Stock inletting: bedding vs smoke & fit

[MRogersII]

Question regarding inletting. It seems that "Best Quality" rifles, particularly those from Europe, do not use bedding compound, but rather fit the stock to the bare metal. When I built my Mauser 375 H&H 2 years ago, I did similar. I removed most of the wood on the mill, and then used an oil lamp to smoke the receiver the rest of the way down. When I was finished, there was no gap whatsoever, and the overall fit was very good. I'm going to say that took me maybe 2 weeks to do, start to finish.

I'm at the point now where I'm ready to start inletting my Enfield reciever and I'm curious what, if any, advantage there is to the smoke & fit method, versus simply inletting and then bedding the area with Devcon? Either way, it seems that the end result of the fitting is the same, though one way is a day, and the other is several days.

Just curious if there was a technical justification for one vs the other?

Thank you

 

[boltfluter]

Patience would be a technical problem for me! Bed it and shoot it.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

If you plan on showing off your inletting to a gun snob, you'd better scrape it into perfect contact.
If not, hog it out on the mill and bed it. It's still possible to keep the edges tight and pretty. If you promise not to take the stock off in public, we promise not to tell anyone.

I toured Dakota years ago, before their first bankruptcy. That's pretty much what they did.

 

[Will Henry]

The best person at stock inletting, I have known, might not have been the best in the world, but he would certainly have been in contention. His best work was still not as precisely fit as a top quality glass bedding job. Technically speaking, epoxy will yield a better fit. This doesn't mean epoxy will always be better; it can be screwed up too! WH

 

[joshb]

I’m becoming more aware of my diminishing time on this rock. I look for ways to do things faster while still maintaining a certain level of quality. Using bedding compound helps with that.
While I was doing some work at our church, our minister commented how nice my work looked. I told him I was doing my best to make it “perfect”. He looked at me and said “Only God is perfect.”

 

[MRogersII]

Thank you all for the feedback. I was thinking that with this one, I would try to find a middle ground between the two.

I was just curious if one method was technically "better", either cosmetically or structurally, than the other.

Thank you
Michael

 

[joshb]

Thank you all for the feedback. I was thinking that with this one, I would try to find a middle ground between the two.

I was just curious if one method was technically "better", either cosmetically or structurally, than the other.

Thank you
Michael

“Structurally” speaking, the bedding will be a tighter fit.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

It's totally possible to get a close, beautiful fit around the edges, and then a perfectly fitting bedding job below the waterline.
The best of both worlds....

 

[Southwest Action Works]

I think the difference is one’s a “damn fine rifle” and other is a “shooter”

 

[ljmontano]

I think the difference is one’s a “damn fine rifle” and other is a “shooter”

Damn Dennis what do you know about inletting and stock making, one of the last you cut was 3k total run out. I you can’t get it any straighter cancel my order! LMAO

 

[Bc'z]

Damn Dennis what do you know about inletting and stock making, one of the last you cut was 3k total run out. I you can’t get it any straighter cancel my order! LMAO

That .003 was my fault

 

[Southwest Action Works]

Damn Dennis what do you know about inletting and stock making, one of the last you cut was 3k total run out. I you can’t get it any straighter cancel my order! LMAO

I’ll try to keep yours under .002