A question with an obvious answer maybe, but I can't figure it out.
If a poor man's way of floating a barrel is to put a card or two under the action then why wouldn't one put a more permanent shim under the action when bedding? Seems like this would save the hassle of removing wood from the barrel channel. That's the part I dislike anyway.
The answer is, because the sole purpose of bedding an action is to stress relieve the lock up of the action to the stock and eliminate and binding/flexing/distrotion stresses that may occur from the action settling into the stock after repreated firing or, if exposed to weather conditions that effect the stock.
If you put any type of shim there, it only effects the point of contact, whereas bedding takes the place of wood as the contact point for the action contact and lock up points. When the bedding compound dries, it has confromed to a missor image of the action contact points so that the perfect fit between them, eliminates any binding or stress during that lock up. It also stabilizes the lock up so that thescrews are far less likely to loosten over time.
When I bed an action, I lightly skim away the wood with a dremmel so allow more beding compound to be used. I only use Devcon Steel as it does not shrink as much as substitutes and I haev foudn it stable after nearly 20 years with some rifles I have bedded.
As Dave has stated, I also do the tang area as well as an inch around the front lock screw and you can choose your method of supporting the barrel in the free floated channel whether you choose tape, business card or a drop of bedding compound the day before you actually bed the action.
It is scary until you try it. After that you will be doing everything you can get your hands on until you get sick of it. I don't keep records any more but in one bad year, I bedded over 50 stocks.
John
When truth is ignored, it does not change an untruth from remaining a lie.
