Savage Bedding Update....OUCH!

[rbertalotto]

I finally got out to shoot the Savage 93R17TR and had a major problem with the bedding job I reported a few weeks ago.

OUCH!!

Read the whole article from beginning to end with the update here.....

http://www.rvbprecision.com/shooting/savage-93r17tr-proper-bedding.html

Thanks!

 

[RonAKA]

It looks like you have a pillar. That should not happen if properly pillar bedded. Almost all the stress should be in the pillar not the wood. It seems the pillar was short.

 

[rbertalotto]

The pillar was fine, there just wasn't enough of the soft wood around it to support the weight of the barrel pulling down, thereby pulling up on the rear pillar. You can easily see how it broke the wood away and the trigger guard was the only thing holding it at that point.

The barrel has about an 1/8" space all around it, the barrel was then touching the forend.

 

[NorCalMikie]

The pillar should have been "loose in the stock while being secured to the action. The bedding holds the pillar in place with the clearence below the action. Looks like the pillar was too short and was pulled up through the stock to contact the action. Drill it out, repair the stock and do it again.
The action, front and rear should be about 1/16" above the bottom wood in the stock.
Make sure the pillar sits "above" the wood and contacts the "secured" trigger guard at the bottom before you add the bedding. We learn from our mistakes.

 

[rbertalotto]

"This ain't my first rodeo...".... ;D

I've pillar bedded dozens of wood stocks. Everything was perfect. Pillars met the action 100%. The action was floated "one business card" thickness from the stock. There simply was not enough wood and/or of significant strength to counteract the ability of the barrel to tilt forward and break this very little piece of wood from this area...

 

[NorCalMikie]

You say "this ain't my first rodeo"? Looks like you didn't last the full 8 second ride. ;D
Stuff the broken piece back in place the best you can. Load it up with "thin" super glue. That will stiffen the area around the pillar and give it more strength. It will be stronger that the area around the hole. (Works real good on balsa wood for model airplanes. Everything will brake "except" the super glued area)
Might even consider a thin metal plate above the trigger guard between it and the bottom of the pillar?
I've done about 10 to 15 pillar jobs and still don't consider myself an "expert".
I'll say again,"We learn from our mistakes".
And something else you might consider, being that it's a 22RF and you think it's the weight of the barrel causing the wood to brake out, you might think about adding a couple or pressure points at the front of the forearm to keep the weight off the rear pillar?? Just a thought.

 

[watercam]

Guys, read the article before you tear him apart. The wood that broke was paper thin and soft. I thought he did a good job modifying a weak stock to shoot. I went through the same thing with a laminated Savage rimfire stock. The exception being that I drilled and tapped the rear-most boss and added a 2nd action screw under the trigger guard since there was no 3rd boss ahead of the mag well.
I'm surprised at the tone of the responses to this - most are usually more helpful than critical.
Mike T.

 

[rbertalotto]

Thanks Mike!

But this is simply the "Tone of the Internet"...I don't believe any harm or condescension was meant. Emails and posts to forums sometimes take on an unintended tone.

That said, it's obvious some folks didn't read the article or I'm simply not a very good author and they simply missed the point.......

And I last WAY longer than eight seconds......

 

[Kenny474]

I like the repair you made, as well as the entire pillar bedding job. I recently purchased a Savage 93FV 22WMR and need to bed it as the inletting is very similar to what your rifle had to start and I am less than impressed with it. I do have a plastic stock where as you have wood, but I think I can still do something very similar.

I had actually wanted a 93R17TR like you have, but wish they offered it in 22WMR. I may end up breaking down and purchasing one anyway, because I do like the stock shape as well as the slightly extended range of the .17HMR. Though if I could acquire a TR stock, that would be another option as well, and I could duplicate the look by using a matte black coating on my barreled action.

Thanks for sharing, I really like how you bedded the rifle to start. I'm not sure if space would have allowed, but if you could have added the JB weld or bedding compound in that area originally, I think it would have been beneficial and possibly prevented the break. But your repair looks very good and I doubt you will have any further issues without some type of accident happening, such as dropping the rifle or another impact of some sort. Again, nice work, I;m glad you shared it with us. If I do my 22WMR, I will share my results as well.

Kenny

 

[NorCalMikie]

My post wasn't meant to be critical. I read the whole article and it looked to me like it couldn't have been any better. Good pictures to go along with the dialog.
On the contrary, I still think he missed something. Like maybe the barrel had contact on the forearm before he pulled it apart to do the bedding job? That's why I suggested that he might consider adding pressure points up front. The wood does seem to be pretty flimsy in the area of the rear pillar. That's why I suggested maybe a thin metal plate above the trigger guard as well as some thin CA around that area to beef up the wood.

 

[RonAKA]

I did not intend my comments to be negative either. Just from the picture it seemed as if there was stress on the wood, and there really shouldn't be any if the pillars are the right length. Yes, if the wood was very thin and you banged down on the barrel, or squeezed the barrel against the stock, I can see how you could load that area of the stock up. Shouldn't happen from just action screw torque though.

When I bedded my BTVS I had trouble with the front action screw, but not the rear. One issue is that you are taking a stock that is not very strong to start with and cutting wood out to make room for the pillar. Despite taking a lot of care I broke the wood by the front action screw and had to repair it too. See my link below on how I did it. I noted that one lesson learned was that this area should have been reinforced before drilling for the pillar.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223949

If I was going to do this again, I would make two further changes. In the pic below where it is marked with a C just behind the rear action screw, I would dremel out a slot on each side of the stock, and epoxy in a vertical fiberglass plate. This would address the OP's issue, and also give the stock some lateral strength. It is very weak in this area.

The other change I would consider is using a different type of pillar. These fasteners are available in hardware stores and are used in furniture assembly. I think they could be used to make a less intrusive and stronger pillar to stock fit.

Just my thoughts...

 

[rbertalotto]

At least your "S1 has wood all the way around. And after looking at one of those laminated stocks like you show, I believe the wood is denser or it is more impregnated with epoxy during the lamination process. It is really amazing how soft and light-weight theses Tr stocks are.

Although the TR stock has the shallow hole like you show in RL, the TR rifles have nothiong that is inserted into this hole. If it did, I would have bed this whole section of the barrel and the rear of that "recoil plug"....

 

[RonAKA]

Does your barrel have a slot cut to accept the recoil lug? If so, it may be an easy fix to get a lug from Savage. Savage can't seem to make up their mind as to whether they should use a lug or not. While mine was fitted with one, out of the box it was loose, and not doing much.

They are a bit of a pain to fit properly, as they slide in a slot from side to side. I put it together just slightly loose, and tap the butt down while tightening the action screws, with the gun vertical. This hopefully centers the lug. Then I carefully take it apart and tighten the recoil lug screw tight. Perhaps Savage does not want to be bothered with the careful fitting required to make them work. It certainly would reduce the assembly time by leaving the lug out. But, without the lug there is nothing holding the action in a axial direction other than the action screws and friction.

 

[rbertalotto]

No, it doesn't have a lug and I don't think it needs one IF properly bedded. But the way it came from the factory with zero wood behind the front action screw.......Who knows how it would have shot long term.

 

[sbrabec]

Nice write up, thank you. I plan on doing my recently purchased 22lr tr and this will really help. I will do my best to post some pics as i go through the project.
Scott