Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing What bedding compound/best luck with on your rifle?

What bedding compound have you had the best luck with over the counter?

For example Tractor Supply, etc.

I am going to dremel and bed the recoil lug area on a Hogue stock on a SPS tactical. [That appears to be where all the movement is]

Or suggestions, short of throwing away the Hogue.

Short of throwing it away? In that case, I got nothing.

Someone on here must have experimented with the Hogue stocks.

Tried bedding, stiffening the forearm area.

What worked? [ relative to that stock ]

I have done more than a few and they are whippy in most regards, but if you are not demanding bugholes and don't mind the noise they will work more than well enough on guns of reasonable recoil.

I often hollow the fore end webbing and poke holes out to the sides to create mechanical links with the bedding compound (I fill these first with epoxy so they do not bubble in and fail to attach to the main body of the bedding) and used epoxy fluffed with microballons to bed sections of fly rods in. That creates a very light fore end if needed. Otherwise, skip the microballoons.

I have used a bunch of different epoxies and stick to slow cure blends, especially 24 or 48 hour cures. For general bedding I usually use MarineTex, (gray ONLY, the white is brittle) and have had virtually no issues with it.

If just doing a small area around the lug it is more important to link the bedding mechanically to the stock.

PC-7 is good stuff, strong as hell. But it's sticky as tar, and can be a PITA to clean up. Use PLENTY of release agent and let it cure for 24 hours before you try to remove barreled action. I don't use the stuff anymore myself. I did a rifle with it I had to get done in a pinch, but Pro Bed 2000 and Acraglas are way easier to work with. No idea about the houge stock though, never cared for them myself.

I like Marine Tex Gray, you can find it at West Marine or on the internet.

I use Armagrout as it is available locally and I can colour it with cement dye...and I have not had a failure using it.

Marine Tex gray. I've bedded over 250 rifles with the stuff....great product.

Accra Glass only. You get enough for several rifles instead of a little tube. It comes with stain. Time to work is longer and what you do is to mask the wood next to the barrel, receiver and let get a little hard and then use a plastic cutter to remove squeeze out to level. I use two parts to bed. I use steel bed at the recoil lug and put gel or regular Accra glass with the glass filler for the rest, all at one time. It blends perfect.
How many little tubes do you need to buy over the counter? Even my big bottles of Hobbytown are better for for the amount and can do a lot but get the slow cure.
I have epoxy used for aluminum but why would I use gray on a rifle?
If only the recoil lug, you don't need much but bedding a lug must be done correctly. Sides and front need clearance.

Good to see you know as much about bedding as you do wood finishing...

Devcon

I use steel bed and it has been great for all of the rifles I have bedded.

I use Steel Bed on the lug and action of any big boomer.

DF

Acraglas Gel though it's over the counter only in some gun shops. Easy enough to order from Brownells (also Devcon and Marine Tex) I think the secret is to pick one of the known good formulations and "stick" with it. Acraglas Gel threw me a couple of curves until I learned what it liked.

For hunting rifles, I use AcraGlass. For bench rifles, Devcon steel putty. Never have a problem. I have friends who shoot benchrest who use the slow JB Weld and they swear by it.
Phil

I've always used Acraglas Gel, never used Marine Tex or Devcon.

How do those two compare with Acraglas Gel?

I see benchrest shooters using them, must be a reason.

DF

The whole idea behind bedding a rifle is to create a perfect interface between metal and wood (or composite), to prevent/lessen weird shifting that influences repeatable accuracy/reliability. If the bedding is perfect to begin with there is no need to bed, IMO. (But perfect inletting is the stuff that dreams are made of, and like dreams rarely achieved. Patient/anal inletting is squarely in the province of high end custom craftsmen or do-it-yourselfers who aren't consumed by instant gratification.)

To that end there are a lot of epoxies that do the job well. I think brand loyalty has as much to do with it as anything else. Personally, I've done a couple with West System epoxy thickened with colloidal silica (the same "fiberglass" floc that Brownell's supplies in their Acraglass kits), and with zero issues.

Perfect bedding is uncommon. This Len Brownell inletted C&H 7RM is about as perfect as I've seen. It's so perfect, no need to do anything. And, it shoots.

DF

Once again, you suck

Ditto!