Bedding Block - Hinder or help accuracy??

[Texas]

Just wanted to see what the opinion was on bedding blocks. I am building 2 hunting rifles and the stock maker has given me the option of adding aluminum bedding blocks. This would save me the time of doing pillars, however I don't want to sacrifice any accuracy. Since I have no experience with these, I wanted to see what the popular opinion was...
Thanks.

 

[284winner]

For a hunting rifle I believe they are fantastic. I own two with blocks and they shoot very well for a hunting set up. About 1 moa at 1000 yards.

 

[Willie]

Not a fan of bedding blocks, as the dimensions rarely match the barreled action, in my experience, without bedding the block. If I'm going to bed it anyway, I prefer pillar bedding.

 

[chop house]

^ that is the beauty of the whidden v-block. exact dimension of receiver not a critical factor. in addition, the v-block has slight longitudinal ridges on the rcvr mating surface iirc.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Always choose the block and always skim bed it.

 

[JFrank]

Scroll down to 5 similar threads

 

[swd]

Pick your poison. Block or pillars you still have to bed either way. Even with a V block there is no guarantee the action is perfectly parallel.

 

[Scott Harris]

I have whidden v blocks in all our hunting, fopen, and ftr stocks. They are not skim bedded and work very well. To me, skim bedding kills one of the main benefits of blocks....the ability to use the stock with multiple actions. Made properly, a v block is just as accurate as a good pillar bedding job. Whidden makes them right.

 

[IdahoSharpshooter]

I would be curious as how much weight one would add. I carry my hunting rifles all day, and wonder how would you get the weight down even close to pre-bedding block weight?
My other question would be how you make one work with a tapered barrel, as is generally the case with a real hunting rifle?

 

[Kurz]

You're going to find an almost 50/50 split on topics such as this anymore if we took a longer more detailed poll.

I have a couple of the Barnard blocks in stocks I use with the Barnard actions with excellent accuracy. I have several Whidden blocks I installed in various stocks which are extremely accurate. I've even made a few on my own machines and used them in stocks for some clients. KMW makes a superb block (IMB) as an option for their Sentinel stock.

Casting an encompassing 'NO' vote against bedding blocks is silly because there are some that work as they were meant to.

 

[6fatrat]

I agree with chop house and Scott Harris, I have Johns V-blocks in 3 different Mcmillian prone stocks and rotate 5 different barreled actions between them.
These are all used for long range prone matches, never any zero changes.
I do recommend using a Good torque wrench and keep track of how much the different actions seem to like.
I also built a mountain rifle on the HS precision stock with a V block in 7 SAUM, at 600 yds it shoots lights out.
Steve Bair

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A bedding block may be good if you like to swap actions but they just dont provide the contact area that i like. Its all in what you want to do with it.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Whidden V Block. Metal to metal contact. Pull the action out for work/inspection/cleaning and it goes right back to where it was when it was installed in the first place. Priceless. I think I have/had 4 or 5 so far. Wouldn't build without one. No worries about crushing wood/composite stocks.
As far as installing a V Block with a tapered barrel? Secure the action to the block and shim the barrel for the gap you want. Glue block in place.
Nothing to it. And no bedding between action and block. Metal to metal contact.

Help or hinder accuracy? They're all going in the same hole or damn close. 5 shots that can be covered with a dime? Works for me.