Requesting advice on pillar & glass bedding a hunting rifle.

[pertnear]

I know there are gunsmiths & expert DIY'ers on the forum that have done thousands of glass/pillar jobs on rifle stocks. As for me, I've done at least a dozen or more over the years. All my bedding jobs have been on hunting rifles & on one benchrest rifle. I hate plastic stocks so all my experience has been with wood stocks. I'm faced with doing a bedding job on a new old rifle & it's been 5 years or more since I have bedded one. I've watch a lot of Youtubes videos that ranged from simple to complex. I definitely have come to some of my own conclusions, but I'm ready to get some criticism/corrections on the matter.

I like to use Devcon steel in the 2 part black box. Of course my batch is very old & pretty much useless. I was getting ready to order some more but the price is now over $70! For sure I don't have a lot of epoxy jobs waiting to do, so that's a bit much! Any good lower cost recommendations for doing one rifle?

I use to turn my own pillars out of aluminum rod. Now, for hunting rifles, I just use threaded lamp rods that I cut & fit.

I try to do the job in multiple sets. Pillars are attached to the action with headless bolts & clamped in place. I let this completely dry first. Recoil lug & tang area next. Finally I do touch-up on the action sides & uniform where action/lug end. I use to bed out into the barrel channel the length of the chamber. Now I stop at action/lug end & make sure it is bedded evenly. I also skim-coat bed the floor plate/trigger-guard & front screw excusion, as the case dictates.

If I have plenty of epoxy, I wrap the floated barrel with thick tape & glass the channel to the forend tip. Otherwise it just gets several coats of stock finish. I tape around the outside wood & under-cut the inside edges to make sure as little of the epoxy bedding shows as possible.

I always, I say always, use Johnson floor wax as a release agent. No second guessing. It always works!

Here is some of my logic. Since the rifle came from the factory already fitted to the stock, the action & barrel should be aligned left & right & at the proper stock depth. The pillars should lock that geometry in place. With pillars in place & testing with action screws tightened, I can properly float the barrel & relieve the wood in the action area to make room for the epoxy. Inletting black is my friend here!

BTW, most all of my DIY bedded rifle shoot very well, but to be fair, they shot pretty darn good before I started, or the rifle would have already been gone!

Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[tobnpr]

Nothing "wrong" with setting pillars first, then bedding the receiver- but you can save yourself the extra step doing them at the same time:

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For sure I don't have a lot of epoxy jobs waiting to do, so that's a bit much! Any good lower cost recommendations for doing one rifle?

There's a link to an Ebay seller for $50 on another thread here if that makes it any more palatable.
Otherwise, just use good 'ol JB Weld for a bedding job.

 

[CharlieNC]

Last Dec I ordered a 2oz kit of Marine Tex from Amazon, and it was just right for a pretty large job on a wood stock. For pillars I've used brass threaded plumbing rod, which is a little thicker than lamp rod. Cut a slot in the receiver end, and drilling the right size hole allows it to be screwed in to facilitate a precision fit, and the bedding fills in the notch. Many options to improvise.

 

[Twdmar]

If you mix a small bit of the your epoxy, it may still be good. Some have very long shelf lives. If you have a Walmart or O'Reilly auto, you can get the 10oz JB weld tubes. It's not the best, but it works pretty good actually.
As far as for the pillars, if you have a trigger guard/Floorplan or your screw heads are big enough, lamp tubes work just fine. I prefer to not bed them ahead of time, but I should try it again some time.
Make more than one coat of wax, let it harden between coats and polish each coat well. If you apply a little epoxy to the action and rub it on smooth with your finger, you can avoid bubbles along the surface.
I have good luck just taping the sides and bottom of the recoil lug though Some people also prefer to tape the front of the lug. I also like to tape the side and top of the action and throw a couple wraps of tape around the barrel in front of the action. For a repeater, a stiff piece of foam can fill up the action before you put in plumbers putty. I prefer plumbers putty over clay, etc.

 

[AlNyhus]

Since the rifle came from the factory already fitted to the stock, the action & barrel should be aligned left & right & at the proper stock depth. The pillars should lock that geometry in place.

That's a lot of "shoulds" to trust in a mass produced stock.

It's rare to have any molded in pillars be in correct alignment, relative to the action. Many are tipped one plane. Most are tipped in both planes.

Here's a good example of one I did recently. The 'molded in' pillar simply pushed out. In reality, most 'molded in' pillars are simply pressed in with the knurling being expected to lock it into place.

Bad, bad deal.

 

[pertnear]

Thanks for all the great responses & link to Franklin's bedding process!

I noticed that some use plumber's putty instead of clay to fill action voids to avoid stock/action epoxy locking. What do you use to clean-up the plumber's putty?

 

[std7mag]

In a plastic stock, i rough up & clean with starting fluid.
Then spray with adhesion promoter (any parts store that sells auto body painting supplies).
Without it, there's a good chance you can pry the bedding out after it cures.

I use light weight Bondo in the forestock.
Devcon in the action.

 

[AlNyhus]

I noticed that some use plumber's putty instead of clay to fill action voids to avoid stock/action epoxy locking. What do you use to clean-up the plumber's putty?

Play Doh is what I use on holes. Clean up is easy....it dries up and you can just push it out. For areas like magazine and trigger cuts, plastic foam packing material is really slick. Epoxy doesn't stick to it and it easily compresses into whatever shape you need.

 

[pertnear]

I often read posts where someone says they added a "skim-coat" in places. What is a skim coat? I keep thinking someone thins the epoxy & paints it on with a brush(?)

 

[tobnpr]

^^^
"Skim" bedding is done in the context of an aluminum bedding block/mini-chassis, where epoxy bedding compound is used to fill gaps resulting from imperfect fitment between the receiver and the block.