Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Skim Bedding Tikka T3 with B&C stock?

Is there a right or wrong way to bed a tikka in a bell and carlson stock? I've read where some bed over the lug and some don't. Pros/cons? I've bedded 700s, but nothing with this style lug. Thanks for the advice.

Eddie F bedded one for me. The lug in the B&C stock was smaller than the recess on the action. He bedded over it and everything is PERFECT. It can no longer move around during recoil.

I'd say it depends on how well the lug fits the action...

I did not bed the lug on my Tikka BC. I kept the epoxy back a half inch or so before plopping the action down. That gave me enough room to keep the epoxy from oozing between the lug and action.

Big mistake, B&C, to start with. Having bedded several for customers in a previous life as gunsmith, I have absolutely no use for them.. Use damned near anything else would be my recommendation. I wouldn't personally use a McMillian (personal bias), but they are damned fine stock by all accounts.

I'd rather use an $80 Ramline than a B&C. POS IMHO.

Not To make a too-strong point of this...

Put down the crack pipe. I have had several BC stocks and no problems. The Medalists are stiffer through the forearm than any McMillan I have had. Never owned a "Carbelite" but I heard they are pretty crude.

Got to agree with dogcatcher on the Medalists. While they don't offer the potential weight-saving or the slimmer ergonomics (they're thicker thru the wrist and to the front action screw because of the alum. bedding block) of the McMillans, they certainly have their place. I put a Mod 70 L/A pushfeed .243 in a Medalist that was a perfect drop-in fit, the free floating was clean and even, and had less flex than the birch factory stock Winchester sent it out in.
As for the non bedding-block B/Cs,the Carbelites in paticular, I consider them semi-inletted at best. I got one from Stocky's for a Ruger tang safety 30-06 that after a trip to a 'smith with considerable inletting experience and a few dollars worth of acra-glass made a fine application for a rifle that has limited replacement stock options. Ended up with about $220 in it, a tad over 1/3 of the cost of the McMillan Ruger R.

I've several Tikkas in B&C's and had no issues at all. They've taken a beating and not failed once.

Tagging this as I just picked up a B&C stock for my 30-06.

Eddie does some damn fine work. Could you post some pics of the bedding. Thanks...

He sanded the barrel channel and painted it black too. The pics don't do the bedding job justice....

Thanks for posting buddy. Eddie is one of the best as far as I'm concerned. Did you or Eddie dremel the forward section of bedding and was that just for cosmetics or to help with accuracy?

Exactly. I've built and bedded more than few rifles including a couple of Tikkas into BC stocks. Medalists are pretty darn good stocks-- possibly better than McM, money considered. However, their Carbelite is heavy junk that appear to have been inletted by a blind beaver. I've put rifles in a few and spent way too much time getting them right and not liking the results compared to any other stock I have messed with.

He did it. It floats all the way back. Accuracy is stellar.

In the factory stock, it shot bugholes until things got hot. In the B&C I was getting a little horizontal before the bedding. After bedding, the horizontal disappeared. It shoots nice little clover leafs now. The group below is what I would call bigger than normal....and it's still way less than an inch.

Thanks sas. I figured that was the case. I've done the same with some of my model 70's and it's helped with consistency and shrinking group size..

You could be right - probably are - as my experience was with the Carbelite...a huge, clunky, heavy paint-flaking POS.

I don't use Bushnell optics either, of any price. Burned by a POS, I tend to avoid the brand altogether. Tend.... Upper end Tasco scopes have been good to me, but I wouldn't touch a lower end one - which I've never had. Learned that from the Bushnell and Redfield lines .....

Never been burned by Leupold or Brown Precision either, so I'll stick with stuff I know is good...

I;ll stipulate one often gets what one pays for....

Redfield was an excellent scope when made in Denver. I have a few. When Blount bought them , they went down hill, though I own one Blount scope that has been fine, though not optically impressive or mounted on a kicker. Scopes made by Meade were fair.

Now that Leupold owns Redfield, the new scopes are excellent values for the money. I have a couple of Redfield Revolution models that are clear and seem rugged. I bought one used from a guy who had tightened the eyepiece lock ring down with vise grips. I sent the scope back to Leupold service in Oregon with a note telling them I had purchased the scope used and needed it repaired. I received the scope back in 6 business days completely refinished and looking new at no charge. I would buy another if I needed a no-frills scope for an economy build.

Thanks for posting. That's really nice work he did.