Dave284, etc.
I did NOT say that any action can be dropped into any "beddding block" stock and shoot well. But my experience is that with better bedding-block stocks is they often work great with a dropped-in barreled action.
Epoxy-bedding walnut stocks can help them shoot very well, but have often seen them vary in accuracy over time, due to the wood "squirming" over time due to atmospheric conditions. Which is why many people install pillars--which in my experience also do not help walnut stocks as consistently as synthetic stocks. The .204 I mentioned had been epoxy-bedded without pillars, and passed all the usual tests for stress-free bedding.
Another factor, of course, is the quality of the bedding block. Some are smaller pieces of aluminum or stainless steel rather randomly fitted into either a wood or synthetic stock of varying quality. Others are complete bedding systems for the action. Naturally the fit will vary with the system, and to a certain extent the action.
The most interesting experience I've had with what might be termed a "bedding block" has been with Charlie Sisk's STAR (Sisk Tactical Adaptable Rifle) stocks, where the entire action area and forend is milled of aluminum. (The buttstock is a separate, widely adjustable assembly.)
The "bedding" is milled into the aluminum block, and Charlie said he'd experimented with epoxy-bedding various actions into the stock, which never made any measurable difference in accuracy. I got one of the original run of the short-action stocks, and have since bolted a number of different barreled actions into it, including several 700s, a Bergara, and one of the few actions Charlie put together when he developed the stock. ALL have shot great without ever "bedding" the stock, so my experience matches Charlie's.
In a way, the Stocky's LRC synthetic/bedding block stock is a variation on the Sisk aluminum stock. The action-length bedding block is actually molded into the very stiff synthetic inside a multi-part tool ("mold"),l that itself is inside a machine about 2/3 the size of a school bus--with the machine itself water-cooled through interior ports to reduce warping of the stock as much as possible. The block itself semi-floats within the synthetic stock.
I dropped the .204 barreled action into it because I already knew it was pretty accurate, especially for a sporter-weight stainless barrel. Its best load, using 35-grain Bergers, averaged right around 1/2" for five shots at 100 yards. The LRC stock tightened up the groups even more.
Stocky's also offers a lightweight layup stock with a SYNTHETIC version of the aluminum block, which just may work a little better, due to the synthetic being able to flex a little to fit an individual action. I am in the process of testing one of those now, but won't have sufficient results for reporting for at least a month.
