I just picked up an HS Precision rifle in .240 Wby. HS Precision doesn't bed their stocks, depending on the aluminum blocks to do the job. I haven't yet shot it and am sure it would perform the guaranteed 1/2 MOA. I just couldn't help myself and glass bedded it.

The forend now feels stiffer. Before, I observed forearm movement back to the front action screw, now it's to the leading edge of the bedding, approx. 1 1/2" ahead of the action. Shorter fulcrum, less forearm to bend, less over all movement, functionally stiffer.

DF

back a few years ago i owned 5-6 hs stocks, and mounted them on all my deer/elk rifles. although i thought of skim bedding one or two, i only ended up bedding one, and it didn't shoot any better after the bed job than it did before. i was always more than satisfied with just screwing the barreled action down and shooting. i have never seen a rifle shoot worse after a proper bedding job. good luck with your new rifle. i bet it will be a great shooter.

Mine shot better after bedding it, the rifle(in .300WM) had a tendancy to group most shots together and kick one out a bit. The bed job kept the groups together. That being said, I bedded one on a 7rsaum and couldn't tell a great difference-certainly no worse.

I'm probably gilding the lily, but at least it makes me feel better. I had seen recommendations to torque the action screws on HS stock at levels higher than I usually torque. I've seen 60-70 inch pounds recommended, which is pretty much force. With skim bedding, I could probably get by with a more conventional 35-40 inch pounds.

DF

Still go 60lbs after bedding, if your bedding job is correct, there will be no problem.

I've had two H-S stocks bedded. 7mmSendero SFII and 22-250VS. Neither shot better after bedding. I'd still do it cause H-S leave gaps big enough to hide a cat in all around the receiver. They just look better with bedding.

I've used H & S stocks for a couple of M700s. My smith told me that there was too much "slop" behind the lug and that it would make a big difference to bed it si I let him. At 100 yards it didn't look a bit different but at 300 yards it was about 1 and 1/2 inches better.

My gunsmith friend told me that correct torque is only necessary on an HS or B&C medalist when it is not skim bedded.

My hs stock has been bedded and it helped. I torque it to 65 lbs.

Overmax, thank you and davidlea for the torque info. I'll up my torque accordingly.

DF

In a properly bedded gun, torque is a non issue. The screws are there only to hold the parts together. If you have to use the screws for a tuning aid, you best re-visit your bedding.

The bedding looks great. I've done a bunch of that type work. The action tightens down to a solid end point with no movement, as one would expect from a HS stock with or without bedding.

I wrote earlier about the relative increase in forend stiffness by glassing the barrel 1 1/2" ahead of the receiver. Instead of bending all the way back to the action, the forend now bends from 1 1/2" ahead of the receiver, a shorter fulcrum.

So, you think that with a good bedding job, the torque is less of an issue? That would make sense to me, as we usually use 35 inch pounds or so on pillared and glassed stocks. But, I've always heard and read that the HS stocks should be torqued 60-65 inch pounds.

DF

By torquing an "unbedded" stock you get that bedding plate to flex enough to tighten up the fit to the action. If you skim bed it that point is moot.

DF, it dang sure aint going to hurt anything. I'm running several HS stocks, some bedded and some not. They seem to shoot well either way. I had one that shot better afterwards, but most all of them have shot just dropping them in. You can feel the movement on the bbl if the fit is bad.

Let us know how the new rig shoots. That's a very interesting cart IMO.

Good Luck

loder