Savage stock bedding question

[Coonman300]

There was a thread a couple of days ago on plastic stock bedding, did not want to hijack that thread so here goes. Late last year I bought one of the cheap savage rifles (25-06) on sale at bass pro shop for $250. Original intent was to get a criterion barrel from NSS and a Bell and Carlson or Boyd’s stock for the gun. I sighted it in as is during deer season (without any real load development) and shot several deer with it, put it in the safe, and never came back to the project. Now I’m looking to move forward. Sounds like I may need to bed the replacement stock so I’d really like to practice first on the existing stock and if I screw it up it doesn’t really matter…OR if it shoots really good I’ll just keep shooting deer with it. My question is this… after reviewing multiple YouTube videos on bedding, most placed the barreled action into the bedding material with very little pressure from the screws or any clamps. I understand why but on this rifle (Savage Axis 2 without the Accutrigger) the trigger assembly is part of the rear mounting bracket and pivots on the action so it has to be torqued down for the barrel to be in the right orientation and bolt to clear the tang safety. Not sure how to proceed…torque down the rear and minimal force at front of action? Torque down rear enough for bolt to clear tang safety? Any advice would be appreciated. I also bought some 2 part epoxy to pour into front of the stock to stiffen it up. If this experiment works I’ll buy a couple of more of these guns when they go on sale to keep in the tractor and buggy for farm critters.

Also- I’m a hunter…this gun will be for shooting deer and some targets. My goal on my deer hunting rifles is consistent .5-.75 MOA.


Thanks!

 

[rjtfroggy]

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time on the plastic factory stock.
Go to Boyd's stocks and pick out a nice laminate, buy a piece of lamp rod (make a pillar). For around 200 bucks you will have a nice stiff stock for hunting and a little target shooting.

 

[big5ifty]

You will add a bit of stiffness to the plastic stock if you fill the voids with epoxy, but you can only make it rigid if you full length bed the barrel in it.

For hunting and general purpose target shooting, that filling and full length bedding will work, and be a big improvement.

It may or may not work as well as an aftermarket chassis or laminate stock.

 

[std7mag]

I talked with Melvin Forbes on this a few years ago, as he full length beds the barrels in his rifles.
He told me that the stock needs to be stiff to get the results i was looking for by bedding the barrel.

As to the factory Savage stocks.
Best thing i've found for the forestock is lightweight Bondo to stiffen the forestock.

For the Axis action.
Use a burr on a drill or Dremel set on low and rough up the plastic. Clean with starting fluid (no oils).
Apply adhesion promoter (found almost any place they sell auto body supplies).
I then put the Devcon on just thick enough that it's a little more than the plastic you roughed out.
The trigger piece does sit on a pillar, so used sparingly back there is ok. Just be sure to coat your parts heavily with the release agent of choice. Black paste shoe polish works.

The factory Savage action screw torque is only 30inlb.
I usually do 10-15inlb when bedding.

 

[K22]

Sounds like you had some successful deer hunts with the rifle as is.

What kind of groups are you getting with the rifle as is? What kind of deer hunting shot opportunities do you have where you hunt?

For most white tail deer hunting at least in my area, PA, you don't need a tack drive. A 1 to 1 1/2 moa rifle will do the job quite well out to 300 yards.

If your goal is a dual-purpose rifle, i.e., deer hunting and informal target shooting, I'd opt for an aftermarket stock rather than trying to improve those cheap factory stocks. An after-market trigger can also significantly improve your target shooting.

Another option might be to keep your existing rifle for deer hunting and get a more friendly caliber for target shooting, i.e., 223 Rem, 6.5 Creedmore that is easier on barrels than the overbore 25-06.

The Axis rifles I've seen at the range shoot amazing and surprising well (typically in the 1 moa range) especially with tailored reloads.

 

[Coonman300]

Guys- thanks for the feedback.
I realize this project won’t make this gun as good as it will be with a new stock. Mainly wanted to practice doing this on the factory stock before doing anything on an aftermarket stock. I really just like to tinker on stuff and I have some other wooden stock rifles that I can bed after practicing on this one. Also, if this does improve the gun it’s a cheap improvement for future savages that will be used strictly as farm utility rifles that take a beating. My quick and dirty initial sight in with some “standard” reloads were about 1.5 MOA shooting of a tailgate and using a bipod. Not ideal set up but certainly good enough for shorter range deer hunting. I put a MCarbo trigger spring kit on and it was a vast improvement…breaks around 2.5 lbs. I suspect when I shoot again off my bench and a different rest setup that may improve slightly but I do use a bipod regularly so stiffening this one up may help a little. I do have other rifles more suitable for longer range shooting and target shooting…just always wanted a 25-06 and thought this would be a good project to upgrade on with barrel and stock.
With my kids now out of the house I’ve started getting back into reloading and trying to improve the performance of my hunting rifles. Bow hunted almost exclusively for about the last 20 years and because of a shoulder issue started back using rifles. Learned a lot since joining this site and enjoying the process.
Thanks for your guidance!

 

[dannyjbiggs]

My son wanted me to convert a post-64 Model 70 action into a hunting rifle for him. I purchased some el cheapo plastic stock, and first thing "bondo'ed" the full length of the vacant forearm, cut the barrel channel, and thereafter bedded the action area of the stock. A little heavy, but very stiff.

 

[spudgun]

I'm the one that posted bedding a Savage plastic stock last week or so. Glad your going to try it too.

I have bedded 2, Savages to a Boyd's AT-one stock. The suggestion of using a threaded lamp rod works great. I used JB weld for my bedding compound and Play-doh for areas that I did not want the JB weld to go into.

First i needed to find the parts that may be touching the receiver and barrel nut.

For a release agent I used Turtle wax on the metal parts that the epoxy would touch.

I placed play-doh in the stock, set the receiver into it and tourqued the receiver bolts down to tourque specs. Then took the receiver out of the stock and looked for the areas that the play-doh was very thin. This was the areas that I would dremil out to give more clearance. With the boyd's stock I found that I needed to take material out of the wood to assure that I was not causing pressure on the laminate stock that could result if the splitting of the laminate joints ( I did on my first one due to not taking out enough material).

Once your satisfied with the clearance between metal and wood. Remove the play-doh from the areas where you want the bedding material to go. Leave the pay-doh in the mag, trigger and barrel nut, bolt and safety tang areas. Apply the JB weld and wax (screws and any metal that might touch the epoxy) and install the receiver and screws to spec.

One of my fellow shooters suggested that I wrap the barrel lug with blue painters tape (1 layer) to give it some gap so the barrel lug will go in and out of the bedded area easily

Now wait 24 hours (or until cured).

Now comes the moment of stress. Take a rubber mallet and tap the barrel and receiver out of the stock. It's a butt pucker moment.

If all went good it will come out and you can now look at the stock receiver areas to see if you have any voids. If so you can fill them put the receiver back in and repeat process.

I did not pillar until I had the receiver bedded. I then did the pillar job measuring the distance from the bottom of the stock to the bottom of the receiver. This allowed me to cut the lamp rods to proper lengths. I then drilled out the pillar area and epoxy them into the stock and wax the screws up and placed the receiver back in and tighten down the screws. Let cure and remove, inspect the job and remove all the play-doh and clean it up.

If you have epoxy ozzing out along the receiver during the first process you can wipe it off the stock and receiver or wait and cut it off after it cures.

The first stock was stressful (first time I have ever done it) The second stock was a breeze.

I'm sure that someone will chime in on another way to do it, but this worked for me.

Good luck.

 

[Coonman300]

Danny- thanks for the feedback
Spud- great info…thanks for such a detailed response!