Hey guys. Hoping I can get some pointers as I'm about to attempt glass bedding and have never done it before. Rifle is a FN Win M70 that I put in a new Boyds classic walnut stock after breaking the original. I'm using brownell's acraglass kit, so any feed back on it would be nice. Any general do's/dont's and advice?

Is the release agent provided in the kit good or should I seek out another option? Tape up the sides and front of the recoil lug and leave the bottom and back exposed right? Theres a million questions in my head... I don't want to ruin the stock!

Finally, should I just bed the tang and recoil lug like the factory stock, or attempt to bed the whole action? TIA.

Most important advice I can give is to use more release agent than you think you need - many coats.

Use modeling clay, or something similar, to fill any recesses in the action that may lock the action in the stock. Electrical tape over the trigger assembly, bolt release linkage, etc. with release agent coating on it will assure an easy action removal. I also put electrical tape on the front and the bottom of the recoil lug. This provides clearance later to allow the action to be tighter in the stock without bottoming the recoil lug. Again apply release agent to the electrical tape.

Do not be afraid, you can do it.

Bedding Job?

Have we become that PC?

In my day we called it what it was. Gigolo for rich broads.

Don't be scared. Man's got to make a living.

But I agree with the previous poster, make sure you layer up the release agent.

Savvy?

I like to add some tape (a few wraps) to the barrel near the fore end to help keep the barrel "centered" in the channel.

I use Johnson floor Wax as a release agent... no problems yet.

I put on a couple of coats to make sure I got everything covered.
You got a dermal tool? if so don't worry go for it.

Remember to make places for the epoxy to "take", by drilling judiciously with a small Dremel into solid places along the stock where you can make little pegs/legs of epoxy inside the wood.

If the taping off doesn't make sense to you as to how the barrel/action will be able to come away, stop and think it out. You'll feel terrified anyway, so that's normal. Just go slow and think it out. Might have to set it all in a deep freeze after everything's cured, to get a tight fitting job to come back apart. Use a rubber mallet to strike the metal if needed.

Generous release agent use is good, and remember to degrease with rubbing alcohol before applying it. The directions are actually good, but I've used magazine articles and pictures to help me out.

...especially the tang area.

All excellent advice. I'll add that in addition to a few tiny holes mentioned above, scuff all areas of contact so the epoxy has the best chance of biting fast.

Remember too, epoxy doesn't adhere worth a tinker's dam to end grain. So for the area behind the recoil lug I trim the wood back about 1/16", and bevel the edge where that end grain meets the ledge behind it to provide a more substantial hunk of epoxy on that transition area.

You want to use the Accruglass Gel not Accruglass.
You do not want the bottom of the recoil lug to touch.
The mold release supplied with the kit works fine. Use two coats.
Modeling clay ( Hobby Lobby sells it),and a Dremel tool is a must.
I degrease with acetone and you need some anyway for cleanup and to cut any epoxy that gets away from you. You can get it in quart cans instead of a whole gallon if you want.
Leave small pillars or sections of wood in places so the stock is in the correct location. ie,
Mask the stock where you don't want any epoxy, especially along the outside ,top of the barrel channel and action.
Remember to put some light grease on the action screws before assembly and don't tighten them down too tight when you set the stock in after epoxy is applied.
Before epoxy hardens all the way, use an exacto knife or razor blade to cut away some of the excess that squishes out around the barrel or action. When done, make sure the action screws are not touching in the hole at all. ie., you might need to drill the hole out a smidge.
I always relieve any epoxy at the rear of the tang after curing, maybe .015 or so.
I use some hypodermic syringes to apply some of the epoxy in areas that I don't want lot of. You can use a popsicle stick to put the epoxy in the syringe. Those too are available at Hobby Lobby.
Cotton tip applicators are nice to have around also .Those are like Q- tips,but on wooden sticks and longer.
Where rubber/latex gloves.

Plain old rubbing alcohol works good as a solvent for cleanup too, as does vinegar. I always use alcohol (denatured or rubbing)in the shop rather than acetone as it is a lot less likely to mar the finish if I get some where it's not supposed to be. Alcohol or vinegar is pretty benign, too, not like the known carcinogen that acetone is. I glove up and use acetone only when I have a serious cleaning/degreasing task at hand.

Don't be a slave to Brown-give-me-all-your-money-ell's. Any quality epoxy with suitable filler works ok as a bedding material. I used West System thickened with colloidal silica (the white fluff supplied in the Accuglass kits) for the last few bedding jobs because I happen to have it in my shop for all around gluing purposes. Results have been fine.

A factory rep for a major epoxy maker told us once that essentially all epoxy resins come out of the same spigot, that the only real differences are in the proprietary hardeners.

After the epoxy has cured, and you have removed the action from the stock (hopefully!), swab the exposed epoxy surfaces with solvent to remove the amine blush- that trace of wet/thin film that forms on the surface as it cures. It's benign, but it will impede bonding of any subsequent application of epoxy should you need to fill a void or air bubble. You have a 24 hour window of opportunity to make such an application without scuffing the surface. After that, sand it lightly before slathering on any more epoxy for a good bond.

If you don't pay attention to anything else here, pay attention to this.

Regular AcraGlass, while a good product, is not for beginners.

AcraGlass Gel is far easier to work with.

The rest of the advice given is also good direction.

MM

Great advice above.

Don't worry, you'll worry the whole time


i've only done one rifle, but was nervous the entire time. Especially when I had to use a rubber mallet to get it to separate.

I've used that kit on 2 rifles and they both came out great and shoot much better than before. Follow the directions carefully and read what others have posted (degrease and 2 coats of release and make sure you get it in the cracks good) and you will be fine.
PS You will still worry.

I try to remember to pop it out of the stock after a couple of hours while the epoxy is still a little soft (keep checking the left over stuff to monitor consistency), just to relieve my anxiety over gluing it in. I put it back in then and let it finish curing. While it's out at that point is a good time to trim any epoxy away that might have migrated toward where you don't want it to go.

True that there are many epoxies that will do the job, but with the Brownell's kit you get everything you need and a quantity that you can use AND a set of instructions for bedding.

Denatured alcohol will do the job, but rubbing alcohol is usually 70% alcohol,30% water. There are some chemicals that alcohol will not dissolve (which is true for acetone also, but not as many).I have been working with acetone for 50+ years and not dead yet.

Drink just enough to get up the courage to do it, but not so much as to screw it up.
I've done several, and am nervous every time. Popping the action out at the right time is key (not too soon, not too late).

Too much release agent is just enough.

I was still nervous after about my 10th. one, but after that it was like second nature.

I know the feeling....grin.

I've bedded three of my Rem 700s, and a 10/22 with Devcon 10110 Steel Putty.

They have all worked out well. I was a little paranoid about accidentally locking the action to the stock, but no troubles.

I fill any potential locks with modeling clay (Walmart arts/crafts) and used Johnson's Paste Wax (Walmart) for release agent.

If you can 'bed' two slices of bread together with peanut butter, you're 95% there....grin

Here's some pics from a couple bedding jobs, they are pretty much self explanatory.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/montanamarine/library/Bedding?sort=3&page=1#

. Yep. Let me add, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without making a mess

LOL, Yeah, my first try I probably put in triple the amount of bedding material as needed. It was squishing out everywhere in quantity.

You want to use enough for it to squish out some. You get a feel for how much to use after the first one.

My first few, I had bedding compound end up in places I didn't know how it got there. In my hair, on the floor. Don't let it cure in your hair, it's hard to get out!!!

Since Aleks is asking about bedding Winchester model 70's:

Pre 64 model 70 30-06 fwt in swirly McMillan:




Pre 64 model 70 270 win fwt in hunters compact Mcmillan:


Pre 64 model 70 338 Alaskan:



Classic sporter 30-06:


FN BACO swirly McMillan:
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_1169_zpsb0488b25.jpg[/img]

Hey guys, thanks for all the thoughtful responses. Appreciate all the help a ton. Special thanks to the guys who posted photos, as they were a big help in terms of ideas.

One more thing I haven't worked out is whether to bed just at the recoil lug and tang, the whole action, or the whole action along with the entire barrel channel. Pros and cons?

The barrel does not sit perfectly in the middle of the channel either. The stock inletting sees it sitting slightly towards the left and almost touching the stock so I was going to sand out the channel a bit to attempt and fix this some before applying the compound
. Any better ideas?

Wrap tape around the barrel towards the front of the forend to centre the barrel.

So just wrap it around the barrel near the forend tip a couple times to help it centre?

It will make sure the barrel free floats in the stock

Adjust the thickness of the tape donut to have barrel riding where you want it. Eyeball it for float, as that's about where you will be when the bedding hardens.

Thanks guys awesome

A few random bedding thoughts:

+1 on locating the barrel via tape donut

I strongly prefer silly putty to modeling clay to fill voids in the stock and action, it comes out much cleaner and more easily for me.

I like to bed either the recoil lug back to the mag inlet only, or that area plus the tang. If doing the lug and tang I'll put a wrap or three of tape around the center of the action, floating the areas which aren't being bedded and getting a little extra thickness of bedding compound where they are. Don't go crazy with that or you can screw up the z-axis relationship of the action to the bottom metal.

Thanks carl. Is there any benefit to bedding the whole action, or am I better off just bedding the recoil lug?

Also, the tape donut should be on the barrel at the spot where it begins to leave the forend correct?

I think there is some benefit to bedding the lug, as you can control the actions location relative to the stock completely that way. Bedding the whole action (including around the mag recess) is prettier, if you do it well and want to admire the bedding job.

The tape donut can be anywhere along the barrel/stock interface where it won't interfere with bedding compound squeezing out of the lug area. I do prefer it towards the end of the forend.

There is a big debate around here whether to bed the recoil lug "solid" or to tape it off. I prefer to tape it off on the front, sides, and bottom with at least two layers of tape.

I prefer to do it my way. You can't argue with the fn results:

This one has 2 recoil lugs bedded tight. Works great on paper and even better on critters:




This is a pre 64 30-06 fwt that shoots alright:




[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/013_zpsaa2b4d1e.jpg[/img]


Boxer says it's all about the bullets. What a crock of chit. If you can't get cheap azzed bullets like these Winchester powerpoints and Hornady interlcoks to shoot well I don't want it. Any numb nuts can get sierra gamekings and A max's to shoot? It's all about the bedding. Without that, you're chasing your fn tail and burning powder unnecessarily.. Pretty fu cking simple..

Your pretty fn amazing.......

He thinks so.

Here is my question, and frankly why I dont bed my own stuff...

After you drop the action in the stock and the bedding material squeezes out, how do you clean that off the stock? I have run tape on the top and use release agent but cant seem to get all the devcon off. How do you bedding pros handle that?

I was at Kampfields one time and he had several stocks being bedded and drying, they all had gobs of bedding material oozing out, and no tape IIRC. Will that stuff just snap off clean when dry if release agent is used?

passport;
Top of the morning to you sir, hopefully this finds you well.

With the understanding that I'm in no way an expert or pro at bedding and even though I've done somewhere around 5-6 dozen over the last 30 years I still seem to be learning I'd say this about that.

So I tape the stocks with painter's tape - green or blue, but have found "fresh" tape is better than stuff that's been in my shop for years.

I then clean off the excess with popsicle sticks that I've ground flat so they're like small scrapers you could say.

Then I use a cotton swab with white gas on it but use that sparingly as one doesn't want the white gas bleeding into the "good bedding" as it were.

When I just left the pieces that oozed out there to dry and then attempted to cut them off it seemed that I either managed to scrape the bluing or it would break off below where I'd wanted it to.

For the most part now bolt guns are pretty straight forward jobs but then too different actions seem to respond a wee bit differently - so stiffer actions like a Remington 700 are typically an easier job than a military 98 whose cut out makes it a bit more bendy in the middle.

The most "interesting" bedding jobs for me were fooling with a Mini 14 trying to get it to hit anything at all really and a full length stock muzzle loader. The muzzle loader was a treat getting out of the stock.....

Anyway sir, like the proverbial road to Mecca, there's a few ways no doubt and that was mine. All the best to you and good luck on your bedding jobs whichever method you choose.

Dwayne

Dwayne, good info. I need to grow a pair and make another run at this..

And what is "white gas"?

passport;
Well sir when I started out bedding I began with various rimfires that were lurking in the safe - as they were more basic to do and less financial risk if things went into the weeds.

Low and behold they shoot better too when bedded.

White gas is maybe a Canuck term for the fuel used in Coleman lanterns and camp stoves. It evaporates quite quickly and doesn't leave as much residual smell or residue as some cleaners like Varsol. It's what I've got in my shop already though sir, not saying at all there isn't better stuff to use, but it's right there on the shelf beside the chain bar oil, kerosene and automotive oil.....

Hope that helped and good luck on your bedding jobs.

Dwayne

Dwayne is showing his age. Before Coleman fuel came into existence, service stations(what gas stations use to be called) use to keep a 55gal drum of white gas on hand. Amoco use to also keep some ,but it still had a lead additive and it gummed up lanterns and stoves.

go to, I think, 6mmbr and find their bedding thread. Read it a few times. Probably disregard the pillar part....

Only thing to really pay attention to is negative angles... check a few things so that you don't have them if anything looks square to you. Tape on recoil lug means you don't have to worry about it generally. But a square edge action just make sure its same at bottom as top or at least wider at top than bottom if anything...

Beyond that just go....

My first bedding job.... M1Garand...ain't as easy as I thought... worked fine for almost 20 of them though... moved forward from there.

One Shot case lube works great for a release agent. Just give it two coats. Much easier to apply than the paste wax.

Use an exacto blade to trim any bedding compound that oozes out. Do this before it fully cures and is still soft.

She's the only one. There is a WHOLE bunch of dumbphuck wrapped up in BSA