoot.

Why spend the money for a gunsmith to glass bed them if you are going to re-do it? That makes no sense at all. If you are comfortable doing the work, do the work. To me, that is most of the fun in buying a new rifle. Developing good loads and shooting is only secondary, to doing the work myself. To each their own. Sometimes I'm a little disappointed when I get them home and they are already glass bedded. That's just me though. I love to make them better.

You are working with a Winchester model 70 and a Ruger m77. Those I will glass bed using a similar approach. However, the Ruger usually gets relief around the backside of the tang, since it's so narrow. They both get bedded tight. Generally 2 points of contact is all you really need with these actions. Whether you pillar bed them is also up to you, but a good 2 point bedding is all that is necessary. The Ruger should look like this when done:


On a Ruger 77, I like to keep some bedding material under the chamber area. The recoil lug is bedded nice and tight and under the tang on the pad of the tang.

Winchester model 70's generally get bedding at the recoil lug and tang as well, the action lays in the bedding like it was poured into it:

STD WT Pre 64:


FWT Pre 64:


Some of my Winchester model 70's I've gotten that were already glass bedded, I've found that they shoot better when I relieve the bedding under the chamber area and allow the whole barrel to float freely:

You can see where I had to sand out the barrel channel. After doing that, the rifle shot much better. Remember to seal up the channel:


One of my favorite rifles, where you can see where the pad was under the chamber area:


After removing that, the rifle shoots like this:



Some rifles come from the factory with very crappy bedding jobs. Winchester is known for doing terrible work at times. Here was the tang on one of the rifles I bought earlier this year:


That had to be fixed. After correcting that [bleep] poor bedding work, it shoots lights out. Definitely something to watch for. Some smiths don't even glass bed the tang area of the Winchester and leave them like this:



They glass bed the recoil lug, thinking that's all it needs. Wrong, these rifles perform so much better with 2 points of contact.

That is some very pretty work BSA.

I have never managed to form that perfect front edge under the chamber that you show in the Ruger stock.

I do not have the lathe to do the barrel work needed this time. I left the rest of the stock fitting to the rifle smith as it seems the courteous thing to do.

Rebedding is not a big deal, if I later decide I need to do so.

I've done it two ways on various rifles: (1) bed the lug (and about 2 inches forward) and the tang; and, (2) the lug and the entire barrel channel (with the barrel floated using tape while bedding) and the tang. Never bothered doing the entire action. Both ways shoot well. Also gives some peace of mind on rifles prone to cracking at the rear tang (Husky 1640) with that extra clearance.

^^^^^The most important question

Only on specific actions do I bed any portion of the barrel. Another exception is when the barrel is a very, very, light one; then I might bed the fore end tip.
On a Ruger, I bed the lug, the center, and the tang. The whole barrel floats.
On a Model 70, I bed the front and tang; the whole barrel floats. I will sometimes bed the center as well, so the center screw is functional, but can't honestly say it is beneficial. GD

If the OP would have been asking about Tikka for an example, it would have been different than a Winchester model 70. Mainly because the recoil lug system is different. The same can typically be said about Savage. Many many ways to skin this cat. The most important thing is how they shoot when you are done. That is always going to be the legitimate truth. The target never lies.

Idaho shooter, I hope your smith does a fantastic job. Hopefully you won't have to re-do his work. I've had to re-do some smith's work. Some that even have their name and address in the stock, so they were quite proud of the work they did. However the rifles did not shoot as optimally as I liked. Rifles are totally mechanical, it's all in how you look at them. They are not all the same. They may appear to be very similar, but not all the same, thus requiring a slightly different approach. Mauser 98 vs. Ruger 77 vs. Winchester model 70 are good examples of that. Good luck with your rifles and hopefully they shoot lights out after the trip to the smiths.