Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing A bedding question

In looking around on the net and several other places, I have found some good information on glass-bedding a bolt action rifle. I prepped a stock this afternoon to hopefully bed this week sometime, but I have a question. If you are bedding only the recoil lug/chamber area and the tang, how do you keep the bedding material from flowing toward the center of the action? I have a clay dam in the barrel channel to prevent flow in that direction, but it seems like the epoxy will want to run down the stock into the mag-well cutout. Same thing goes for the tang, I have tape around the rear of that relieved area to catch the overflow, but what of the front edge of the tang? Won't epoxy want to flow toward the trigger area? The dams and tape used to control the epoxy are the only photos I can't seem to find.

I usually let it flow and trim it up later. On 700's I only use clay in the action screw holes.

That, and I've never used enough excess to worry about it running very much. Sometimes I do have to come back and add extra though.

I use a popcicle stick, and a thick compound, Devcon Putty. I do the same as Karl and only put clay in the action screw holes, but with the putty just use what is needed, and don`t have all the excess overflow as many have to deal with. The bedding just leaves a bead of overflow, nothing running out onto the floor or anything at all. Some of the pictures I have seen, are like prepping for a hurricane. It just ain`t all that.

Thanks for the help, guys. It's funny how bedding is made out to be some type of black-magic voodoo or something. The prepping for a hurricane comment probably isn't too far out of line for some. I've heard of folks filling up the action screw holes with clay and tying the action in place with surgical tubing, but I also read an article by Gale McMillan where it is suggested that you tape the action screws in place from the underside before you apply the compound. You then lower the action in place on the screws and gently tighten them, stopping before they get snug. With the rifle I am working on, the inletting allows the action to shift around a slight amount and I was thinking that this method may help make sure the action sits straight in the bedding. If the bolts,threads, and interior of the action are coated in release, this should work, right?

Just make sure you have EVERYTHING coated w/release agent and loosen your screws a little after about 6 hours.Sometimes they want to stick even if coated properly...especially the slotted ones may be a problem cause it's so hard to get a good bite on them after everything is dry.Just take a driver and twist them back and forth a couple of times.

I let it flow as well and trim after....

You don't "have" to have them, but inletting guide screws make the job very simple.

JCM