Bedding question

[NesikaChad]

Originally Posted by kfrye

Chad,

Great article at firearms forum on bedding. For better or worse, I am going to try tackling a bedding project and would like your direction on a couple loose ends I have before I start:

You mention making sure the action is sitting in the stock at waterline- do you have a picture that shows this or can you explain sitting at waterline?

With the 10ml pipe around the barrel, how do you make sure the tang of the action is sitting level with the front?

Once the action is in the bedded stock, how do you securely hold everything together while the epoxy cures- stock makers screws, electrical tape?

Lastly, do you wait until the epoxy is fully cured before pulling the gun back apart for clean up, or do you monitor what gets squeezed out and start trimming before the bed is fully cured, followed by pulling the action out and trimming the excess out? Studying your photos, have you graduated to machining out the excess with a program?

Thanks for your help Chad, I am going to try and measure up to the fine work you have posted. I am hoping I can speed the learning curve along.

Ken

"Waterline" is a term I coined up cause I'm too lazy to say "showline."

Lets use a Nesika round action for this example as its the easiest for me to describe.

A no frills Nesika Model J is 1.350" in diameter. That means it has a radius of .675"

"Waterline"/"showline" is nothing more than the flat top portion of the stock where the barreled action rests. A gun built right will have the radius of the receiver and the barrel below this reference plane.

That's it. so, if you using a Remington 700 (also 1.350) half of the front receiver ring should be in the stock and half should be sticking out.

In the rear, you must measure from the bottom of the action to centerline of bore because Remington does that goofy thing on the rear portion of their actions. It's not the same height.

Basically it rolls like this. As your doing this work and your dillgently making sure all your little "I"s are dotted and "T"s are crossed. Just take a big step back, light a smoke, drink some coffee, listen to a song, what ever. Just get your face away from the gun for a moment and LOOK at it.

Does it Look right?

A human healthy human eye has the resolution to detect a 2mm deviation at 50 meters. This is proven. By that logic no one should have a challenge standing ten feet from a gun on a bench and be able to tell if it's buried or sitting proud in the stock.

I used to be very very anal about checking all the measurements and making sure it was just so. Now, I just stand back and look at the dumb thing to make sure I didn't screw it up. I check with a small level laid on the receiver and the stock.

That's it.

[NesikaChad]

Tape and holding an action in the stock while the resin cures:

I tape the barrel up front to center it in the channel. I use a little bit of tape on the receiver ring of the barrel to act as a damn to keep resin from flowing up the barrel channel. I also use a bit of clay to damn the stock there as well.

The pillars are bolted to the action via studs. I don't use screws. I use a 1/4-28 stud that I make myself that has just enough thread on the action side to get full purchase in the receiver, then it steps up to 5/16 diameter so its almost a slip fit inside the pillar. then it necks back down to 1/4 20 and I use a cheap o hardware store flange nut to tighten everything. I tighten the studs to the action hand tight and I use just a bit of pressure to tighten the nuts. Just enough to keep stuff from moving or working loose.

The particulars regarding clean up and holding the action in the stock while the resin cures is covered in those long winded rants of mine posted here. I'll let ya go looking so this thread doesn't turn into a chapter from the Bible.

Tape: The green 3M shit is awesome. Auto body supply shops sell it. Get some! Get a few rolls in different widths.

I mask the entire stock when I bed a gun. Everything, from one end to the other.

Nothing, and I mean nothing SUCKS more than having a rifle all done, your ready to apply finish and all the sudden the wood looks like its got a metallic paint job cause some aluminum or steel based bedding material got sucked into the wood fibers and you missed it and now its covered with finish.

Experience is never cheap. . .I've lived this nightmare and I learned from it. It's well worth the extra ten minutes and 2 dollars in tape to avoid the headaches. I do it synthetics as well just cause its one less thing to have to sand off the stock. Digging that crap out of the checkering on a grip is no fun either.

On my pillar holes I make "pull tabs" out of tape. I tape off the bottom of the hole so epoxy doesn't go oozing out the bottom. when I squish the action into the stock, the tabs get peeled off and I'm done. The pillars I make start off longer than needed. I flip my stocks over and finish mill them when I install the trigger guard or floor metal.

This is an entire process and it doesn't lend itself well when you start using stocks that have already been inletted for trigger guards and floor metals.

I suggest you get some firm/squishy type foam from a hobby store. Make damns and stuff them down your mag wells and trigger inlets. This will help mitigate the resin from taking off on you. Don't be afraid to use clay either although clay will displace if enough pressure is put on it. The foam tends to stay put better.

Hope this helps.

[kfrye]

Thanks for the wisdom and experience Chad. I will be starting this work soon, still assembling everything that I think I need. Be careful in the sandbox.

Ken