I just wrote an unintended 'tutorial' in response to another posting so I cut and pasted it here for you - this is not the only way but works for me with one-piece bases and at least will give you a starting point and may help you avoid pitfalls that I and others have already stumbled in:
Materials:
a - Lacquer thinner or acetone
b - Bedding compound or epoxy (WARNING: do not use any epoxy that does not have at lease a 20-minute working time)
c - Release agent or paste wax
d - Gun oil
e - (4) four round wooden toothpicks
f - Newspaper to use as a cover for whatever work surface you use
g- some sort of gun cleaning stand or large padded vise to hold your rifle or receiver firmly upright
h- screw driver, torx-head driver/wrench that fits the base screws
i - vinegar or epoxy thinner
j - at least 50 Qtips
k- plastic or duct tape
Directions:
READ THOROUGHLY BEFORE HAND TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED AND YOU COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
1) Thoroughly degrease and clean the bottom of the mounting 'pads' of the base with either lacquer thinner or acetone.
2) Secure your rifle/receiver in your vise - clean the top and sides of the receiver with thinner - apply tape across the receiver area between the front and rear receiver rings - this will keep bedding material and other crap from getting down inside the bolt rails, feed ramp, or magazine areas
3) Apply your type of release agent or paste wax to the rifle receiver, both on the tops and sides of the receiver ring areas. to ensure that the bedding material does not adhere anywhere - if you are doing this with the receiver in the stock then I suggest that you cover the other areas of the action, barrel, and stock with plain old shopping bag plastic secured with duct tape. Also fill the magazine area with balled up newspaper or cotton balls incase bedding drips in this area.
4) Apply gun oil liberally in the receiver ring screw holes - fill any holes that you will not be using with model clay or paste wax (let the paste wax dry)
5) Apply gun oil or to the base mounting screws
6) Mix up about a half-oz of bedding compound that is fairly thick such as AgraGlas gel or Devcon epoxy - if clear or white, you may want to darken it up with some bedding dye or graphite/carbon black - lay the base - bottom side up - on the newspaper and apply bedding compound on the bottom-side of the base 'pads' (those areas that will be coming into contact with the rifle receiver) leaving an area about a 1/4 inch around the screw holes free of bedding material - understand that the bedding material will flow and be compressed to a layer just a few thousandths thick so you really don't need to use a lot
7) Cut the ends back about 3/8 inch of each of the toothpicks
8) Now carefully pick up the base in one hand and while holding it over the receiver but not touching, drop the toothpicks down thru the screw holes in the base and down into the screw holes in the receiver - you are using the toothpicks as guides to align the base to the receiver and keep the screw hole free of bedding material until you can get the screws in
9) Carefully lower the base on to the receiver - DO NOT PRESS DOWN on the receiver - one by one, start the base screws through the base and into the receiver with the screw/torx driver - after the thread engage, turn only a couple of rotations with each screw - when you have done this, you will notice that there is material oozing out around the base - using the qtips, start cleaning any big blobs away
10) After about 5 min - gently tighten about 1 turn or rotation on each screw - the key here is to do this slowly and evenly allowing the bedding material to flow evenly under the base and expell the excess out around the edges - clean up excess as necessary and wait about 10 min - repeat the cycle but stop if you feel any major resistance while tightening the screws - if so immediately back out about half a turn. THE KEY HERE IS TO SETTLE THE BASE DOWN ON THE RECEIVER WITH OUT ANY BINDING FORCE - THAT COULD MAKE THE BASE WARP - CAUSED IF THERE IS ANY SLIGHT MISALIGNMENT BETWEEN THE RECEIVER AND THE BASE. THE GOAL IS TO GET THE BASE TO REST FIRMLY BUT NOT TIGHTLY TO RECEIVER AND ALLOW THE BEDDING MATERIAL TO FILL ALL THE VOIDS.
11) Do a final and careful clean up of the excess material around the edges of the bases using qtips dampened with vinegar or epoxy thinner as appropriate.
12) Wait between 12 and 24 hours depending on the bedding compound you've used - very carefully, ONE AT A TIME, back out each screw just enough to "crack" any bedding compound that might have seeped into the screw holes - very gently "snug" them back up but only finger tight - MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO NOT DISLODGE THE BASE OR OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS AS THE BEDDING MATERIAL IS NOT FULLY CURED OR HARDENED.
13) After a total of 72 hours or the MAXIMUM curing time listed on your bedding material, back out all of the screws from the base - you should be able to tap the base with a phenolic hammer or the plastic end of a large screwdriver to dislodge it - clean the base and the rifle receiver, including the screw holes, of all remnants of release agent, wax, etc.
14) When you reattach the base using, do not over tighten the screws - I highly recommend that if you do not have a torque driver that's adjusted in INCH-POUNDS, that you find someone who does so that you do not over-tighten the screw both in your base and in your rings. Most steel base screws are 6-48 and require only a maximum of 22 in-lbs of torque (8-40 can take 28 in-lbs).
