Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Pictures of bedded rifle actions

Hi guys, I've compiled some pics of my bedding jobs and wanted to show some of them off. Some are pillar bedded and some are not. I've used devcon, brownells acraglass, and JB weld as bedding compounds. Of the rifles that shoot the best, I'd have to say the ones that are pillar bedded shoot the best. These are not bench rest rifles, but do shoot quite well. Hope you enjoy and can use some of these pics for some of your future bedding jobs. BSA.

Pre 64 model 70 standard model 30-06 steel bed (recoil lug and tang areas W/ pillars) and brownells acraglass full length bed with dummy screw and free floated barrel. Shoots excellent (see pics of target).





Next is my sporterized 1917 enfield (also called the "poor mans wanna be pre 64"):
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/005-7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/Image034.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/008-3.jpg[/img]
Also pillar bedded so I thought the acraglass would be good enough. This rifle shoots into less than 1/2" when I do my part.
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/009-4.jpg[/img]
You can barely see the pillar, but it is there.

Next is my Ruger M77 MKII 300 win mag:


This rifle is full length bedded (brownells acraglass), free floated with no pillars, but it is still pretty accurate.
The next is a Ruger M77 MKII 338 Win mag (JB weld bedded), factory pressure left on forend tip (shoots into less than 1/2" very consistantly):



Here's one of my more recent bedding jobs that turned out very well for a hollow ruger synthetic (plastic) all weather stock (barrel is freefloated):

[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/005-3.jpg[/img]
Had to put a bedding block (improvised) in to get some support under the chamber.
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/011-1.jpg[/img]
I've got others that I've bedded, but these are pretty good examples of basic bedding jobs for hunting rifles. Hope you enjoy, BSA.

What I wanna know is how do you guys get such nice straight 'parting' lines - i.e. the start/stop line of bedding?

I use tape!

So do I, but apparently not as effectively as others !

Sorry for taking so long to answer. Was out trying to help my boss get an elk. Got mine on opening day (saturday). I also use tape, but there is a trick that works pretty good: Apply some release agent to the tape where the bedding compound flows onto it and when it hardens, you can remove the tape by prying toward the recoil lug and snap the bedding off where it doesn't adhere to it. It will be glued into the stock very well, but hopefully doesn't stick to the tape with the release agent on it. I use a q-tip and carefully apply it also. Here's a pic of the stock before the action was droped in:


Hope this helps, BSA.

"poor man's" Pre 64....I like that one!

Thanks for sharing the picts.

No problem CLB, Hope it helps someone get some ideas on different bedding styles and also compounds used. All these rifles shoot very consistantly, especially the pillar bedded ones. If you do a bedding job and want to strive for accuracy and strength I'd opt for pillars every time. Also, it seems the JB Weld is holding up very well and I don't notice any difference in performance. The JB weld costs $4.50 per package and this will easilly bed 2-3 rifles if you are just doing the tang and recoil lug areas. BSA.

Great workmanship. Really appreciate the detailed photos.

Ditto.

Very nice tutorial. Thanks.

Thanks for the compliments guys. Glad to help. BSA.

What do you have to do in order to pillar bed? How do you instal the pilliars? or should I leave that up to a gun smith?

Brett (Mac)

Good question Brett (Mac), but the real question should be: Do I really need pillars in my rifle. Most rifles will perform very well without pillars as long as the bedding gives the propper support of the barreled action. Most of us here on the fire could probably live without pillars in our bedded "hunting" rifle stocks. A prime example of this would be my 338 WM that I used for opening day bull elk (11-6-10). This rifle shoots into less than 3/4 moa on a consistant basis. It is also bedded with JB weld of all things. Cost me $4.50 to bed it and that bedding will probably last a lifetime of elk seasons. So....... to answer your original questions "what do you have to do in order to pillar bed?" Answer: Enlarge the action hold down screw holes enough to house the pillars and epoxy them into the stock. Second question you asked: "how do you insall the pillars?" Answer: In short, you follow the answer to the previous question. As it has been said before, "there are many ways to skin a cat". Midway and Brownells sells pillar bedding kits. Some of these kits have adjustable pillars, but may not work for some applications. Some kits have a drill bit that will follow the original hole so you can get by with using a hand drill to drill the holes out larger to allow for the pillars. Tools like these make it easier for the common man that may not have a fancy drill press or milling machine. I like the "keep it simple" approach. Remember the action screw shank shouldn't make contact with the inside of the pillar. As for your last question, "should I leave it up to a gunsmith?". Answer: As i've always said before this is up to the individual. Some may be more mechanically minded than others, some may have more tools to do the job than others, but the most crucial and important factor is ones ability to make the determination of competence based on how confident they feel about the task at hand. In short: If you don't feel confident enough to do the job, then yes by all means take it to a REPUTABLE gunsmith. BSA.

My recollection is that the "original" method of constructing pillars was to use the same compound as for the main bedding, particularly if using a putty-like epoxy like Devcon. The machined metal pillars came along later. Again, IIRC.

Point being, making the pillars out of the bedding epoxy seemed to work fine. Seemed to be a tad simpler than fitting separate metal pillars, and no special tools required.

I suppose in theory solid metal will resist compression better than, say, Devcon metal putty, but both are harder than wood, which has served most shooters just fine for many years.

I've done it both ways, and it's definitely easier to just make the pillars out of the epoxy. It's easy to get a separate metal pillar out of alignment, and you really have to know what you're doing to get it right. Even more so if the action screw holes in the receiver aren't perfectly aligned, but of course that would never happen.

Paul

I'm pretty handy at wood and metal and for me, I've passed on doing pillars. I don't have a drill press and I won't drill out the action screw holes by hand. There's too great a risk of buggering it up.

Like others have said, it's not a must do thing.

I'll add a couple of other tips on bedding. I wrap the tape on the stock about a 1/16" into the action/barrel area so that the expoxy line is below the stock/action/barrel and not visible after bedding. Provided there's enough stock to action clearance. It also helps center the action, although centering the barrel in the forearm is far more important.

I like the clean look of not seeing any epoxy after bedding.

Another tip for free floating a bedded barrel, in lieu of wrapping it with tape. I take a piece of bicycle tire tube and stretch it over the barrel, maybe leaving it an inch or so short of the recoil lug to make a pad. Most tubes have small molding ribs, so you can turn it inside out if a completely smooth surface is important. Needless to say, you want to make danged sure to have whatever release agent you are using all over the barrel and tube. You don't want bedding compound to get on the barrel under the tubing.

Paul

Excellent advice guys. Glad to see others chime in when others need help. I think this is what the fire should be about. As for using the bedding compound for pillars, I also believe this is how the custom gunsmiths started out doing pillars. They'd normally bed the rifle in the usual manner, then after all has cured they would drill and enlarge the action screw holes to allow for the pillars. Most used powdered metal that you could get from brownells to mix in with their compounds. They would put the compound in and coat the action, screws and bottom metal liberally with release agent. They'd make damn sure they had enough release agent in all areas mentioned (especially the screw holes in the bottom of the action IE: recoil lug and tang). When doing this make sure your wife has enough q-tips on hand and make sure the stock is taped good so when it oozes out nothing gets ruined. After everything is cured you can dissassemble and open the pillars up by about 1 or 2 drill sizes. As far as an aid in freefloating, I have used blue tape (about 3 layers), .010 pipe wrap and recently have been using 2 layers of blue painters tape and an outer layer of aluminum patch and seal tape (see pics). The blue tape when doubled is around .009 and the other is about .002, so I end up with about .011" of combined tape on the barrel. Remember a good test for checking freeflaot is a dollar bill folded in half (about .009"). The reason for the shiny tape is, it leaves a nicer looking surface and the barreled action just peels off the stock when disassembling (make damn sure you use release agent even on this shiny tape).

Hope this further helps with some of you guys wanting to try bedding your own rifles. There are more threads on the fire about this subject and remember a good book or 2 on gunsmithing can be your friend. BSA.

Kelly McMillan wrote several in-depth papers on this subject that can be found on the internet.

Based on their testing:

- They use Marine-Tex for bedding material.
- The crush strength of the solid fill within the action area on their hunting stocks will be stronger than any torque applied and therefore pillars are not needed. Though they practice installing pillars in their bedding jobs, this is done as a matter of technique, not as a matter of need.
- The original pillars using epoxy, followed by the aluminum pillars, were designed for benchrest stocks, which unlike hunting stocks, did not have strong solid fill action areas.

When using factory production wood stocks, hogging out the recoil lug mortise area for bedding epoxy reduces thickness and strength of the remaining wood. This thinned area of wood can easily crush and move over time, sandwiched between the bedding material and bottom metal. In this case, installing either aluminum or epoxy pillars will remove the wood from this equation, and make for a more durable bedding job. Same goes for thin skim coating of epoxy bedding material over wood that was not hogged out. This thin skim of epoxy can give you an initial stress free fit, but it will not be as durable, as this large amount of wood in the equation can still easily move and crush over time. The wood substrate is not as stable or as durable in this area as the solid fiberglass fill, the epoxy, or the aluminum pillars.

Some bedding jobs are easier when using fitted aluminum pillars vs pouring pillars of epoxy, some are not.

Best:)

Thanks for the info. I'll do a little more research and see what I can figure out.

Brett (Mac)