Noticed that you didn't bed the full length of the action. Is that of any potential consequence? Or just because it's a Ruger?
my quick answer is "laziness"
but it's actually more of an opinion of necessity.
It's a hunting rig in a wood stock, granted it's a laminate & seems to be well made. But still, it's a hunting rig. It's a factory rifle with a factory barrel, massaged factory trigger, this is a mild modification that brings gains in repeatable performance.
In my opinion it's the biggest step a poor boy like myself can take with a factory rifle without turning it into a money bucket. The brownells kit is probably around 16 bucks give or take. Well there is enough compound in the kit to do at least half a dozen rifles in the way I show here. So I've got around two & a half bucks in materials into it & the rest is my time.
It really is a low buck enhancement.
More specific to your question about full length bedding on the action, I honestly feel it would be more for looks & less for performance with this rifle.
If I had to rate the areas of the action/inletting I'd say 90% of the value/importance is up in the recoil lug area with the other 10% being some lateral bedding in the rear for alignment assistance. And I guess I see more value in that lateral or �side bedding� behind the magazine well where the stock gains some more meat.
I guess it becomes a question of �where do you draw the line?�
The effort/benefit ratio is strong when you go this far with your home bedding job. Minimal work & the gains are huge. Now when you start taking it further than this the work becomes much more entailed and the benefits for your efforts aren�t as great. Don�t get me wrong, I�m not saying it�s not worth full length bedding of the action. I�m just saying it becomes quite a bit more difficult to do this and while there are gains I don�t feel the gains are huge. Also if I was going to invest the effort of full length bedding I would also be looking at pillars. And if I was going to do that much work you can bet it would probably not be a factory barrel and probably not a factory stock either.
I�m getting too gabby with my explanation here but I�m trying to say this is basically where I draw the line with a factory rifle in a factory stock. It�s a nice performance modification that helps you get the most out of your factory rifle.
Now if I could hold it straight & steady so I could cut some respectable groups to show off to you guys I�d really have something to smile about.
