Advice wanted on bedding stock

BOWWMAN

I am getting ready to free float the barrel and bed the action on my Reminton 700 25.06I have heard alot of conflicting information on the right and wrong way to do this. My thoughts and plan was to bed in front of the lug 1 1/2 inches all the way back to the front of the mag. Keeping space around the lug (using electrical tape)except the rear. And to do the tang also. What about trigger gaurd area were the action screw attach? this seems unnessesary. To crush the wood would you not have to first crush the guard its self. I don't plan on taking it out of the stock very offen if at all. Others say if I don't pillar bed it I am wasting my time. And I've also been told to drill out the action screw holes and bed them if not using pillars. Any help to clear this up would be great, and please speak from experance here. I would rather not screw it up. Thanks

---

BOWWMANhold hard and shoot strait!

Der Gebirgsjager

I may ramble a little here--but maybe you can get something out of it. Pillar bedding hasn't always existed, and in fact is a fairly recent development in the scheme of things, and has it's origin--and perhaps it's best use--in benchrest rifles. It doesn't sound to me like you're contemplating that application. Prior to the development of pillar bedding many very accurate rifles were turned out with products like Acraglas and Microbed. It still works for me. Your rifle should be bedded from the rear of the action where the rear tang screw is located all the way forward to about one inch in front of the receiver ring, and free floated from there forward. You'll want to take care that not only the bottom of the barrel is clear of the stock channel, but the sides as well. It doesn't require much clearance, just enough to slide a dollar bill around the muzzle and move it freely back to just forward of the receiver ring. This is probably more difficult than the bedding--to get a nice looking job that doesn't have big gaps along the sides of the barrel or make the barrel appear to be off-center in the stock. Since the amount of clearance is small, you'll want to seal the barrel channel very well against moisture; as only a little swelling will press against the barrel and defeat the purpose of free-floating it in the first place. After your bedding job is complete give the rifle awhile (several trips to the range) to settle in. If you're not happy with the accuracy results try a pressure pad between the barrel and the forend tip area of the stock the thickness of a business card or two (you'll have to experiment with this), but it may not be a problem. As for bedding the trigger guard and magazine, it is my personal opinion and experience that this is seldom necessary and little benefit will be derived for a hunting rifle. Perhaps if you were using a replacement stock or making a custom stock from a semi-inletted blank this would be advisable; but if using the original stock and it is in sound condition it is unnecessary. I don't know why one would leave a little room behind the recoil lug--the idea of the whole thing is to achieve maximum contact between the action and the stock with no wiggle room. If you use plenty of release compound (actually a good paste wax like Trewax is much better) you should experience no difficulty in removing the action from the stock. Some bedding compound will extrude into the action screw holes, so it is important to coat the screws with release compound also. Once you glop the bedding compound into the stock and tighten the screws there is quite a bit of hydraulic presure and the bedding compound can migrate to all sorts of nooks and crannies, and if you haven't thoroughly coated all likely and unlikely places the stuff can go you will be in trouble after it dries. You will probably wind up with a thin coating of bedding compound in the screw holes around the screws as an automatic thing--but I would not drill them out in advance, again assuming that the stock is in sound condition.

D.S.COLE

Ive bedded a lot of Remingtons. Your idea of putting a pad of compound about one and a half in out the bbl channel and back to the edge of the mag cut out is right. Use Brownells Acraglas gel , it is the best.Scrape the pressure ring out of the bbl channel that is right behind the fore end. Mix up the epoxy ,use the brown dye to color it to match stock color. Cut some grooves about eighth inch deep all along where the epoxy goes , I use a Dremel tool with a grinder ball tip. This gives the epoxy extra bonding surface to flow into.Coat the action & bbl real good with the release agent ,go up the sides of the action and out the bbl well ahead of where the epoxy stops .I rub a little vaseline on the side and top edge of the stock where the epoxy can overflow this keeps it from sticking and makes cleanup easy.Put enough epoxy in the bedding area to fill it properly, if you dont get enough you can do it again and fill any voids after the first try sets up , if you put too much it will overflow. Set the release coated action down in the gel ,put the tang screw through from the bottom ,I put a washer under it , dont use the trigger gd.,tighten it until the tamg is seated against the wood but not over tight. put a business card or something similar under the bbl tip , this gives float clearance.pess the action down until the sides of the rails are level with side of the stock, the part where the cartridge go in and eject. Dont use the front screw. Let this set for about 6 or 8 hrs. You will have remove the tang screw and hold the rifle upside down with the butt between your knees lay a shop rag on the bbl right in front of the fore end ,take a rubber mallet and give the bbl a good sharp lick the rag protects it ,knock the action loose to remove it.You should have a nice molded pad from the edge of the mag to about 1 or 2 in. out the bbl. clean up any overhangs and overflow. the bbl is floated the action is level in the stock no seesaw or wiggle. you will have to drill out the front screw hole where the glas flowed into it.Dont over apply the gel as too much can create abigger problem than not enough. it is easy to put alittle more in to fill a void after the first try. Just dont forget to recoat the release agent if you do a second try. You dont want the bottom of the recoil lug to touch or bottom out when you put it together so I use the Dremel tool to grind out any compound in the bottom of the slot.Good LuckDSC