Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Strengthening a wood stock...

This summer it seems I have all my money spent before I even get it. Between tutition, which rose again, and rent, most of my money is spent. However, I have to get something for myself. In addition to working up a new load for my 7mm Rem Mag, I am looking to bed the stock. The rifle is a Rem BDL with a factory wooden stock. I have come to the conclussion that I am going to glass bed it for certain and possibly pillar bed it. So I have some questions:

1. a- Do I need to pillar bed it?
b- Which order...glass first or last?

2. Any suggestions for the best glass bedding kit to be bought? Pillar bedding kit?

3. Anything I should know about before I do this...hints and tips from the experts. I hear it isn't a hard procedure, but it is still one I want to get right.

Finally, I read in a recent magazine about how someone drilled grooves in their stocks, along the forearm and through the handgrip, and bedded old saw files or fishing poles in the stock to help it resist warping and twisting. I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of or done this and their thoughts on whether they think it is necessary. Remember, this is an as issued, mass produced factory wooden stock. Not going to be the choicest wood. If anyone has done this, I would like some detailed instructions on procedure. Also, although I have access to plenty of saw files (Trail Crew for Forest Service...saw files up the yang), I am a little concerned they might add a little weight. I was wondering is as a lighter alternative people thought arrow shafts, aluminum or graphite, would work?

I know this is alot of questions but I would appreciate any info you guys could provide me. Thanks.

RemFan-
1. Brownells sells Accra-glass both in the old formula and gel, I have just
finished bedding an H&S Remington stock with the gel and it came out very
nice. Sinclair Precision (Brownells also) sells an adjustable pillar bedding
kit that from what my pals have told me works well. As far as inletting
some metal into the forearm of the wood, i have tried it with a stock
on my .375 that was constantly moving. It didn't work out too well.
I have heard of people using steel rods, etc. The only reason you
would have to do this is if your forend bends with climate changes.
I suppose you could inlet steelbed into the forend, but it could get
a bit costly.
2. Before you go hog wild, try to do things in logical steps, for instance
you might first want to free float the end of the barrel and see if that makes
any improvement in your shooting. If not, then maybe consider...
3. Glass bedding the reciever and recoil lug with accra-glass gel, devcon,
etc. While at it also bed the trigger guard area. If that doesn't give you
a major improvement, then consider...
4. Pillar bedding. This can be done anytime after the initial bedding as
all it requires is that you drill out the guard screw holes and install the
pillars.
5. You need to determine what level of accuracy you are seeking. Don't
drive yourself crazy trying to shoot 0.5" groups all the time with factory
iron.
Hope this helps, if you have other ?s e-mail me and we can discuss
this. Good luck, Art

After glass-bedding more stocks than I can remember, I found that the best way is let an expert do it right the first time. There's no reason you can't become an expert, so go to it. You have to start before you can go on.

I'd pillar-bed first, then glass. I think you can get both the bedding pillars and the bedding glass (Pro-Bed 2000, highly recommended by bench-rest stockers) from Charley Robertson at http://www.scorehi.com/ with full, clear, and complete instructions.

To strengthen stocks, I used to drill back and down, from the rear of the inletting back through the grip, to a spot somewhere below and a tad behind the nose of the comb, with a 1/4-inch bit 18 inches long (an electrician's bit). I rigged an alignment jig atop the forward receiver-bolt hole, with a metal reinforcement angle, a bolt, a couple of washers, and a nut, then ran the bit through the upper hole of that angle back and down. Then I rough-scored the sides of a length of 1/4-inch spring-steel rod and epoxied it in that hole though the grip.

To stiffen your fore-end, which I think you mean by "strengthen," I'd rout out as much of the fore-end as I dared, then glass-bed a length of close-fitting aluminum channel in that slot. If you rout too small a channel, the aluminum and glass you fill it with is likely to weigh as much as (or more than) the wood you've routed out. You need a lot of air inside whatever stiffener you use, if you want to maintain the same weight or reduce it.

I don't think it needs either if it's shooting fine. I've bedded square tubing in a forearm on a stock that was prone to warping to stiffen it up. You can get this and Devcon Plastic steel for a bedding compound at your local hardware store.