Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What's the skinny on bedding a rifle with JB weld?

I was preparing to bed my recently re-barreled M7 last night. Unfortunately, when I opened up my sealed box of Brownells Acra-glas I found that the resin had gotten firm and lumpy. Try as I might I couldn't get it blended smoothly with the hardener. Bummer :(, there's $30 I didn't need to waste. It was a "new" package, but had been sitting on my shelf for 2 years. I guess I didn't realize it had been there that long.

Anyway, since there's been a lot of chatter in last couple years about using JB weld for bedding rifles, and because it's much cheaper than ordering another package of Acra-glas, I thought I might give the JB weld a go.

The gun is a Model 7 in 7-08 with the CDL walnut handle. I had bedded it previously, but the new barrel has a different contour so I thought that instead of just opening up the channel, I'd remove the existing bedding an re-bed it from scratch.

So, anybody that's used JB for bedding, what are the pros and cons. Any tips or warnings?

Thanks for any constructive info you might be able to offer.

The skinny is that it works just fine. It's more of a runny material, so it's perfect for skim bedding, but if you need to fill in some large voids in the stock, then something more viscous like Devcon 10110 is better.

Don't use JB Quick. Use JB Weld. JB Weld has a ~19 hour cure time, and is MUCH harder and more durable than JB Quick.

Thanks, Jordan.

I did a bunch of reading on some old threads here regarding this subject and read the same advice about the somewhat runny nature of this stuff. I've got a bit of fine fiberglass additive from a package of Acra-glas-I wonder if it would thicken things up if I mixed it into the JB before applying it to the stock?

So would you use JB weld with the relase agent supplied in the Brownells kit?

I probably will, but from what I've read, most of the guys using JB for bedding are using Hornady One Shot case lube.

Let me know how it goes! What are you planning on bedding?

I've used JB Weld numerous times and has worked extremely well. I echo Jordan's comment and use the regular JB weld...avoid the quik stuff.

Another alternative for a release agent is Johnson's paste wax. Lifetime supply in a single tin.

I'll do that. I'm bedding my Remington Model 7 in walnut. Maybe I'll take a few pics, but there are numerous old threads with pictures of successful JB bedding jobs here at the 'fire and it appears to work well. I only posted my question to see if anyone who's done it could relate how it's holding up and to ask for any tips.

I think the one shot and paste wax obviously must work as they are comonly recomended. But I'd use that blue stuff in your brownells kit if it's still good.

+1 on the regular JB

I haven't done it but i can't see why it wouldn't work.

Thanks for the info. I've heard that Johnson's paste wax works well. I wonder if my bride has any around the house?

The last couple jobs I did, I used Marine-Tex. Thicker for filling more space. I'll keep the JB in mind for skim coats, though.

I've used JB Weld with kiwi neutral shoe polish as a release agent, and it worked fine. I would not at all be afraid of thickening it up with a filler of some sort. Powdered aluminum might be pretty cool...

John

Yep, you could thicken it up a bit with a filler of some sort, like powdered steel, aluminum, fiberglass, or something else that will bond well with the epoxy.

I use Kiwi neutral shoe polish. Apply a coating and lightly polish, repeat 2x. Works great.

JB Weld + Micro-ballons + Hornady One Shot as a release agent is all I've used for years.

I've only used marine tex, but what a pain in the ass measuring that stuff...

Thanks for all the info, guys. What about adding color to it? I've got a tube of color left from the Acra glas kit. Wonder if adding a couple drops would affect the JB in any way?

Color won't hurt it, as long as you use a small amount of the dye.... I've used a small amount of ink from a permanent marker to dye JB weld both black and brown.

Just make sure you add the dye after mixing the epoxy up thoroughly. Gotta make sure the parts are properly mixed, which is done visually...

Kiwi neutral shoe polish is a great release agent.

I'll have to try the Kiwi polish. Have had pretty good luck myself with Hornady One Shot. Just be real liberal with your application of it to be sure all your metal gets coated well.

Can't see why JB Weld wouldn't work famously, unless of course you would need something a little more viscous. I'm sure powdered metal or microballoons would help with that.

I used Loctite epoxy to "bed" an aluminum arrowshaft in a Remington tupperware stock to stiffen the foreend as an experiment once. Wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it worked great. I didn't add anything to increase the viscosity, as I liked the more liquid consistency of it for that situation.