Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bedding a Ti stock

I have never messed much with bedding my own rifles. I did one or two wood stocks as a kid years ago with acra glass and they turned out pretty good but I've typically sent them off to a smith for bedding.

I'd like to start bedding my own rifles so I'm looking for advice on doing so. Many of the rifles I want to start with currently wear un-bedded Ti stocks and Alaskan Ti stocks. So here comes the questions:

1. What is the best bedding agent for these synthetic stocks?

2. Whats the best release agent for said bedding agent?

3. Is bedding at the lug and skim bedding the tang sufficient on these?

4. When bedding the lug do you only want contact at the back of the lug? If so do you achieve this by taping the rest of the lug?

5. How do you make sure you've bedded it correctly without torque or other pressure?

6. I've got one stock that the barrel channel was opened up too much and I'd like to fill it back in yet still have a free float. Can I wrap the barrel in masking tape and then use the bedding compound in the barrel channel? Should I do this at the same time as bedding the action or do it in a separate step?

Thanks,
Bb

Big can of worms you are opening up here. LOL....

If I can do it anybody can do it. I've bedded the Ti stocks using Devcon Plastic Steel with Johnson's paste wax as a release agent. I use that combo on all of my bedding jobs.

I don't tape lugs at all and typically do bed at just the tang and from the magwell to the lug. I do put masking tape all along the top edges of the stock to catch overflow. If the barrel is not centered in the floated channel when torqued down before bedding, I open up the lug area to get things loosey-goosey and then I wrap my barel in tape at one spot near the forend to keep the barrel centered during bedding. I remove the speed bumps before starting. I put release on my bottom metal and screws and tape them all in place from the underside. After spreading the goop, I ease the action down into place and begin turning the screws from the underside. When the action is near to being seated, I start to feel resistance and stop turning.

In 1.5 to 2hrs the bedding is hard as an old tootsie roll and will just take a dent from my fingernail. I pop the action out and trim the top of the stock with an exacto knife, then put the action back in and reapply the screws to just snug. I'll trim up the other overflow the next day with a Dremel and drill out the action screw holes. I also put tape iside the front of the magwell to catch the spill that will ooze down below the feed ramp. Clean up is a bit quicker.

Hope that helps...

1)I use Acraglas GEL for everything. Synthetic stocks do require some extra prep. Clean the bedding area to get rid of any remaining traces of release agent that may remain from when the stock was made. Then I rough up the bedded area to give it some tooth. On some stocks I use an X-acto knife to make a series of fine scratches.

2)I use Johnson's Paste Wax for a release agent. Works as well as any and better than most.

3)I bed the lug, the front of the action and the tang. On some rifles I bed the first inch of the barrel, but Remingtons don't need it.

4)You need some room around the lug to get the action out of the stock easily. You need a bit of room around the sides and the front to do this. You especially need room around the bottom because you don't want the action to end up resting on the bottom of the lug. Tape will give you some room.

5) I set the action in the stock and put the screws in to make sure everything is in the right place. I do NOT apply any torque. Give yourself some room to tighten things down AFTER the bedding has dried.

6)The method described will work fine. The beauty of Acraglas Gel is that you can dye it to match the stock. It would probably be easier to do it as a separate step from the action bedding.

+1, except...

I use DEVCON Plastic Steel. I use a Dremel tool to rough things up. Bed the lug (both sides), first 1.5" of the barrel channel (overflow from the lug takes care of this), and the tang. Tape the front and sides of the lug (1-2 layers), but no tape on the back side or bottom. This is where some will disagree with me...

I don't leave room under the lug, though I'm open to arguments to the contrary. I want the lug and the tang to bottom evenly against bedding compound. Not sure why you'd leave a void here? I use electricians tape wrapped around the tang and lug area to snug things down. Hard to overtorque with stretchy tape.

Put Johnson's wax on EVERYTHING, including the chamber, feed ramp, trigger group (if you don't tape it up or remove it altogether). Release agent is what will keep you from screwing things up too badly.

I think there's a tendency to use too little compound in the lug, and many have to rebed because they shorted themselves the first time around. I want it oozing out around the top of the stock and flowing into the first part of the barrel channel. I finish the compound flush against the top of the stock, but some stop below that.

Here's a Remington Sendero with aluminum bedding block:







And a Remington 700 ADL:


[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f25/redoakoutfitter/DSC00109.jpg[/img]

Here's another rifle showing the electrician's tape. I had already wiped away the "ooze" from around the receiver...

[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f25/redoakoutfitter/SettingUp.jpg[/img]

Here's an example where I used modeling clay to keep the compound out of areas where I didn't want it. After a while, you learn to do without the modeling clay for the most part.

[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f25/redoakoutfitter/ClayatTang.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f25/redoakoutfitter/Final1.jpg[/img]

Something I read a while back that works good for me,

When you put the bedding compound in the stock, Leave a ridge down the center with the bedding material. That way as you lay the action in the stock, the ridge of bedding in the center will start pushing out from the center first toward the outside. This eliminated air bubbles getting trapped in the bedding.

Mark

I want to make sure that the action bottoms out on the stock bedding, not teetering back and forth resting on the lug. Let the parts do the job they were meant to do - control up and down with the action bedding and back and forth with the lug. Besides if the lug is touching the bottom when you bed the rifle, you won't be able to tighten the body against the beddding because the lug will already be bottomed out.

Try Hornady One Shot case lube for the release agent. After a bud reccomended it to me, I tried it and will not be using wax any longer.

Be patient and keep lots of Q-tips on hand.