I will be bedding my Montana and a couple other rifles in a week or two. In the tutorial Brad posted for his Montana he used the tightened action screws to hold the action in and did not tape off the recoil lug.

I see that often when rifles are bedded a layer of tape is placed on the sides, front and bottom. I thought Brad may not have done this because of the shape of the Montana lug and the fact that he completely tightened the action screws using them instead of something else to hold the action in the stock when bedding.

Do any of you also bed the lug without using any tape? It sounds to me like it would cause the action to be held even better as long as you can still get it in and out of the stock when necessary.

I know you don't want tape on the rear bearing surface. I just wondered of folks do it either way depending on preference or if it just works because of the light skim bed on a rifle like the Montana that is already bedded to a slave action and because Brad was using the action bolts very tight during the bedding job.

I like to bed most things tight. This includes the Ruger m77 and Winchester model 70 and CZ550 and old M1917 sporters I've glassed in the past.. However, when bedding, I don't snug the action screws down tight. Just enough to keep the action in the right spot. This also keeps you from torqueing/twisting the action. The action should lay in there in a neutral state while glass bedding is curing. You can later torque the action screws down tight or to spec after the bedding compound has cured.

I tape the front, sides, and bottom of the lug.

Brad's reasoning for completely tightening the action screws on the Montana was so the action would contact the pillars and have a metal to metal contact.

I don't put tape on the sides of the lug. Full side contact helps resist rotation of the action at the shot. If there is space, the action will rotate in the bedding to the point of lug contact; the action screws don't have the ability to stop the rotation. It's not much but I want solid contact every direction but the front. I also bed the pillars in the stock with them attached to the action, then come back and bed the action so there is no stress.

It would seem with pillars that there wouldnt be much of a problem with torquing the action. I thought I'd read that Brad goes farmer tight for the initial squish, then backs off.

Doesn't hurt to lub the lug once you pop it apart.

I've read his tutorial a few times.if i am reading it correctly he goes farmer tight during the bedding then to spec torque when reassembling after it is done.

No tape
I also use the action screws at German spec tightness as the epoxy cures

Can you translate "German spec tightness" for me into southern redneck?

If you use tape, the barreled action will come out of the stock easily when you want. If you glass bed without tape it is more difficult. I don't think there's any difference in accuracy doing it one way or the other.

It's your choice both work.

I tape the front and bottom. Never had but the best luck.

Just curious what your rationale is for taping the front, sides, and bottom.

You know, Goodntight

The reason is to make it easier to remove the barreled action and because people say to do it.

I've done Howa 1500s, sav 110s, & LR98 Mausers with great results but never tape lugs at all.

I like em in full contact with no wiggle room from just in front of the lug to the mag well.

No tape and 2 or 3 layers of duct tape under the barrel all the way to the lug.
Gives a great free float, and a nice tight fit.
Screws just snugged up....

I thought everyone here knew what German tight meant...

I've bedded Remingtons with and without tape on the front, bottom and sided of the lug, just the front, and just the bottom. I've never done any extensive testing but I never could tell that it made a difference in accuracy.

Anymore I tape the front sides and bottom just because it is easier to remove and replace the action in the stock later on. I often go back with a Dremel and deepen the bottom in the stock. Reason being that if a piece of dirt or something drops in there, I don't want it putting upward pressure on the lug causing stress on the action. Some argue that with the oversize lug cavity that you are more likely for something to work it's way in. Others argue that if the front and/or sides are tight that you are more likely the lug itself will scrape a little bedding into the bottom of the cavity creating upward pressure.

I make it loose and make sure it is clean whenever the action is replaced into the stock. Works for me.


YMMV.

I don't tape the lugs but do use tape around the barrel at the end of the forearm to align the barrel in the channel before bedding the action.

No tape here. I use 20-mil plumber's tape to free-float the barrel, usually from the end of the shank forward.

Once it all comes out I grease the lug.

No tape on the lug here either, but yes on the grease when needed.

I've only bedded Remington's so some of this may not apply-float the barrel and make sure it is aligned in the barrel channel. Put three layers of electrical tape on the bottom only of the lug (make sure the lug is not out of clock or it can be very hard to remove the barreled action after the epoxy cures). Coat the metal work with release agent-I use Hornady one shot but wax or cooking spray such as Pam works also.

I hold the action in the stock with slave bolts (that have the heads cut off so they will go through the holes) and surgical tubing until cured, remove action, take the tape off the bottom of the lug or out of the recess if it stayed in. Clean up any bedding that got where you didn't want it, drill the screw holes to size (pillars make a difference in drill bit size), go aprox. half way through from one side then all the way from the other. This helps to keep the drill hole straight.

The idea of the tape on the bottom of the recoil lug is that you will inevitably get shavings or dust under the lug as you put the action in the stock. This space keeps up pressure from occurring. I do not lube any of the metal work that contacts the bedding material because even a thin layer can cause some unwanted pressure.

I know there are a lot of thoughts on bedding a rifle, this is what has worked for me.

I always tape the front, and sides of the lug with one layer of plumbers tape. Makes it easy to take in and out. Before I put it back together(after cleanings and stuff like that), I always blow the lug area out with compressed air. Never had an issue.

In short, "stress free bedding."

I don't believe there is any benefit for the lug to contact the bedding material in those areas when the action is torqued down. If there was any flex in the forearm of the stock, to me it seems there is more potential for a shift in POI when the lug has full contact vs. just contact at the rear. It also makes it easier to pull the barreled action out of the stock.

You need to specify what kind of bedding job you are doing before you can say "I do X" or "I do Y'.
Are you skim bedding an already bedded action? One that is pillar bedded? or one that has no previous bedding?
I've done it both ways depending on the situation and they all shot good.
The ones with tape are easier to take out of the stock. The ones without will scare you as in "Oh S***, this action might be glued in permanently". So far all have come apart eventually.
As a side note, back when the Army highpower team used to shoot M1's they just epoxied the actions into the stocks permanently. Nice to have taxpayers paying for your rifles.

What would you do with a Kimber Montana, tape the lug or not?

Here's how I do it, in this case on a Savage Target Action with pillars. First start off with clearing all wood interference with the action, so the inletting black only appears on the pillars. On a Savage the rear tang will remain free floated after bedding. White arrow points to area yet to clear.



Next, trigger mortise and bolt handle notch are filled with modeling clay pressed over plastic wrap to make it easy to remove and reuse to prevent epoxy from entering. Also, any recesses or slots in the action are filled with modeling clay and struck off flush. Red lines indicate where epoxy relief runners are cut with a 1/8" Dremel burr, this allows excess epoxy to escape so the action sits down on the pillars with no stress. The recoil lug is wrapped with 20 mil pipe wrap and the barrel nut wrapped with several layers of plastic electrical tape. NOTE: I coat the I.D. of the pillars with release agent (auto wax) using a Q-Tip then stuff them with modeling clay. Then I use three headless guide screws (visible above the action) wrapped with electrical tape to just fit through the pillars and coated with release agent, screwed into the action holes to mount the stock. These screws push the clay out the bottom and no epoxy enters. The guide screws are removed one at a time and replaced with stockmaker's tee handled screws coated with release agent to secure the action until it cures, being careful to use just enough torque to bottom the action on the pillars. Those runners bleed the epoxy as everything seats, making it easy.



The Front, Sides and bottom of the recoil lug are taped with 2 mil pipe wrap and the barrel nut, or chamber area wrapped to maintain free float. The object is to prevent any part of the lug, especially the bottom, from interfering with the stock, which will make accuracy erratic.

Next, when everything is struck off when stiff enough with a plastic knife or sharpened Popsicle stick and then allowed to cure. Note the excess epoxy bled off through the runners and allowed the action to sit stress free on the pillars. The barrel was wrapped mid forearm with a bushing of tape prior to bedding to set it level with the pillars.



Final bedding job after cleaning up. There will be little half round artifacts filled with epoxy along the edges of the action mortise, that disappear when finish is applied.



With the Remington, one may have to modify the stock to provide sufficient support for a commercial pillar, here a Score High adjustable is shown.



The area outlined with yellow is scant for installing the pillar, so I fill it with J.B. Weld and allow to cure well before drilling the through hole. The Remington uses a bedded tang.



In this case the recoil lug and chamber area is treated as the Savage. I do not use the action screws to mount the action during cure, these may not come loose easily, so I use stockmaker's screws. With the Remington, when installing pillars they are usually mounted to the action prior to bedding in the epoxy. When using the Score High kit all the tools are included and can be used for subsequent jobs. Follow the instructions exactly.

http://www.scorehi.com/our-products/

Shortactionsmoker or some of the other more experienced Kimber guys can probably give you a better answer than me but on my wife's since it is just a skim bedding I taped the recoil lug sides, front and bottom with electrical tape.

The short answer is yes and yes. LOL
I've done it both ways and results were always excellent. My preference, its strictly my preference, I like doing with no tape. My boss on the other hand, (he owns Accurate Innovations), likes taping better.
If you remove your barreled action from the stock often, you may want to tape, but if your like me and rarely remove it, that I would bed without tape.

I won't "skim bed" any rifle

If I am going to the trouble of applying a release agent and filling holes with clay I will then cut out the factory bed job. I then sand out all of the contact between the tang and the chamber using chalk or marksalot as a transfer medium

Kimbers all have this in common
(high spots between the tang and lug)

Dropping the action all the way down to the pillars and then re-bedding is what I like to do to stocks with pillars.

This is the start of a Kimber Montana 280AI re-bed after cutting out the slave/action factory bed job.

This Kimber's action was dropped .018 to contact the recoil lug pillar alone.

I've seen some of your bedding jobs on your Rem 700's and they are a thing of beauty.

I never use any tape.. IMHO it defeats the purpose..

WHile I've only done one bedding job, on a ruger Hawkeye, I taped the muzzale side of the lug as well as the bottom.

The reasoning was the muzzle side shouldn't be touching anything when the slanted action screw is tightened and the bottom of the lug shouldn't touch either because once it does further tightening of the action screw wont bring the action down to proper contact. After removing the tape from the bottom the action seating becomes the limiting factor, not the lug.

That's why I wondered if tightening the action screws farmer tight during bedding was what made taping the bottom of the lug unnecessary.

Thinking the same here.

If you knew how many M1s were around when they were still using them, it was a moot issue totally... a dime a dozen or less....

Freezer will generally eventually allow even glued in actions to pop loose....