I recently bought a used walnut rifle stock. The seller did not mention that the stock had bedding compound from a prior bedding job and my barreled action does not seem to fit. Am I screwed? How do you remove existing bedding compound? Your thoughts/comments are appreciated. Thanks.

dremel tool. A fine touch. And mucho patience.

You'll need to rebed to your action, more than likely.

No problem. Here is one of the few GOOD uses of The Dreaded Dremel in gunsmithing!



Just use a cutter and grind out a bit of the old bedding compound. Leave the surface really rough, and with lots of holes and crevices for the new bedding compound to adhere to.

Degrease. Degrease again.

Coat your action well with release agent or Johnson's Paste Wax (give it two coats to make sure you do not miss any spots).

Mix up some new bedding compound, and re-bed the stock to mate perfectly with YOUR action.

There are some good threads her and elsewhere on the internet search for "glas bedding". There is a bit more to it than my post, but not MUCH more -- it is pretty easy!

Best of luck,

John

I have never done it but a friend told me that5 he put his stock in the freezed for a couple daus - then took it out, put it on his bench top with one layer of a towel underneath, put a shrp chisel in the middle of the acra-glass and smacked the chisel with a hammer. He said tnhat the acra-glass cracked and after several more CAREFUL blows he pulled it all out.

GOOD LUCK!

The Dremel tool is your friend, go slow and wear safety glasses. I'd be scared sh***tless to freeze and then chisel on a stock but that's just me.

Before you start put about 5 layers of masking tape on the outside. That dang dremmel tool can crawl right out where you don't wont it.

Dremel tool is your best friend....

I had a friend do a not so good job on a bedding project with Brownell's Steel Bed. But he just sanded it out slowly by hand, then put the release agent on the action and re did it, he did not sand it back down to the wood. He just put some water based colored paste on the action first to see where the unwanted contact with the metal was. Then put a mark on the bedding material its self with a sharpie to see where to sand. Similar to what jpb suggest, with the small holes.

Just be careful, you'll be fine. I no longer have patients for bedding, I have only done it about a dozen times, but there will not be a 13th attempt. Patients went out the window when the kids got in to the late teen years.

Sounds like the voice of experience.... and good advice here.

+100... BTDT... If at all possible, mount the stock in a padded vice and use both hands to steady/control the dremel tool.

I use a router attachment with the side guides to help limit my dremel infringement. Minor adjustments to the depth and side guides and go slow.

It's worth the extra time knowing I'm limiting a dremel misadventure.

I wish I had read this before the first time I took a dremel to a stock!!!