glass bedding in front of the recoil lug?

[lpreddick]

bought a beautiful bruce baer laminated thumbhole already inleted and pillar bedded for a stiller LPRB. i have a RPRB stiller action that slides right in snugly, but i plan to skim bed to be sure i have complete contact. the question is that there is no glass bedding in front of the recoil lug. my barrel is 27 in long and when set in the stock the barrel tips forward. with 1-1.5 in of support in front of the lug, it sits level. i suspect adding some bedding here will be a good thing and ?possibly take a little stress off the rear action screw. i'v never done bedding before and have read and watched (including richard franklin) sev techniques and feel confident. what is the thought re not bedding in front of the lug and is my thinking that in my gun it will help? thanks.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I have bedded in front of the recoil lug in the past, but do not anymore. I do not believe you need it. I'm running heavy 30" barrels on Savage Actions without any issue. Several have brakes on them also. I'm not 100% but I think Richard Franklin does not bed in front of the lug. I guess I need to watch the video again, got it right here. Darrell Holland also has very informative videos.

 

[Raythemanroe]

I asked this same question a week or so ago because I heard of a lot or most YouTube video's showing bedding in front of the recoil lug! I was always taught not to have anything touch the barrel that can effect barrel harmonics or change them. I asked anyway because I thought I may be missing something after seeing so many people bedding this way! Long story short, I'm not gonna bed anything touching the barrel!

 

[hogpatrol]

Some barrels don't shoot when free floated. I have a skinny barrel Model 7 that the factory stock employs a pressure point a few inches from the end of the forearm. Short story, it didn't shoot worth a hoot. I removed the pressure pad and it went from bad to ready for the tomato stake pile. Bedded the action and the tapered part of the chamber in front of the recoil lug. Groups went to 1/2 inch or better. Then again, I have a 27" HV .20 P, totally free floated and unbedded that shoots like a laser. The answer to your question is there is no hard and fast rule for or against bedding in front of the lug. There are too many variables. The only way to find out for sure is do it both ways with your firearm and compare the results.

 

[Larryh128]

Most don't bed in front of the recoil lug, on heavier barrels that I'm using strictly for hunting, I do bed under the chamber. On bench rifles there is no need to and it is more than likely going to cause issues as the barrel heats up. Hunting rifles are a 1st cold shot deal so it really isn't an issue.

 

[TroyMN]

I also saw many of YouTube videos on bedding before I decided to do any of my actions. There were two that I thought to be more educational than others one was actually on this/our website. http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/stress-free-pillar-bedding/
I used devcon or JB weld on the 3 I did recently. I did bed in front of the recoil lug however on my next gun I will not be doing so. More and more forum members are saying not to bed in front of the recoil. I tend to believe what is said on here (accurate shooter.com) versus YouTube
Not be bedding in front of the recoil lug also works better since I plan on this being a switch barrel gun with different barrel contours.

I am not a gunsmith I am just an amateur. I'm not even an accomplished match shooter. I enjoy working on my guns and I enjoy trying to get them to shoot very precise groups. so take that for what it's worth.

 

[jscandale]

This very topic was discussed about a week or so ago. This link might provide some info for you:
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3821313.0

JS

 

[lpreddick]

thanks for the info...my gunsmith swears by the 1 in bedding in fromt, and ,yes, he is from the old school (78+yrs old). he does a fantastic job of chambering, etc but has a lot of ideas from "back in the day", so i just smile and nod when he talks about throat erosion being due to large powder kernals striking the bore and a fast bullet will drift more in the wind than a slower one?

 

[lpreddick]

an update: the rifle described above is shooting like no other one i have! no bedding in front of lug! with 68 watsons and LT 32 it shoots in the ones consistently and last sunday with no wind it printed a 3 shot group measuring .014 in! a bullet sitting on the hole just about covers everything. i saw a suggestion that grinding the bedding material from in front of the lug may improve acuracy. i have a gun or three that are a little bit erratic and may well try this.