Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing I'm in it now...bedding project

I decided to bed my Rem 700 VTR .308 tonite. It's the factory Tupperware stock so I don't have much to lose. Used a dremel with a router bit and sanding bit to route out material and rough up all the surfaces. The router bit was small enough that I used it to drill holes through the chamber walls so the epoxy would mechanically lock. I created a front dam using some plumbers putty and also plugged the front action hole with it. I used hot melt to glue the front action hole in the receiver (easy to remove later). After taping off all unglued surfaces I sprayed the action with cooking oil as a release agent. I worked the JB Weld into all the crevacies and dropped in the action. So far everything looks good, I will find out tomorrow!

It is past time to pop the action out of the stock and then put it back in... Just to make sure it will come out.

I do not like the clamp idea at all... Did you do anything to ensure it was being bedded under neutral pressure?

There are still pressure points in the stock just ahead of the putty dam so the barrel is still resting on them. The clamp does not have a lot of pressure on it, just enough to replicate a snug front action screw. I did use the rear action screw to snug the back of the action down, but I haven't messed with the rear part (not sure I will). I popped the action this morning before heading to work. Picture is as it stands right now, no clean up yet. One air bubble on the left side and a little clean up needed at the top edges but it has potential IMO. My expectations are much lower on this, its only a $50 stock.

Agree. The clamp was a bad idea.

Just because a bedding job doesn't look 100 % to the eye doesn't mean it won't work as good as one that looks really great. Take it out and shoot it and them make the judgement on the job you did. You might be surprised.

I will finish cleaning it up this weekend and shoot it within the next week. I will post the results, we shall see.

Good practice for when you get a better stock. Bedding is NOT learned on the first try. Looking forwar to the range report.

I tried cooking spray once, too oily and didn't get the results I've had with other methods (release agents, shoe polish, etc.)

When you get a good stock, heres a few tips. Tape the lug along the bottom and front. The only part you want touching is the back of the lug. No clamps! Take two bolts that will thread into the action and cut the heads off. They will act a studs to line up the action. Wrap tape around the barrel to give desired gap. Use a few wraps of electrical tape around the action and stock to hold it while it cures. Skip taping, use lots of q tips to clean off the oozed epoxy as it comes out. Rubbing alcohol is a great solvent for wet epoxy. If you go a good job there is almost no clean up work to be done after the epoxy cures. Oh and neutral shoe polish is the best release agent. Rub on and buff off.

I cleaned up air pocket that was from the first pass and used shoe polish as a release agent. The shoe polish worked MUCH better. Here is the final result after cleaning up all the edges. It is a perfect mold of the action. Scope mount will hopefully be delivered by the end of the week. I will post range results once I have them.

I am going to try my hand at bedding one of my Tupperware stocks this winter. But I want to test this stock before bedding and see how it shoots afterwards. I have this ADL .223 action/stock so the ADL's were not the best stock. Not really sure what you are talking about the pressure point in front of the dam? I do not see this in my ADL stock but its been a while since I had this stock taken off so I will check. I think the current tupperware inside stock may be a little different from the ADL stocks...I am not entirely sure.

From your clamp you used. it looks like you may be pushing the action down way more than need to be but the mag box may be the limiting factor?

JB weld huh? Never tried that.

I like it as much or than devcon

Just did my 4th one yesterday. I used Pam and Brownells this time. Surface finish on epoxy with Pam isn't as nice as the Kiwi shoe polish but that Kiwi is a bich to get off. Brownells does not cure as fast as Acraglass either.
I grind away everything and leave just 2 pillars for the action to rest on then use the action screws to hold it down on those pillars.

I agree that the Pam does not leave a very smooth finish on the epoxy. Shoe polish is much better. I cleaned polish off using Hoppes #9 and a toothbrush scrubing liberally.

My DNZ one piece mount came in last night so I mounted up a new Nikon Prostaff 5 4.5-18x and sighted it in today. The only box of ammo I had on hand was some Remington UMC 150gn FMJ. Here are the results of my 3 shot group at 100:


My buddy then shot it, here is his target. He was aiming at the little yellow spot above the "shoot-n-c" logo. His 3 shot group was quite impressive considering the ammo.


I shoot left-handed and he shoots right, so we assume the difference in POI is due to this.

Overall all I am very happy with the results.

Just leave the polish on there and buff it in. It is essentially a wax. I use a preservative wax for antiques and after bedding just rub everything down with a soft cloth. Very good corrosion resistance.