Anyone re-bed their rifles every year?

[cp255]

Just watched this video (

) from winning in the wind. He seems to think you should re-bed your rifle ever 6-12 months. Does anyone here re-bed this frequently? Makes me wonder if getting a professional bedding job isn't worth if if it's only good for a year.

 

[LVLAaron]

If you aren't testing you're guessing.


I dont think he said to redo it, I think he said to check it.

 

[AlNyhus]

I check mine fairly frequently.

 

[Hal]

Al
Does your bedding change much on glass stocks?

Hal

 

[AlNyhus]

Al
Does your bedding change much on glass stocks?

Hal

Nope. Bedding over the tops of the pillars makes a big difference in longevity.

 

[Terry]

Nope. Bedding over the tops of the pillars makes a big difference in longevity.

Al, skimming over the top, or digging it out and starting over?

 

[L.Sherm]

Just watched this video (

) from winning in the wind. He seems to think you should re-bed your rifle ever 6-12 months. Does anyone here re-bed this frequently? Makes me wonder if getting a professional bedding job isn't worth if if it's only good for a year.

I watched the same video, I noticed right away no bedding over the pillars.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Everyone blames that .050" layer of bedding. Never the 1"-1.25" of wood or composite under the bedding. In a composite stock theres a lot of epoxy. And its a much cheaper epoxy than we use for bedding. Just take some dial indicators to the range. You will be suprised at how much your stock moves when the sun hits one side of it. Its actually enough to change how it tracks. With wood, it never stops moving with humidity. So is it the bedding that moved or the stock? I have measured pretty large movements in stocks due to temp changes. Far bigger than bedding could move. This is why I like glue and screw jobs. The contact between the stock and action doesnt change.

 

[L.Sherm]

Alex i get the screw and glue on a competition gun what about in a hunting application since most are a composite stock. I have always tried to do load development for LR hunting stuff as close to hunting temps as possible ive pretty much adopted the azzz crack of Tom method lol.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Its not practicle in a hunting rifle. Like Al said, bed with and even layer of epoxy. Thats all you can do. The stock is going to move throughout the year. I had a sporter stock that would pull awsy from the action in warm weather. You could slip a piece of paper between the bedding and action. It would tighten back up in cool temps. I re bedded it and that didnt help. It only did this where it was thin in the magazine cutout area. It was un fixable. Still that rifle shot a lot of 1-1.5" 3 shot groups at 600yds.

 

[AlNyhus]

Al, skimming over the top, or digging it out and starting over?

Terry, I provide a minimum of .050 of bedding material over the top of the pillars when I bed it initially. I'll use as much as .125" of thickness over the pillars at times.

I reduce the O.D. of the top of the pillar down about 1/8"-3/16" of the length to allow the epoxy to flow down and lock on to the upper part of the pillar. I believe this helps to stabilize the thickness of bedding over the top of the pillar. If the pillar diameter is smaller than I'd ideally like it to be to do this reduction, I'll enlarge the top of the pillar hole in the stock to accomplish the same thing. Or split the difference a bit on both.

On a bolt-in gun, this method has proven to give an extremely long life span to the bedding job. The only thing that will compromise it's life span is the bedding material itself deteriorating (that's why using a quality compound is critical), issues with the stock itself (failing core fill material) or the bedding getting beat up by people being less than careful when taking the barrelled action in and out...including not seating the recoil lug properly.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[OMW57]

I would hope that someone would have me commited to an asylum if I EVER second guessed the bedding job on my rifle that Alex Sitman did for me!!!

 

[Terry]

Terry, I provide a minimum of .050 of bedding material over the top of the pillars when I bed it initially. I'll use as much as .125" of thickness over the pillars at times.

I reduce the O.D. of the top of the pillar down about 1/8"-3/16" of the length to allow the epoxy to flow down and lock on to the upper part of the pillar. I believe this helps to stabilize the thickness of bedding over the top of the pillar. If the pillar diameter is smaller than I'd ideally like it to be to do this reduction, I'll enlarge the top of the pillar hole in the stock to accomplish the same thing. Or split the difference a bit on both.

On a bolt-in gun, this method has proven to give an extremely long life span to the bedding job. The only thing that will compromise it's life span is the bedding material itself deteriorating (that's why using a quality compound is critical), issues with the stock itself (failing core fill material) or the bedding getting beat up by people being less than careful when taking the barrelled action in and out...including not seating the recoil lug properly.

Good shootin' -Al

Thank you!

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I always thought once you get a rifle bedded, don’t be taking it apart. This is hard on bedding jobs isn’t it?

 

[Dimner]

For me, bedding is enough of a butt puckering task. I test when it cures and again a week later. I guess I could test every year. But If it's moving enough year over year to warrant a re-bed, I think I'd look into a different bedding technique and materials.

 

[LVLAaron]

You COULD damage the bedding if you're not kind with it, especially the recoil lug area. You aren't going to hurt anything just loosening the screws like he showed in the video. Honestly, it's a good test just to make sure the screws are torqued correctly.

Most F-Class actions are in and out at least once a year for a new barrel.

 

[BoydAllen]

Speedy has built some stocks using torrefied wood. You might want to look that up. Another thing you might want to understand regarding composite products, is post curing. Alex is correct. Stocks move, both composite and wood. IMO deep bedding blocks, with proper skim bedding (whole other subject) are the best way to have stable bolt in bedding, but for weight sensitive applications some attention needs to be paid to material selection and structure.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Everyone blames that .050" layer of bedding. Never the 1"-1.25" of wood or composite under the bedding. In a composite stock theres a lot of epoxy. And its a much cheaper epoxy than we use for bedding. Just take some dial indicators to the range. You will be suprised at how much your stock moves when the sun hits one side of it. Its actually enough to change how it tracks. With wood, it never stops moving with humidity. So is it the bedding that moved or the stock? I have measured pretty large movements in stocks due to temp changes. Far bigger than bedding could move. This is why I like glue and screw jobs. The contact between the stock and action doesnt change.

I have seen a composite stock in very hot condition bend so hard to the one side the bolt couldn't open after a long day of lying and shooting in the sun

 

[akajun]

Everyone blames that .050" layer of bedding. Never the 1"-1.25" of wood or composite under the bedding. In a composite stock theres a lot of epoxy. And its a much cheaper epoxy than we use for bedding. Just take some dial indicators to the range. You will be suprised at how much your stock moves when the sun hits one side of it. Its actually enough to change how it tracks. With wood, it never stops moving with humidity. So is it the bedding that moved or the stock? I have measured pretty large movements in stocks due to temp changes. Far bigger than bedding could move. This is why I like glue and screw jobs. The contact between the stock and action doesnt change.

Man, I never even thought about the sun warming up a rifle and changing the bedding, but that makes a lot of sense. Ill never leave it out in the sun on the line again,

 

[DShortt]

Everyone blames that .050" layer of bedding. Never the 1"-1.25" of wood or composite under the bedding. In a composite stock theres a lot of epoxy. And its a much cheaper epoxy than we use for bedding. Just take some dial indicators to the range. You will be suprised at how much your stock moves when the sun hits one side of it. Its actually enough to change how it tracks. With wood, it never stops moving with humidity. So is it the bedding that moved or the stock? I have measured pretty large movements in stocks due to temp changes. Far bigger than bedding could move. This is why I like glue and screw jobs. The contact between the stock and action doesnt change.

Dude. Sometimes I don't like you very much because you always bring up things I've never considered.

I hope you know I'm kidding. Seriously, I appreciate the benefit of your experience.