Bedding

[perma]

Don't torque them. If you're not bedding the bottom metal at the same time then don't even use the action screws. Buy some bolts that are the right size, cut the heads off and screw those into the action to use as alignment studs.

Torquing the screws will induce stress into the action and defeat the purpose of bedding. The last few I did, I didn't even use tape or surgical tube. Just pushed the action into place and let gravity take over.

Okay, that makes sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'll probably bed the barrel and the bottom plate and finger tighten with an allen key. Not sure that i'll use pillars but i'll research more. I have the M50 Stockeys carbon fiber for a vanguard. Love the tape around the barrel idea to center it.

For the sake of discussion, do you recommend using pillars?

 

[p_ham]

Okay, that makes sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'll probably bed the barrel and the bottom plate and finger tighten with an allen key. Not sure that i'll use pillars but i'll research more. I have the M50 Stockeys carbon fiber for a vanguard. Love the tape around the barrel idea to center it.

For the sake of discussion, do you recommend using pillars?

IMO, pillars are only there to resist compression. In a walnut or birch stock or an inlet design that doesn't offer a lot of support, yes. A laminate, fiberglass, or CF stock? Probably unnecessary.

A lot of guys too have this idea that their action needs 65in/lb to be accurate. The truth is that most actions only need 35-45in/lbs, with 50 starting to push towards excessive.

For the Vanguard/Howa design I'd recommend 45in/lb up front and 35in/lb on the rear screw. Tighten them down in stages, bouncing between the 2. Final torque should be front screw first.

That said, I've been reading a lot from the benchrest world, and the consensus there is that pillars should be short enough to have a good layer of epoxy over both ends. That allows all of the bedding to shrink at the same rate without ending up with the pillars as the only contact point of the action, since metal doesn't shrink over time.

 

[perma]

IMO, pillars are only there to resist compression. In a walnut or birch stock or an inlet design that doesn't offer a lot of support, yes. A laminate, fiberglass, or CF stock? Probably unnecessary.

A lot of guys too have this idea that their action needs 65in/lb to be accurate. The truth is that most actions only need 35-45in/lbs, with 50 starting to push towards excessive.

For the Vanguard/Howa design I'd recommend 45in/lb up front and 35in/lb on the rear screw. Tighten them down in stages, bouncing between the 2. Final torque should be front screw first.

That said, I've been reading a lot from the benchrest world, and the consensus there is that pillars should be short enough to have a good layer of epoxy over both ends. That allows all of the bedding to shrink at the same rate without ending up with the pillars as the only contact point of the action, since metal doesn't shrink over time.

Got it, thank you. I ask because I recently learned that while taking apart my rifle, i found my action screws loose, didnt need a wrench to take them off. I did torque them down initially to 45 in/lbs per Stockey's specs but still came loose, only once though. Probably my error somehow but I wasnt sure if pillars would help keep the bolts tight, didnt seem like they would. I think ill just stick to epoxy and keep pillars out of it, and get better at checking them more often.

 

[Irrelevant]

So maybe this is a dumb question but I'm thinking about bedding my old tikka stock. Tikka's have the floating recoil lug that I don't think was seating into my barrel correctly which was causing all kinds of inaccuracies. I've since rectified most of it by going to a nicer B&C stock. But part of me wants to see if I can't make the original even better. So my question is, how do I make sure that the recoil lug perfectly seats into the barrel correctly when I make the casting, tape it?

 

[p_ham]

So maybe this is a dumb question but I'm thinking about bedding my old tikka stock. Tikka's have the floating recoil lug that I don't think was seating into my barrel correctly which was causing all kinds of inaccuracies. I've since rectified most of it by going to a nicer B&C stock. But part of me wants to see if I can't make the original even better. So my question is, how do I make sure that the recoil lug perfectly seats into the barrel correctly when I make the casting, tape it?

Superglue it to the action, make sure it's pushed forward against the shoulder. Only use a couple drops of glue.

 

[millerkiller77]

So maybe this is a dumb question but I'm thinking about bedding my old tikka stock. Tikka's have the floating recoil lug that I don't think was seating into my barrel correctly which was causing all kinds of inaccuracies. I've since rectified most of it by going to a nicer B&C stock. But part of me wants to see if I can't make the original even better. So my question is, how do I make sure that the recoil lug perfectly seats into the barrel correctly when I make the casting, tape it?

There are oversized recoil lugs that damn near require a press to install in the barrel channel and once in, they don't budge.

 

[Irrelevant]

There are oversized recoil lugs that damn near require a press to install in the barrel channel and once in, they don't budge.

In that case, install it dry, tight bolts which should press it into place, then loosen, pull out the action, which should have the lug still attached, then proceed with the bedding portion.