I mean on purpose. At one time is was a fairly common sight on the bench rest circuit.

I have a Model 43 Winchester project. It has been rebarreled with a heavy target barrel. Problem is they never cut the bottom of the barrel for a tenon for the front screw.
As opposed to finding a smith to do the machine work, I am considering epoxy.

Thoughts?

Glue-ins remain the most common type of bedding on real Benchrest rifles.

If it was mine, I'd machine the action for a couple of screws, do a recoil lug and a conventional pillar bedding job. If you don't care about the magazine lash up on the 43's, it's a lot easier.

They did you a favor not cutting the barrel for the mounting spud, by the way.

Good shootin' -Al

Therein lies the problem. If I had a decent gunsmith in my area I'd have the machining done. I agree with you that the lack of the spud is a benefit, hence my reasoning for going the epoxy route. That I can do myself.

back round 1970 while i was in college my pard decided to rebarrel a model 70.

he had a douglas barrel in .270 put on. it was chrome moly but since it was shiny as all get out he thought it was stainless. he proceeded to gob epoxy into the stock and put the barreled action into the epoxy, which oozed out all over.

he used fingers to push the setting up epoxy around the barrel [ full length] and action. so when hard it was indeed very permanent, complete with permanent finger prints. and rust. he never blued it.

so, it was a shooter. many a buckeye whistle pig bit the dirt with it. then we got a chronograph. he was so mad it was not getting what the book said that he sold it that month to a close friend who continued to bust ground hogs with it for years.

just sayin.

i know a machinist in Minnesota that would fit that barrel in the stock for you ,personally i would never epoxy a reciever permantly in a stock not many bench rest shooters do that anymore.

you should read Al's post above!

I did my first glue-in in 1977. Currently, my short range BR rifles are glued, my best "F" class gun is glued, and one 22 is glued.
When I rebarreled my Winchester Model 75, I also left off the dovetailed barrel stud. Instead, I made an aluminum sleeve with a flat bottom. The sleeve is epoxied to the barrel, against the receiver, and is bedded into the stock with three 1/4x28 screws. The scope is mounted on the receiver ring and the sleeve. Works well. I would consider the same treatment for your 43. GD

Thanks GD. The barrel is pretty heavy with a pretty decent straight shank before the taper starts. My plan was to "glue" from the back of the action to the front of the chamber where the taper starts.

A short, split barrel block no longer than the straight shank of the barrel and letting the action float would be another good way to go. Inlet it and bed it into the stock with pillars and bed the barrel to the block. -Al

I beg to differ, most all BR rifles are glue in. A heat gun will allow you to unglue if need be.

Are you speaking of Jim Kobe? He is a goodun.

I have an aluminum sleeved Left handed Remington action glued in a McMilan stock chambered in 30-338 Winchester built by Mitchel Maxbury back in the 90's. It is a 1000 yard prone rifle. At one time it was a hammer, barrel is a little worn now.

All the BR guns I work on are glued/screwed. However.... one of my favorite hunting rifles is also. I machined the bottom of a L/A 700 similar to a Tikka, bedded a steel lug in the McMillan Classic, and pre-bedded, then glued the action in the stock. It’s a 7 rem mag, I was doing some experiments and needed to be sure of a few things. It’s less than seven pounds without a scope and has remained firmly attached. In fact it rings like a bell, is extremely accurate and holds zero. Epoxy isn’t scary, a little heat is all you need.

Though the majority of real-deal Benchrest rifles are glue ins (the exception being Hunter class rifles where the rules prohibit it), I'm in the minority and pillar bed my junk. On the Panda for my 30BR HV class gun, I fitted it with a recoil lug and did a few other tweaks:













These 3 shot groups are with bullets from my new bullet making dies. The 5 shot groups are running about 40% larger on average. Being a bolt-in doesn't appear to be a handicap.



Good shootin' -Al

BSA will be along shortly to ridicule you for not shooting 10 shot groups… Laffin’!!!!!!

I can’t imagine the time, effort, knowledge, and precision it takes to shoot groups like that. Well done.

Thanks...appreciate it, sir.

Doing initial load scanning with a real deal Benchrest rifle over wind flags, three shot groups are where I start. If it won't shoot small with three shots, five won't make it any smaller.

That range session was to evaluate core seating pressure and different base-to-ogive dimensions. Those questions having been answered, the next session will be five shot groups with different seating depths and neck tension changes.

When I find what I feel is a pretty stable tune up, I'll shoot a 12-15 shot group (not changing the aiming point) to insure that the center of the group remains stable. In Benchrest Score shooting, the 'X' is a 1/16" dot at 100 and an 1/8" dot at 200. Having a stable group center is critical or you'll get caught in a hold-off situation where the bullet is going to go exactly where you held it!

This 15 shot group at 100 shot with one of my other 30BR Pandas back in 2007 illustrates a pretty stable group center. The shot at 10 o'clock was my last round and was intentionally fired in a subtle mirage change. It went right where it should have.



Good shootin' -Al

Great shooting.
I have never owned a glue in but a buddy of mine did. He was as happy as could be until one day at the range, groups started opening up and he glue in came unglued.

If you're lucky, a glue in will fail suddenly. It's the ones that don't that cause serious grief. I can't imagine how many barrels and scopes have been replaced when the cause was actually the glue in getting wonky.

The thing to remember about glue ins is that just because it's glued in doesn't mean it's stress free. But now you can't check the bedding.

A poorly done glue in is a truly evil thing....

Guys like Shaen (Shooter71) are true glue in artists.

Bubba in his car port with a mouth full of bubble gum and his wife's hot glue gun...not so much. -Al