Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing glass bedding

Here is one for our gunsmith experts. I glass bedded a Remington 700 rifle in a Mcmillan stock with Acra-Glass. I bedded only the recoil lug area. I used Brownells spray release agent and plenty of it. After the bedding compound dried to a putty like consistency I trimmed off the excess with a popsicle stick. Then I allowed everything to set up and harden overnight. I then removed the action screws and the floorplate. The job looks really nice except for 1 small problem. I can't get the d*^%m barreled action out of the stock now!! I have pulled and tapped as much as I dare. I've bedded a fair # of stocks and have had good results for a do it yourselfer. Anyone got a suggestion on how to get the barrelled action out of a stock in this situation? Right now they seem hopelessly stuck togather? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Thanks, 163bc

Put it in the deep freeze over night to contract the metal and try again. If you got the screws out it appears your release agent worked. Perhaps you got the barreled action set below dead center in the stock and it is locked in by the metal contours. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> If the freezer doesn't work get back to us.

Thanks for your reply. I am below the center line of the barrel with the bedding compound so I don't think that is the problem. I am going to try to shoot it a few times and then freeze it and give it a try. I really didn't have that much bedding compound in the thing. I was only bedding about 1 inch in front of the recoil lug. I had already bedded the area around and behind the recoil lug and the rear tang. Everything went fine with that as the barrelled action pulled right out and the bedding was perfect. So I am a little suprised that it won't come out. I am concerned that my release agent was about 7 years old?? Thanks again I'll let you know how it works. 163bc

Just trying to cover a few bases with you.

Not sure how far you went with your bedding but you did post you did the rear tang in your last post. Did you remove the trigger assy? The slots for the trigger and bolt stop should be filled in with clay. The holes for the trigger pins should be filled too.

You can break or pop an action loose from the stock by removing all the guard screws and giving the barrel a short, fast rap on a wood bench while holding the rifle by the stock and forearm. You only want to break the action loose, do not keep rapping until the action starts to rise up out of the action. Once the action is broken loose, work it up out of the action slowly, take your time here so that the recoil lug remains as vertical as possible. You don't want the action to rock at too much of an angle. If the action won't pop loose by this method then drop the whole assy in the freezer overnight and try again in the A.M.

I've seen rifles that were held in a padded vice by the barrel and a mallet used to rap a board that was placed on the stock's top edges around the action. You have to be really careful using this method as you can damage the stock. A bit of padding will help here.

Good luck and let us know how it works out, I just hope you did not bed any "locks" in your bedding job. Those could mean $$ or more work!!

MtnHtr

No matter how old the release agent, the freezer should work like a charm. Just put it in overnight and try it. Even if bedding compound got into some crevice that it shouldn't have, you should be able to break it loose. You probably are right that the release agent went bad, and it'll all come out ok. In the future, I'd switch to good ole carnuba car wax. I use it and it works the best of anything I've found and you can leave it on to help protect against rust.
Good luck.

bchannell
Car waxes are a bad trap to get into with stocks... most have silicone in them and any wax on the stock will cause finishes to "fisheye." Might not affect today's stock, but somewhere down the line it will probably cause you some grief.

Plain old "Johnson's Paste Wax" does a fantastic job and will not cause fisheyes...
art

Did you put electrician's tape or equivalent on the front of the recoil lug to give it a little room fro removal? I also do the sides

Fellas,

Good discussion....I was going to ask the question about the release agents, so since we are on the subject, hows about weighing in on the subject.

Got a few rifles I need to bed this winter. Going to use Marinetex as the goo, I was wondering what to use for a release agent.

TIA,

Tony.

Sitka,

That wouldn't be a problem on a sythetic right ?

Tony

hicountry
Only if you ever decide to paint or touch them up... paint fisheyes, too.
art

Sitka,

Good point.

Tony

I tried your described method as well as a few others without sucess. I don't want to break the stock. The action is completly loose at the rear tang and the trigger area. It is locked tight at the recoil lug. I currently do my bedding jobs by doing the recoil lug and back to the front action screw first, always with 2 or 3 business cards in the forend to establish barrel clearance and free floating of the barrel. I draw everything up tight with the action screws and allow it to dry overnight. I do the rear tang next and allow it to dry and the front of the recoil lug and the first 2 inches of the barrel last. It takes me a few nights but when I'm done everything looks like it was done at the same time. By doing it this way I can have a little more control over the entire process and a lot more margin for error instead of doing everytrhing at one time. It also gives me a lot less of the bedding compound to break free of at one time. I always go pretty heavy on the release agent and have found that the release agent supplied by Acra glass works very good but they don't give you enough of it. That's why I keep an aresol spray release agent on hand. The last part of my process is the one I'm having trouble with on this particular stock. I did use an old can of aresol release agent. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> There is not much for it to be stuck permanetly too so I'm hopeful. I'm gonna try the deep freeze in the next day or 2. If I can I'll post a few pictures. The current bedding job turned out real nice looking so far. Just would like to be able to remove the action for cleaning. I have bedded 10 or 12 other rifles so far with pretty good results. A couple gunsmiths I like to use either charge way too much or simply don't like to do them anymore <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> that's why I do my own. 163bc

hicountry,

I've used Marine-Tex on the last 10 or so rifles I've bedded and love it. I use Hornady One-Shot Case lube for my release agent.
This combo works for me...

Where can you buy the marine tex ???

Brownells has it in their catalog. I bought my last big can from a local Marine Supply house. It's very popular stuff for repairing boats and Ski-Doos...

Thanks for the information Sitka Deer, I did not know that. I have been using the plain version of McGuires Carnuba with no cleaners in it. It is pure carnuba wax. I will however pick up a can of Johnson's paste wax for future use.

Just goes to show, you learn something new every day.

Thanks.

I purchased an action removal tool from Brownells. It was designed specifically for removing tight or stuck actions from glass bedding projects. Tried it before and after a night in the freezer. Neither worked. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Everything looks and works fine on the rifle so I quess I will shoot it as is for a while and see if I can shoot it loose. Caliber being a 338 Ultra mag <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> should help. Unless of course someone has any other suggestions. 163bc

Try getting a can of R-134 automotive air conditioning refrigerant (and a can adapter and hose if you don't have one already). I have had an action stuck before in a bedding job with Acraglas, and after blasting the refrigerant into the action and on it, it came right out after a few licks on a wooden workbench with the barrel. Refrigerant is much chillier than a night in the fridge, watch out and don't spray your exposed sking as it can frostbite a spot instantly.

I would guess you've got bedding compound in some recess or pin hole somewhere. It might break off if you shoot it and then you can get the action out. The remington has sever nooks for you to get stuck on, so I wish you luck. If everything works and it shoots good, I'd use it 'til I could come up with a good idea to get it out of the stock.
This might be extreme, but if you were to heat it gently with a propane torch, you could probably soften the bedding and break it loose. That would be a last resort.

would backing off the screws that hold the action in help a little when shooting it? i figure if it moves a few 10000ths that could help break the lock. i know it kills accuracy.

no experience on that, but a torch will definately get it out <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> only time i had anything locked in was a first time bedding on a 10-22 w/fluted bbl. it got over the flutes on the side and a small lip had to be chiseled out with a screwdriver that looked like a razorblade <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> that was an enjoyable evening!