Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Glass bedding a Winchester model 70 (my way)

Continued:

This is what it should look like when the barreled action is free from the stock:




This is why I use Johnson's paste wax for release agent. It just works... You can use other products, but this one can has lasted me a looooooong time. The Hornady one shot case lube is also very good to have on hand for the hard to get to spots. I'll even spray the inside of the receiver with the one shot just as a preventative measure.

The front of the recoil lug turned out like this:

I generally take out the overspill with a dremel if it doesn't lay in there smooth like I want. I have noticed that most of my rifles respond very well to a freefloat from the front of the recoil lug forward:


Here's what it looks like after it's relieved:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0809_zps076a4ba3.jpg[/img]

The next thing I do is relieve the action screw holes. I start with a 1/4" drill bit:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0810_zps05d95a31.jpg[/img]

I then go to a 5/16" drill bit on Winchester model 70's and go slow from the bottom of the stock thru:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0811_zps3585b0f0.jpg[/img]
This goes back to what Utah708 was saying about secondary recoil lugs and such. No clearance in these screw holes is a bad thing.

After you are done drilling the holes out, you should see the wood in the holes:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0812_zps6b4e9db5.jpg[/img]

Continued:

After you drill the action screw holes out, you can fine tune the overflow areas and relieve more spots so you will be guaranteed that you won't end up with secondary recoil lugs and unnecessary tight spots. These things also affect accuracy:

Here's an overflow area that I get rid of. I also used release agent on this area, knowing I'd be getting rid of it after I separated the stock from the action:


The trigger abutment gets dealt with like this. We don't want the trigger spring and adjustment screw hanging up anywhere and this would create a secondary recoil lug as Utah708 pointed out:


Looks like this when I'm done and only takes a few seconds:



After the stock and bedding are touched up and there are no secondary recoil lugs, I start on cleaning up the metal:


Rem oil, a rag and a few Q-tips work great for this process:


When you are done cleaning the metal parts, they look like this:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0832_zpsc5e025f0.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0833_zps889f89cd.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0834_zps3cbf2a4d.jpg[/img]

Continued:

When all your metal parts are clean, you can wipe the Johnson's paste wax off of the stock and it looks great, except sometimes you end up with a little in the checkering. I try like heck to keep it out of there, because I don't like having to clean it out of the crevasses. However, I have a small stiff brush that works great for this:




Here it is after brushing out the checkering:

Now it's time to put everything back together, since everything is clean as a whistle:

More pics of the rifle:





Here's the cleaned up bedding too. I think I forgot to post a pic of it earlier:


This pic is especially for 79s


Hope you guys have a great Easter and thanks for letting me share a glass bedding project with you!!!! Remember there are many ways to do this, but this seems to be the easiest way for me

Very nice tutorial "bsa". Thanks for taking the time to show us your techniques.
This should give others the confidence to do it themselves.
Looking forward to the range pics.

Very good tutorial! Thank you for taking time to share everything, including the photos.

Thanks buddy. I think it will be a great shooter. I'll have to "break in" the barrel though, as it's only been test fired from the factory. I'll post results after I get her scoped. If it's like the others I've bedded, it will be a shooting sob. . Ask EricM and 444Matt how their rifles shoot...

No problem. Hopefully it's easy to walk thru and helpful to some of those who have never glass bedded a rifle.

've tried several times to E-mail this post to my self and it doesn't arrive in my mail box. Is there a problem with that function?

You are an artist, BSA. Man, it really makes you appreciate the work that goes into a proper bedding job. Nicely done and thanks for sharing! I'm still loving the '51 30-06 you sold me awhile back. My best shooter.

Eric

That means a lot buddy. I'm also glad you are still loving that rifle. It's a good one. This bedding job was not nearly as in depth as the one on your rifle. Adding pillars and freefloating that barrel and adding the dummy screw in the forend of your pre 64 added a couple extra steps. I really like going that route on the standards though. I did the same thing to my 338 Alaskan..

You always do a great job of bedding, I'm glad you posted your procedure. I picked up some good hints.

I'm glad you liked it southwind. Thanks for the comments..

Kudos bsa for an outstanding thread and pics second to none. Wish I had seen all this before I tackled my 1952 Model 70. That bedding in the recoil lug area on mine made so much difference in groups. I didn't bed the tang area as well as you and did bed just forward about 1 1/2" forward of the recoil lug and I had to relieve the dark, black areas in the barrel channel where it was rubbing against the barrel. No telling how long that had been going on but, after all was said and done she went from nearly 2" groups to 3/4"-1"(depending on me). I was pleased.

I thought the barrels on that rifle were floated?

Thanks Kitch. Sounds like you did a great job. Anytime you can get groups to shrink by 1/2, you know you did something right. That's generally what I shoot for. If you are referring to your std wt 270 on the freefloat, they were not ever freefloated from the factory. The pre 64 fwt's were advertised as having the freefloating barrel for accuracy, but the std wt's were always meticulously inletted for their own barreled action. Winchester generally did a very nice job on them. If you take too much out of the barrel channel and then torque the forend screw too much, it can make the groups go wonky. This is why I generally full length bed the std wt's or if I'm feeling really gung ho I freefloat them and use a dummy screw like I did with my 338 Alaskan and EricM's 30-06. Both of those rifles are exceptional shooters and POI stays the same since there's never any contact (uneven or otherwise) in the barrel channel.

bt

Nope, I was referring to the rifle you showed being bedded. I had thought most all the newer M70's were floated. This is what the barrel channel on mine looked like before I took some sandpaper and dowel rod to it. You can clearly see the pressure points causing the erratic grouping.



This is what the recoil lug area looked like prior to bedding. You can see looks like someone took a chunk out of it.



This is afterwards. I ended up going further than I wanted with the barrel shank area and cut back so only about an inch and a half was bedded. After completion, I didn't tighten the front screw at all. It's not in use at all.

Great Job BSA. Basically the only thing I do differently when bedding is to use rubber tubing vs. the electrical tape. I can control the "force" by how tight I wrap the rubber tubing. It comes off cleaner also.

Another fantastic job, I feel like I could do a fair job BUT there are always guys like BSA around so I tell myself 'let the pros do it'. We just need to get BSA to do it for us, I think I paid my gunsmith 125. for the last mod 70, I can see where that is just a fair per hour rate, I even have a Brownells Acraglas kit around here somewhere BUT when it came time to do my 70 target in sporter stock I backed up and hunted a pro. My marksman stock had been done many years ago by a pro, the gun shot an easy 1/4 to 1/2 inch better in the bedded marksman vs an un bedded sporter stock. Have you done a before and after target yet? very best on a great job! winpoor