Savage Bedding questions???

[jmeier1981]

I got a bell and carlson medalist varmint stock for my Savage 10fp. I took it to the gunsmith for a trigger job and to be bedded. He recommended bedding the action and even a small portion of the barrel, just the first couple inches basically the chamber. What do you think of this, is it a good idea or does the bedding need to stop before the barrel starts??? Also what about the safety tang? I've seen some post that say bed it and some that say float it, so which works better???

Ok so basically what are the dos and donts of bedding a short action savage? This is the older style 4 1/4" bolt spacing with a blind staggered magazine.

So bed the chamber portion of the barrel or no???

Bed or float the safety tang???

Any tips or help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

 

[Dr. Vette]

My personal preference is to bed from the front of the recoil lug back to the rear screw. You must float the tang, and I usually use 3 pieces of blue masking tape as my guide here. I do not bed the barrel of any of my rifles but this seems to be an optional type of thing as some people always bed the first portion of the barrel.

Here is a good picture of a reasonably well done Savage action bedding job that I found.

 

[J E Custom]

I got a bell and carlson medalist varmint stock for my Savage 10fp. I took it to the gunsmith for a trigger job and to be bedded. He recommended bedding the action and even a small portion of the barrel, just the first couple inches basically the chamber. What do you think of this, is it a good idea or does the bedding need to stop before the barrel starts??? Also what about the safety tang? I've seen some post that say bed it and some that say float it, so which works better???

Ok so basically what are the dos and donts of bedding a short action savage? This is the older style 4 1/4" bolt spacing with a blind staggered magazine.

So bed the chamber portion of the barrel or no???

Bed or float the safety tang???

Any tips or help will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

There is no set rule when it comes to bedding, and you will receive different opinions as to what
works best for you.

When I bed a rifle different brands of actions may require slightly different techniques and
applications but most are basicly the same.

I like to bed the entire action including approximately 1" of the barrel.

I do not use the action screws during this process because they can apply stress to the action.
I use spring clamps or surgical tubing to position the action with guide screws in the action
screw holes for alignment.

The reason I bed in front of the recoil lug is to help support the action if a heavy barrel is used.
Once bedded, some of it or all of it can be removed without disturbing the rest of the bedding
for tuning. Light barrels may not need this area bedded.

The simple way to evaluate what an action needs is simple, make sure that the action screws
are supported on all sides to prevent flexing the action while torque is applied. and that they do
not touch the pillar sides. After bedding I will sometimes ream the holes slightly to make sure
the bedding screws dont bare against the screw allowing it to receive recoil.

If a rifle is used in competition where it may heat up some clearing of the bottom of the recoil
lug may be nessary. (This can be done by adding several layers of tape to the bottom of the
recoil lug before bedding and removing it after the bedding has cured.

This is just the way I do it.

J E CUSTOM

 

[FURMAN]

For bedding a Savage I agree with Dr Vette.

 

[Freebore]

Yup, I agree with Dr Vette too. Had my switch barrel bedded with my Swift installed first 2" bedded of barrel. It shot terrible brought it home fired up the dremil took it back to the lug area. Shot the same load in the same holes like it did before bedding.
I don't bed any barrel area.

 

[geargrinder]

I bed from the back of the lug to the back of the rear screw.

Free float the tang and all of the barrel and nut.

 

[KRP]

JE's reply was very good. The recommendation to float the tang on a Savage is because of the position of the rear action screw, bedding behind it accomplishes nothing and if not done properly can cause problems. I also bed a little of the barrel on heavy ones, easy to do along with the rest and easy to remove if it doesn't seem to work.

 

[jmeier1981]

JE's reply was very good. The recommendation to float the tang on a Savage is because of the position of the rear action screw, bedding behind it accomplishes nothing and if not done properly can cause problems. I also bed a little of the barrel on heavy ones, easy to do along with the rest and easy to remove if it doesn't seem to work.

It is a factory heavy barrel, the gunsmith strongly recommended the chamber section of the barrel to be bedded. I figured id let him do his thing, like said above if it doesn't shoot atleats as good as it did before the new stock and bedding then it sounds like it should be easy to remove the barrel bedding.
The gun shoots REALLY good as it is with the cheap factory stock, a heavy trigger, and factory black hills ammo... I'm hoping that between lightening up the trigger adding a good stock that I can shoot comfortably and a good bedding job that it will only shoot better, if that's even possible cuz like I said it shoots REALLY good now and I'm sure I'm the only thing limiting it from shooting amamazing

 

[joe0121]

Do you guys remove a little material before bedding? I have an aftermarket stock and before the bedding was thinking about dremeling out about 1/16 of stock so the action rests on the piller while the devcon sets up. I also have a bottom metal that accepts Accurate mags and was thinking about leaving it in for bedding.

 

[FURMAN]

I do not but it definitely would not hurt.

 

[joe0121]

I do not but it definitely would not hurt.

Interesting. Love the rifle so far but I just wish the bolt lift wasnt so ridiculous. Thinking about sending it in to get timed and trued. Not so much for the accuracy but to smooth up the action.

 

[FURMAN]

Getting it timed and trued definitely makes it feel better so does a PT&G bolt body.

 

[joe0121]

Getting it timed and trued definitely makes it feel better so does a PT&G bolt body.

The bolt body makes a difference? How so. Not doubting genuinely curious.

 

[FURMAN]

I do not know about you but I can feel the slop in the factory Savage bolt. The PT&G is larger O.D. and makes the action/bolt less sloppy feeling. Definitely worth the $100 in my opinion.