I'm working on my first semi inlet stock and am in the process of fitting the action to the stock. How much contact should I look for before I glass bed it? Can I just open up the stock until the action fits inside and then just glass bed it like I would any other rifle?

Thanks

If you are careful with the smoke and try method then it should be bedded on the wood.

VonGruff is right, IMO. Meticulous fitting of steel to wood to achieve a skin-tight fit is the mark of craftsmanship, and a source of pride. A lot of people view epoxy bedding as a panacea for all that ails them, and an excuse to avoid careful inletting. If the wood is stable, and a truly nigh perfect job of work is done with the inletting, adding epoxy is superfluous. Best save it for the first coat of finish on the exterior of the stock.

Of course, mistakes can be made. Eveybody makes mistakes. Nobody will fault you for using thickened epoxy (so called "glass bedding") to fill an unintended internal void, or to go ahead with bedding it if after completion if it doesn't suit you for whatever reason. At least try to inlet it as close as you can initially. Work slow- patience is a virtue.

Keep a good sharpening stone on hand and resharpen often. A good sharp chisel will help you out immensely. I personally like to fully inlet the entire action plus bottom metal, then skim bed with epoxy for a tight seal. Just my preference.

I did a Boyd's stock last year in black pepper laminate. If I would have stopped after just getting the action to drop in it would have resulted in a terrible fit up front at the forend. The right side was flush with the stock and the left side had a good 1/8 inch gap. After a bunch of wood removal I finally achieved a perfect fit. I needed to take out wood at the barrel channel chamber area, tang and recoil lug area.

Good luck

Great, thanks for the help. This is my first time doing this so I'm not expecting it to be perfect. I think I will try to get it to fit as close as I can and then I'll probably end up glass bedding it just to ease my mind haha.

Will I eventually have full contact over the entire receiver, assuming I do everything right, or am I probably only going to get good contact around the recoil lug area and the tang?

Thanks again.

Strive for full contact everywhere. If done right, it'll be a b*tch to get the metal out of the wood. Just be careful, work slow, and you'll get there.

All good advise so far.
Something else to keep in mind.
When the work starts to become tedious, put it aside 'til tomorrow.
All wood has variations in the grain flow. When, not if, you run into a spot that becomes frustrating, put it aside 'til tomorrow.
If anything make this feel like drudgery you'll be tempted to cut corners, to hog out wood just to get it done. By putting it aside 'til tomorrow you come back to it with a clear head and a different view/point of view.

Great! Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do.