Bedding An Older Model 70 ?

[wedgy]

Recently I took a work buddy whose extended family hunts(3 generations) to the range. The 10 have deer hunted all their lives but really don't shoot much other than sighting in with whatever non-lead ammo is available, 300 yards is a long shot. He went 4/5 at 750 yards on 14" steel with one of my 300 RUM's, missed it 20 shots with his 7mmRM then made me an offer I couldn't refuse for the entire package, Kilo 2400 and ammo included as he started elk hunting last year and was nervous to shoot at 260 yards. He will be ready for sure this year. I have gone thru two of their Rem 700's replacing 5lb+ triggers, floating barrels, getting rid of carbon rings, etc. and now I'm on a nice old model 70 with the original BOSS. Super smooth action and beautiful wood G1040XX serial #. The original bedding looks like glue gun stuff, rather flexible and only on the recoil lug and rear tang. My question is what surfaces do you bed on a 70 action ? There are rub marks one the right side of the action and rear tang, the barrel is floating. I'm inclined to just do the back of the lug, flat base of the receiver and the rear tang but the rear tang is a very small surface. I searched but didn't find anything specific to the model 70. The trigger came in at a crisp ~6.4 lbs.
Thanks

 

[SSL]

Just my opinion, but I think that I would consider pillar bedding the action and removing all of the old bedding. I would carefully scrape the rub marks, relieving just enough wood to give enough clearance for fresh bedding and then re-bed with a proven bedding compound - Accra Glass, Devcon or what ever you prefer. I would also re-bed the recoil lug - at least the sides and rear. Personally, I bed the entire lug with excellent results, but I know that most frown on doing that.

 

[jackson1]

wedgy, pictures look like the factory bedding on my son's Model 70. I believe its is around 15 to 20 years old. His rifle shoots so well, I never touched it. Which is rare for me, it also has the BOSS on it. Have glass and pillar bedded other Model 70's. Did the front recoil lug and the rear tang, as pictured. Bedded the sides, left clearance under the front lug. A couple of pieces of masking tape. Trust your gut and go for it, as it can be removed.

 

[shortgrass]

Pillars on a Mod 70 for sure. Watch that center screw that holds the trigger guard on!

 

[dannyjbiggs]

Recently I took a work buddy whose extended family hunts(3 generations) to the range. The 10 have deer hunted all their lives but really don't shoot much other than sighting in with whatever non-lead ammo is available, 300 yards is a long shot. He went 4/5 at 750 yards on 14" steel with one of my 300 RUM's, missed it 20 shots with his 7mmRM then made me an offer I couldn't refuse for the entire package, Kilo 2400 and ammo included as he started elk hunting last year and was nervous to shoot at 260 yards. He will be ready for sure this year. I have gone thru two of their Rem 700's replacing 5lb+ triggers, floating barrels, getting rid of carbon rings, etc. and now I'm on a nice old model 70 with the original BOSS. Super smooth action and beautiful wood G1040XX serial #. The original bedding looks like glue gun stuff, rather flexible and only on the recoil lug and rear tang. My question is what surfaces do you bed on a 70 action ? There are rub marks one the right side of the action and rear tang, the barrel is floating. I'm inclined to just do the back of the lug, flat base of the receiver and the rear tang but the rear tang is a very small surface. I searched but didn't find anything specific to the model 70. The trigger came in at a crisp ~6.4 lbs.
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I would strip out and re-bed the front lug area and the rear tang area. Here are a couple of shots of a post-64 Model 70 homemade stock that I bedded back in the early 1990's for NRA HP competition. The stock is perch-belly enclosed box-magazine type. I relieved the front, sides and bottom of the lug with two layers of masking tape, and fully bedded the tang area as shown. The lower action frame and barrel channel are fully well relieved. (I know...not too pretty, but when the action is in, no body sees nothing.)

 

[swd]

I've done many of those. Most of the hot glue will pop out with a screwdriver. Be sure and scrape out the finish. Put some tape on the small vertical part of the action that's in front of the mag well will help get the action in and out of the stock after bedding. If you can do pillars I would. Look at Danny's pics above.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

I would go shoot it first. Then decide..

 

[Shrek]

I full length bed mine and an Ernie the Gunsmith trigger spring and stoning for full contact on the sear. I use the lightest spring he sells. Adjust and a decent 25-30 oz trigger is easy to achieve. Not a target trigger but a good hunting trigger.

 

[Will Henry]

There are two ways to bed a model 70. One utilizes the center screw as part of the bedding system. The other ignores the center screw and uses it only to hold up the front of the trigger guard. Of the two, both work well but the second is much easier.
For pillars, I prefer to cast glass pillars in a wood stock. This can be done at the same time as bedding or the bedding can be done in two stages. First, the pillars, then the bedding.
In general, bedding a model 70 is just the same as bedding anything else. Contact points are around the guard screws and at the rear of the recoil lug. Norear-facing surface other than the recoil lug should contact. In other words, there should be clearance at the tang. The bottom of the lug should be clear, as should the front and sides. This acts as much to make removal and replacement of the stock easy as anything else.
I drill 5/8" holes through the stock for the pillars. There are some little aspects of the model 70 which might have to be taken into account. The shank of the screws is smaller than the threads. There are a lot of little holes to cover on the tang. I can give step by step instuction a little later on if you like. WH

 

[Bill Score]

Definitely put some tape on the front of the recoil lug. I have a push feed M70 that I didn’t tape and it is a pain in the butt to get the action out of the stock. Here are some pictures of the last one I did. This was a late 80’s push feed. Material was acraglass. Check you rear tang/stock fitment. On this one, I wouldn’t of had to relieve that area (found that out after I had already done it). If you want to go the pillars and bedding route, I’d get the M70 kit from Score High Gunsmithing (no relation to me, the name is a coincidence). It was my first pillar/bed job and it worked out ok. The studs and t-handles that come with kit make future M70 bed jobs a breeze.

 

[strut64]

If that rifle has BOSS the recoil lug is a soft rubbery substance by design. If you remove it and put in rigid bedding get rid of the BOSS. Shoot it first using the BOSS system. You may be surprised!!!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Get that hot glue out of there. I cant believe they do that

 

[INTJ]

I don't worry about pillars in an M-70. The action is flat bottomed and does not have the bedding issues a round bottomed action might have.

Bedding an M-70 is just like bedding anything else. I usually just bed the lug area and the tang, though sometimes I'll bed the rails.

I had never heard of the M-70 hot glue bedding as being anything special for the BOSS. It was just a minimal effort on the part of the factory to add some kind of bedding. When we think of how bedding works, the hot glue bedding is only marginally helpful and I think that a good glass bedding job is a significant improvement.

 

[swd]

Heck, half the ones I took apart the hot glue bedding popped out along with the barreled action, and that's quite a few. It's only there because it's as quick and cheap as it gets.

 

[Shrek]

I have to say the hot glue bedding was more effort than any other big rifle manufacturer was making. I think it was better nothing.

 

[INTJ]

I have to say the hot glue bedding was more effort than any other big rifle manufacturer was making. I think it was better nothing.

I think until Kimber came out with the Montana, Winchester was the only one doing any factory bedding, though I am not positive.

I have mixed feelings about the M-70 Classics. They are my favorite action for making a hunting rifle, but in pure factory form they were spotty. Some shot well, some didn't--just like the Remingtons between 1990 and 2006.

On the other hand, every New M-70 I have come across shoots well.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you look at that bedding picture from the original post youll see why they had to do something. Only problem is the recoil lug pretty much only touches on the bottom and the action itself has very little contact. Can you imagine the slop it would have if not for the hot glue? Now they can make a huge inlet so every action fits any stock and it doesnt move when the customer grabs it

 

[msalm]

If you do re-bed be sure and put a pad of epoxy at the middle action screw (under the action). The action can flex with surprisingly little torque on that middle screw.