Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bedding forward of recoil lug?

Hey fellas, how far forward of recoil lug do you have bedded on any of your bolt rifles?

Granted each rifle/load/shooter is different, just wondering if there is any pattern as a whole.

Also, granted, quality of bedding job itself.

Anyone experience any drastic change in grouping of bedded lug and receiver vs lug/receiver/partial barrel cylinder within the same load?

Myself, 1 inch forward on the cylinder.

Thx!

Sporter to varmint taper barrels free float . Any thing bigger I use a barrel block. All my guns shoot better free floated when I do pad the in front of the recoil lug I end up milling it out

I usually go about 2 inches or so past the lug.

After that it's free float.

Everyone's got a different approach. Personally, I don't like to bed anything in front of the lug.

1.5 to 2 inches forward and float the remainder. Has always produced better accuracy for me.

Good info fellas!

Not truely debating this method vs that method.

Just something I was pondering.


Continue!

Depends a bit on the chambering and/or barrel countour.....but usually 1 to 1.5".. The bigger calibers (ala .375/416) usually get 2".. And, like another said above, free-float the rest... It's always given good performance..

Every gun is different and you may have to experiment. However, my approach is similar to rednecks. Generally with a lighter barrel, it doesn't get any bedding in front of the recoil lug, a heavier barrel gets 1-2" of bedding forward of the recoil lug. This is kind of a general rule I go by, but have had some sporter wt. barrels perform better with nothing under the chamber ("forward of the recoil lug"). When bedding a rifle, you can try glassing under the chamber for 1-2" and shoot some groups, if it doesn't perform as you think it should, remove the bedding under the chamber area gradually. Meaning if you have 2" forward of the recoil lug, remove 1" and shoot again. I had 1 sporter wt. 30-06 that was picky in this regard. I ended up removing all bedding forward of the recoil lug and, it was a sub moa. shooter... My 338's and other magnum's usually like a little bedding forward of the recoil lug (under the chamber area). Every rifle is it's own animal...

The action makes a difference in my decision making process. Like most, I fully float sporters but bed 1-2" on varmint or heavier barrels. But, if I am using a strong single shot action, I will float the heavy barrels as well. Good example is my RPA 2000 Palma rifle, much stiffer than any repeater and easily able to support 30" barrels.

Thx fellas!

So it would seem, as a whole, the heavier contour barrel the more barrel cylinder gets bedded.

With each gun as an individual.

Once in a while, I will bed a section of the barrel ahead of the lug. Whenever I do, I find the rifle produces vertical groups. Still, knowing this, I will undoubtedly try it again when I am bedding a rifle where it looks right; then I will grind it out and have a good shooting rifle. GD

Like others above, I usually go about 1.5, and free-float from there.

The Remington 700 .243 I just finished bedding was very tetchy - wound up with nothing forward of the lug and a light pressure point an inch from the tip of the stock. The 700 in .22-250 I did just prior to that shot best with full receiver bedding , and 1.75 forward of lug. It had a heavier, longer barrel than the .243.

The heavy barreled Mauser is full length bedded - so that is almost10 inches. It shoots OK.... That's the way I started on it, and I have no idea if another way would be better. With 3 shot groups hovering around an inch at 300 yards, I'm calling it good enough.

Thx Las!

Have always been satisfied with 1.5 inches.

I'll just mention that when bedding the chamber area the structure and material composition of the stock is an important consideration.

A McMillan is different than a B&C etc....

Often to do this successfully, some reinforcement of that area of the stock itself may be necessary.

Short range no problem.

Bedding a short section ahead of the lug creates a fulcrum for the barrel to impart stress back into the action. I avoid it unless specifically requested by the gun owner. When a gun comes in for accuracy improvements if it is bedded under the barrel or has a pressure point, removing those is the first thing we do.

Full length bedding can help calm harmonics of a very light profile barrel but would add that I would only do it on a very stable stock like a carbon fiber or one of heavier fiberglass stocks. On a wood stock I would be afraid of point of impact shifts from humidity changes causing the wood to warp.

We have had great success with Sendero or Rem varmint contours as long as 32" on Rem 700 repeaters with no bedding forward of the lug. On our custom rifles from the 17 Hornet up through the 375 CheyTac we never bed under the barrel.

I put my Rem 700 30-06 into a B&C Medalist. It has the aluminum block. It shoots exactly the same before I bedded it and after I bedded it. The bedding includes 1 1/2" in front of the lug, a light bed on the aluminum block, and at the tang. Again, no difference.

Today I finally got around to adding a pressure point. Hope to shoot it next weekend and see how things go.

Thx for the incoming info fellas!

As described above, you risk the fulcrum effect. When I bed ahead of the lug by about 1 1/2", I also bed the receiver all the way back to the tang, even if it is just a skim coat. If you do it right this should eliminate the fulcrum effect and make the receiver/barrel interface with the stock as solid as it is going to be. Even better is to do this and also install pillars.

Bob