Bedding Question

[drenner43]

I just finished bedding a Weatherby Mk 5 Accumark. This is only my 4th bedding job I might add. I wrapped the barrel with electrical tape to center the barrel in the channel. However when I finished up the bedding and and snugged up the action and bottom metal the barrel ended up a little bit off center down the barrel channel of the stock.

Is this alright?

Is this common?

Or what have I done wrong?

Thanks for the help!

[Dr. Vette]

What did you do to center the actions screws when you bedded the rifle?

On my Wbys I always wrap the forward action screw (well, actually I use a long bolt with the head cut off) with as much blue masking tape as I can yet still get it to fit into its proper hole. I'll then wrap the rear stud (i.e. cutoff bolt) with enough that it helps center it yet I can still pull the action in and out of the stock. I usually find that the rear screw won't quite be centered fore and aft doing this but I'm not so worried. The forward action screw is more important.

All of this is done with the barrel taped, usually placing the tape as far forward as feasible. In doing this the barrel and forward action screw are in line with the forearm of the stock - assuming the stock isn't crooked. Note that it may be.

Doing it in this manner I've not had a problem.

Check to be sure you're not having any binding of the action as you pull it in and out, or that there is nothing obvious pushing it one way or another and making the barrel move to one side. If not, there may have just been some misalignment when you bedded it which shows up now.

[drenner43]

Thanks for the reply..

For the life of me I can not figure out where I went wrong. I've gone over my process in my head multiple times.

Do you generally bolt the bottom metal back to the action during the curing process or do you just tape the barreled action to the stock with the screws you mentioned in place? The other 3 rifles were 2 Ruger's and a Remington. So this was my first weatherby.

No pillars as it was in the factory assumark stock with aluminum bedding block. I did use accurisers (Trigger Springs|Aluminum Pillar|Pillar Bedding|Gunsmithing). I posted a question about bedding once before and mentioned these and one gunsmith on here told me how dumb they were and I was and unnecessary they were. That good gunsmiths had a way of not needing these with an aluminum bedding block. But proceeded to give me no help. So I used them anyways. In my unexperienced opinion they helped here. In my case the action was resting on the flat behing the recoil lug with a pretty big gap between the bottom of the integral recoil lug (which on a Mk 5 is where the front action bolt is) and the stock. Using these helped make it so that the only solid contacts were the 2 action bolt locations.

If the bedding job is stress free when it comes out will the slight cant affect anything other than looks?

I may be stripping this down and starting over. If so, that's ok to. That's why I'm doing this stuff myself, to learn.

[TAC]

Your barrel may not be perfectly centered but it will function fine as long as you did not introduce stress during your bedding setup. It sounds to me like the aluminum block may not have been perfectly centered in the stock and when you snugged up the action it introduced stress back into your setup.

to test this tighten up your action in the stock and then loosen the front action bolt slowly while observing the barrel. It's best if you can measure the change but if your bedding is adding stress you will see the barrel lift or change position. If you have a dial caliper you can check it easily.

I do not use action bolts when bedding an action and instead use a pair of alignment rods threaded into the bolt holes. I push the action gently down into the bedding and use electrical tape to hold it in position - it takes very little pressure to hold it in place.

There's lots of good information out there so I won't go further. If you want to correct your alignment you'll need to remove some bedding material and reapply.

T

[J E Custom]

First; it is ok as long as it is not under stress with the tape removed.

If you are not happy with the way it looks you may want to open the barrel channel a little
on the close side.

If this is not possible without removing to much stock and weakening it or making it look bad
then I would just re fit the barreled action by removing some of the bedding so it will allow
the barrel to center in the stock without the tape and then apply the tape (Enough to center
the barrel and skim bed on top of the other remaining bedding.

Make sure that the barrel and action will go all the way down to the pillars and can be lined
up centered with out any pressure on the stock.

I like to use spring clamps (They look like jumper cable clamps) because they dont force the
action into any preloaded condition and I end up with a stress free bedding job.

I use shrink wrap on the front bedding screw ( use a socket head screw with the head ground
down where it will go through the pillar) for alignment and to center the action screw durring
bedding and remove them as soon as the compound cures without removing the clamps.
The clamps stay on overnight.

Don't get upset for having to re do your bedding it has happened to all of us. Consider it a
learning experience.

Note ; Bed the entire recoil lug on the Mark 5 or it will stress the action when tightened down
because the action screw goes into the recoil lug.

Hope this helps.

J E CUSTOM

[Dr. Vette]

Originally Posted by J E Custom

Note ; Bed the entire recoil lug on the Mark 5 or it will stress the action when tightened down because the action screw goes into the recoil lug.

Hope this helps.

J E CUSTOM

Yes - you can apply tape to the front and sides of the Mk V bedding lug but don't put tape on the bottom (or back, of course).

I NEVER bolt the bottom metal back in place (may induce stress) and in fact don't hold the action in place at all. The weight of the barrelled action has always been enough in my experience, and I apply enough pressure that the tape on the barrel is fully engaged as is the rear of the action. The only time this came back to get me was on a Savage, so I just re-did it. I don't want to do anything that might induce a bit of stress, including clamps or tape.

I've used the Accurisers on a Mk V as well as Vanguard now under the recoil lug. They don't fit entirely perfectly but they definitely allow you to have metal-to-metal contact. I would not recommend them for a first time project but under the recoil lug of a Wby they work fine if you're meticulous and think your way through the project. I wish Ernie'd make some with one flat side to use specifically with our rifles.

[drenner43]

Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. I broke it loose and pulled it out last night but I have not had time to check and see if it was stressed and see if I can figure out where the side load is. I probably wont get a chance to until next week. I think I'll probably just strip it back down and start over. May not necessarily need to but I probably will.

Dr. Vette,

The accurisers definitely came in handy for this rifle. I agree with getting some specific for Mk 5's. I ground one side flat and filed the edges for burrs and they worked just fine.


I appreciate your guys help and input!