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What works best to repair a crack behind magazine well? I can spread it a hair and squeeze in liquid then clamp.

Titebond II.

Acraglass = epoxy. One and the same. Close your eyes and pick one.

To repair a crack behind the mag well you will want to strengthen the area with a piece of 1/4 inch dowel glued in across the split. If you don't, it will just split again beside your repair. GD

That is the kind of info I need, thx. There is also the normal crack behind the recoil lug that all my pre-64s ended up with. Glass bedding will take care of that I hope, maybe not. I see a McMillan is in the future.

With a crack behind the recoil lug, again, I like to inlet a dowel across the grain and bed on top of that. One can drill right across the stock and put in a walnut dowel but I prefer to hide it. Some like to use a piece of threaded rod instead of doweling. Either way works. Acraglas liquid; not the gel. GD

Open it up and use any quality epoxy. The trick is to wrap the crack with surgical tubing pulled tighter than a crack whores next fix.

Once you fix the crack, then reinforce the area with anything, a ringed nail with the head clipped off is my favorite, takes but a small hole or groove to inset the nail.

Clamp it before drilling the hole longitudinally along the length of the crack from inside the mortise, to subtend the crack. Drill the hole big enough so there's room for the plug and epoxy to not prevent them from keeping the crack from not closing tight when re-clamping the glue up. Gluing the plug in along the length of the wood grain is way stronger than gluing the long grain plug across the grain of the stock. Always make a joint to be long grain-to-long grain. Long grain-to-cross grain is always weaker.

Truth be told, no plug is really necessary if the sides of the crack are clean to allow good glue bonding. The glued joint will be stronger than the surrounding wood. If it's gunked up then definitely drill and plug.

Wood always splits along the grain which is why doweling across the grain, in combination with a good repair of the split, will stop splitting. Drilling along the split and using a dowel as a plunger to force glue into the crack is good technique but the stock may still split beside the repair. The glued joint should be stronger than the surrounding wood but the surrounding wood was demonstrably weak, so the bar is set pretty low. Of course, glass bedding may well eliminate the improper fit which was contributory to the split in the first place. The tendency for some stocks to split behind the mag well is also best stopped by reinforcing across the grain. GD

I use these type syringes for injecting epoxy, epoxy mixes and even when bedding a rifle. You can find all different sizes on the web with various lengths and diameter of tips. They are cheap and easy to use and you can put the concoction exactly where you want it.

Be careful. Some epoxies will “sugar” with time. Acraglass is a cut above. JB weld is the best. All “epoxies” can be removed with heat…… always use two part epoxies……

Yes, this...

Found some regular Acraglass, on the way.

I started with Acraglas, it was a bit messy I thought, but with my inletting skill it saved a stock or two. Then Brownells came out with fiber glass to add to the Acraglas which made it better. Years later, Acraglas gel came along which was much better IMO, just because it didn't run - less messy. Then several other glass bedding epoxies came along. Yesterday I glass bedded my 300 H&H with Wheeler Bedrock, I also have JB Weld, which I've also used with satisfaction.

Here's my question:

Why is one better than another?

A gunsmith friend told me that Acraglas was too soft - I have not noticed that was a problem. I've never had an issue with Wheeler either. But the Wheeler is just about used up. I have maybe 1/3 of the Acraglas left and enough JB weld to last quite awhile I think. The last time I used Acraglas I used it to stiffen a fore-end in a stock, which it did well I think.

What makes JB Weld the best? Is it the hardest or?

First off, the stuff Brownell's packages as fiberglass is actually colloidal silica. Secondly it's all epoxy- and all epoxy resin essentially comes out of the same spigot so to speak. The differences in different brands comes about from the proprietary hardeners they all employ.

Here's what I'm dealing with, it's a shooter so to work on the stock is fine with me. I epoxied crack behind magazine well with a 2 part epoxy and it failed. Notice crack heading down forearm from recoil lug area. Your thoughts. I now have Acraglass [original] in the shop, I'm a plumber.

I’ve used ringed bronze boat nails with the heads removed for 45 years to repair tough stock cracks (with epoxy). Come in at angles under the action to hide everything or just makes a tiny spot outside flush with wood stained epoxy to match the wood is hard to find the spot the nail was inserted.

Now to tighten this recoil lug up, then the magazine crack, then bed it.

I knew this gun would shoot after I tightened her up. Barnes 130 TTSX w/Varget. Still haven't bedded the tang yet. Barrel floats right to receiver. Cannot sell it now.