40X--To Bed or not to Bed?

[HTSmith]

I just bought a new (to me) Remington 40X single shot with a fresh Brux barrel and the original wood stock. I figured that I'd replace the stock when I got it, but after trying it out I really like the shape of the stock and the way it rides my bag set up. The rifle is shooting good. It appears that the stock has been carefully inlet to fit the action and there looks like a dab of bedding around the recoil lug. However, I worry about a wooden stock moving during our humid summers. Which of the following would you suggest?

1. Leave it alone since it is shooting well.
2. Pillar bed the existing wood stock.
3. Replace the original wood stock with a synthetic/laminated one and bed that.

What do you think? Thanks for any input.

 

[watercam]

Personally? I never think about resale value and that has come back to bite me more than once. If it were mine I would pillar and glass bed it to squeeze every last bit of stability out of it. But it may affect resale value. If you are going to keep it forever then this is not a problem.
The smart thing to do is find another 40X stock in Ebay and pillar and bed which ever one is less pristine.
But I never seem to do the smart thing with rifles!

 

[joshb]

Hey! Those old stocks are very nice. I wouldn't touch it if it's shooting well. Check your action screws next winter to see if they're loose. That will tell you if the wood is moving significantly. I don't think it will.

 

[SteveOak]

I was working on a radio project at Motorola and we were having unexplained catastrophic failures during Life Cycle Testing. The designers couldn't figure it out and the Technical Manager for the project asked me to have a look at it.

To make a log story short, the prototype testing was done with the 100 watt output transistors mounted in a heat sink that was machined from aluminum but in the production units the heat sink was cast zamac. It is aluminum 'ish' but significantly softer. I calculated the force being applied by the surface of the screw that contacted the heat sink and found that it far exceeded the yield strength of the zamac so the screws loosened and allowed the output transistor to overheat which led to a cascade failure of numerous components and a rather dramatic explosive self destruction of the radio.

How does this apply to your situation? The surface of the action screw that contacts the wood of the stock is very small and therefore exerts a much greater amount of force on the wood than you might think. Wood, compared to steel, is very soft. It is, as you mentioned decidedly susceptible to dimensional changes due to climatic conditions.

It comes down to your intended use. If you are looking for precision and repeatability using it unbedded and without aluminum pillars will limit your success. Will it work adequately for you? Up to you. Choice 1 and 3 are reasonable, depends on what you want to accomplish. That it has a nice barrel, I wouldn't go with #1. I offer the wood 40X stock I have in storage is evidence.

 

[243winxb]

Leave as is. The dab of bedding is all my 1976 40x wood stock has from the factory. No major change of zero from year to year. A 1/4" at most.

Still has the original 243 barrel , now with throat erossion. Still accurate.

 

[Ggmac]

All 40 X action screws DO NOT CONTACT the wood . The rear is of course contacting the trigger guard and the front is an aluminum or steel counter sunk hollow plugs , that spread the load .

 

[Ggmac]

I just bought a new (to me) Remington 40X single shot with a fresh Brux barrel and the original wood stock. I figured that I'd replace the stock when I got it, but after trying it out I really like the shape of the stock and the way it rides my bag set up. The rifle is shooting good. It appears that the stock has been carefully inlet to fit the action and there looks like a dab of bedding around the recoil lug. However, I worry about a wooden stock moving during our humid summers. Which of the following would you suggest?

1. Leave it alone since it is shooting well.
2. Pillar bed the existing wood stock.
3. Replace the original wood stock with a synthetic/laminated one and bed that.

What do you think? Thanks for any input.

See my reply #6 I meant to pm you but ended up posting it here

 

[BoydAllen]

The real questions here are how does it shoot, and are you looking to improve that performance. No one who is engaged in competitive from the bench shooting uses wood stock without pillar bedding or some other more modern bedding arrangement. There is a reason for this. They want consistent, repeatable results. Some years back a friend confided in me no matter what he did his rifles' accuracy was inconsistent from week to week for no apparent reason. I brought him a copy of an article on how to do cast in place pillar bedding. He followed the directions, and his problems were over. Having said that, if you are happy with your results, why would you change anything?

 

[jds holler]

The picky, anal part of me says that there has to be at least some benefit from PROPERLY pillar bedding these stocks. That being said, I've got two of them, one 22BR from the seventies,(flat bottom) and another from 50's/60's rimfire CMP) that fit so well, and shoot so good that I haven't done them.

I imagine they're on the list for someday to be properly bedded. By the way, the wood on the old rimfire stock is the better of the two for fit, grain, color -- and these are still gettable for the guy who wants wood. jd

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Bed it. If its done good itll help its resale to 99% of the people. When you run across that one guy that cares about how remington did a factory gun 40yrs ago tell him its not for sale. Make it work for you now

 

[HTSmith]

The real questions here are how does it shoot, and are you looking to improve that performance. No one who is engaged in competitive from the bench shooting uses wood stock without pillar bedding or some other more modern bedding arrangement. There is a reason for this. They want consistent, repeatable results. Some years back a friend confided in me no matter what he did his rifles' accuracy was inconsistent from week to week for no apparent reason. I brought him a copy of an article on how to do cast in place pillar bedding. He followed the directions, and his problems were over. Having said that, if you are happy with your results, why would you change anything?

You have a copy of that article you could forward? Thanks much.

 

[AckleymanII]

hard to work out the bugs of accuracy if the stock is out of bed. Pillars are a real plus.

 

[222 rem]

I installed pilliars and still retain the 40xb forward mounting screw cylinder. Stable year after year. Could not leave good enough alone and trimmed the stock to ride rear bag similiar to a kelby stock. Inserted inlay to fill bottom screw hole.Refinished with watco 7 coats hand rubbed. Results as expected.