Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Floating or skim bedding midsection of action?

Just curious as to the standard procedure for you guys on hunting rifles. In the past, I've generally bedded the lug and the action forward of the magazine well on bolt actions, as well as the tang. If the stock was touching the action anywhere else, I usually sand out the inletting a bit to allow the action to float on just my Devcon at the action's front and rear. I've received several secondhand stocks over the years where people have obviously bedded all the contact surfaces along the full length of the action. Also, some advocate bedding just the lug/front area and not sweating the remainder of the action, barring any unwanted contact from trigger pins/components and/or pinched magazine boxes.

Thoughts?

I bed the rear tang, receiver, lug and front of same for say 2" or so and then free float. Lug is bedded tight. Never had any issues unless I did something stupid like cant the barreled action some, etc.

Far as the rear tang with no bedding IMHO it's not so "critical" with a Rem or Win since the tangs are wider and longer than a Ruger or Mauser. That being said, I've gone to method mentioned above. Tight and stress free is where it's at.

I bed the tang, recoil lug, and chamber portion of barrel. All sitting in a relaxed state with no screws tightened up until everything has hardened. .

Fully bed the action. Float the tube is the order of the day

I bed the whole action, but I put a piece of wide tape on the bottom of the action from the magazine cut out to the end of the cutouts near the tang. I cannot say it helps anything but cleanup is a lot easier and I have not noticed it hurting anything. I have only been doing this for a few months, but will continue. I never bed anything in front of the recoil lug.

On the 700's, I bed the recoil lug and under the front of the reciever to where the magazine cut in the reciever begins. The recoil lug gets .020-.030 clearance on bottom, sides and front. No bedding under any part of the barrel. Same .020-.030 clearance between the sides of the reciever and the stock. The tang is bedded. The trigger guard (ADL or BDL) gets bedded to the botttom of the pillars. If it's an ADL, I inlet a small alum. pillar into the stock so the front trigger guard screw goes into that, rather than the action. Make sure there's no stock to mag box interference (if so equipped) and make sure the trigger assy. doesn't contact the stock at any point and that the trigger opening in the trigger guard is enlarged to give plenty of clearance.

Each action has it's own nuances and you have to take some time and study them before adopting a 'one size fits all'. approach.

I just finished pillar bedding a CZ527 in 204R. With the way it took to get decent pillars in there, etc. it was quite a project. The good thing is that now the dial indicator wiggles less than .002 when either the front or rear screws are cracked loose.....a far cry from how it was out-of-the-box, that's for sure.

FWIW. -Al

What Karnis said, but like JPRO mentioned you need to go around the action to make sure you're not touching anywhere. After reading one of Karnis' posts several years ago I started bedding tight and am going to keep it that way until something goes awry.
powdr

Many ways to skin the cat, isn't there..

There's a fair argument for bedding the recoil lug, minimum, but not always. I have a CDL Whelen that shoots a couple combinations into an average of <0.75MOA, and has since the day it came home. I have a couple five spot Redfield targets with five 3 shot groups all under 0.5", pretty much OK for any hunting rifle, the only modification is a Rifle Basix trigger. Most of the time, I've not been so lucky. I almost always put some time on a trigger swap, or cleanup, as few come through beyond barely usable. If accuracy doesn't pick up after a couple boxes of ammo, and a round of JB between trips to the range, I start with the recoil lug, and first two inches of barrel. Then I relieve fore end pressure, in steps. Last I'll pillar bed the tang. Usually ,somewhere through the exercise, the rifle will perk up and hunt. The ones that will not, go for a new tube, or a second owner.

I agree with Karnis.

I've rescued a number of Rugers and Mausers that quit grouping. Typically, in a narrow tang receiver, the wood can get soft and the action pulled down into a bind. I've even seen the rear action screw ground off, as it was coming up thru the action when tightened. By building up the tang area, restoring the action to proper positioning and relieving any bind, the thing starts shooting again.

On big boomers, I Steel Bed the lug, then glass bed the rest of the action.

I've heard top smiths say to float the barrel all the way to the reciever, something about harmonic vibrations, etc. Years ago, I was taught to bed the first couple of inches of the barrel. Probably splitting hairs...

Can't say I can tell the difference...

DF

Correct. It takes very little screw torque to "bend" or "twist" an action. Somewhere in the range of 15-20 in/lbs. That's less that I've seen recommended for scope ring screws.

That's not much pressure at all.

No it's not. That's why I recommend bedding the way I do. It's no skin of my teeth if folks disagree. More power to them. What's funny is how that "same person" would be completely anal about making sure the rings are lapped so the scope will sit perfectly in the rings and not be "stressed". Sure that's important but don't forget about what's below.

Now just think about screwing a barreled action on top of pillars or an aluminum block with no bedding (or improper bedding) wondering why the rifle won't shoot. Frequently the hue and cry is that it's the scope, crown, lose screws, etc. and while it might very well be, you can't have a baseline from which to start if the damn thing is crooked or bound up. Period zero the end.

Carlos knows what it takes and he's 100% correct. Proper foundation is the key. However, keep this in mind: Not every rifle/manufacture is the same.