Snug the front first?

The rear?

Equal a 1/4 turn at a time?

How tight?

Front one to 40 oz inches, then back one to 20 oz inches.

A good test is to then loosen the front screw and see if the barrel rises in the stock. If it does, you have a bedding problem. Then re-tighten to 40 oz inches.

Front one damn tight, then rear one pretty tight. Brownells has hex head screws for the clumsy, or those who've bought rifles from the clumsy. I fit both descrptions at times.

I agree except I can’t find a torque wrench in inch/oz. mine are all inch/pounds or foot pounds. Some manufacturers vary on torque specs but 40/20 is a general number.

Front screw farmer tight, rear screw snug. That protocol has worked fine for about five generations, but now we need torque wrenches?

I can relate.

If the gun is bedded correctly, you will be drawing down on steel both front and rear. You can`t over tighten, snug um both up tite.

There are more materials used to make stocks now. That, and pillars, aluminum action bedding, etc. Some of these were uncommon or unknown back in the daze of the mostly wooden stocks. Torque wrenches used to be more common in the BR world, but virtually unknown with hunting rifles. That has changed. Time marches on.

I use a flat bladed screw driver unless it has torque or allen head screws.

40 oz inches = 2.5 inch lbs = 0.208 ft lbs

Long ways from 40 inch pounds. Believe the Ruger American states 60-80 inch pounds. I might have 2.5 inch pounds on the front trigger guard screw but I doubt it.

I do the front first then the rear.

I don't do farmer tight.

40 inch pounds of torque on the front doesn't seem unreasonable, but I'm going to have to back up the recommendation to play with the screws and test for movement or springing. It was probably "farmer tight" up front for K-98s and about half that for the rear tang, which in turn was SUPPOSED to contact a metal sleeve around the rear action screw (to avoid crushing the laminated wood).
What I would want to feel is both action screws snugging up quickly to a firm stop that tells me the wood isn't soft or damaged. If it takes a couple of turns to go from "free" to "tight," it's smart to take a scratch awl or something and see how hard the support wood in the stock still is. If it's gooey or smushed, a bedding job with modern epoxy is in the cards.

Generally I use a screwdriver.

Have a very accurate (and relatively expensive) torque screwdriver, but mostly use it for scope-mounting. Have yet to find any significant difference in various inch-pounds with most well-bedded centerfire rifles, and have experimented plenty. So just tighten the front screw first, with the rifle tilted upward so the recoil lug rests firmly against the stock inletting, then firm up the rear screw.

I also use a screwdriver. Great invention.

Or, as the Brits call it, a turnscrew.

Righty tighty
Leftie loosie

Clockwise

I have hex head action screws on my Mauser--which I recommend--but I don't believe places like Brownells or Midway carry them anymore.

And, for my military (vs commercial) Mauser actions, I glass in a metal ferrule to prevent over-tightening the rear action screw.

Someone should make a torque driver marked "Farmer, Damn, Pretty, Snug, and Friction". Save a lot of confusion.

The front screw on my Fieldcraft is supoosed to get 80 inch pounds. Don't have a driver that goes that high, so it'll get "Farmer" I suppose if I ever take it apart.

B-Square made them, but no more I guess. Had to buy slotted ones for my Husky last year. Midway has some for other actions from Forster and NECG. Maybe the Mauser market is drying up. Lots of new rifles have them.

To me a vintage Mauser with hex screws is like a Jaguar XK-120 with mag wheels and low profile tires.

fremont,

I ended up with hex-head screws on a couple of Mauser actions some years ago, but got rid of them in favor of old-fashioned slot-head screws because I was traveling to hunt a lot back then. I started using a take-down rifle case because it was so much handier in many situations, from airports to vehicles, and simply took my bolt-action rifles out of their stocks, then put them back together again upon arrival wherever I was hunting.

I found it a LOT easier (and less stressful) to use slot-head screws than hex-head screws, partly because some sort of standard screwdriver is always available anywhere around the world. But I also always carry a Swiss Army knife, and ground the screwdriver blade to fit the slots in Mauser action screws, along with putting a switch-tip screwdriver in my gun case, with a hollow handle and the appropriate tips for stock or scope-mount screws.

In fact I even switched some of my non-Mauser rifles to slot-head screws for the same reason, such as my NULA .30-06. But I often preferred to travel with Mauser-based rifles, because of their one-piece magazine/trigger guard assembly. I would screw it back on the action after taking the stock off, because it did a great job of protecting the trigger assembly, and also made sure the action screws weren't misplaced.

I'm not as concerned about hex-head action screws these days, because I don't fly with my rifles nearly as much. But I don't see any advantage in hex-head screws partly because after considerable experimenting I never could find any difference in how well my rifles shot with their action screws tightened by a torque wrench, versus just tightening them by hand. And that includes several super-accurate rifles like that NULA .30-06.

Someone should make a torque driver marked "Farmer, Damn, Pretty, Snug, and Friction". Save a lot of confusion.
.............. LMAO Pappy...... Almost sprayed coffee on the screen but that would simplify things. Perhaps the Wheeler Fat Wrench marketing dept. could look into that.

Bring them both just snug, then tighten the h@ll out of them with an impact wrench.

Actually I have a method that seems to work even on Husqvarna 98 Mausers. I snug both a bit, then I tighten the rear guard screw very tight, then I tighten the lug screw very tight. Short of glassing the heck out of the action, this seems to work adequately. I also frequently tighten the screws on guns I get from out of this area with its dry climate, as they dry out over time.

I gotta believe that Denton typo'd and meant pound/inch. 40 pound force/inch & 20 pound force/inch is reasonable.I don't want to speak for Denton though.