Weatherby Vanguard Painting Help

[LXnastynotch93]

I recently purchased a Weatherby Vanguard synthetic in .308. It comes with a black synthetic stock and the rifle itself has a blued finish.

I'm interested in painting the receiver, barrel, and stock (as well as scope and rings) with Duracoat OD Green as a base coat, spraying a camouflage pattern (using local vegetation) with Krylon colors, and then finishing the with a matte clear coat. However, I have a few logistics questions about painting:


-Will the bluing need to be removed completely prior to painting?

-Can I leave the trigger on and tape around it, as to not interfere with tolerances between the sear and firing pin? (An extra layer of paint between the trigger assembly and receiver may cause malfunctions.)

-I plan on glass and pillar bedding the action into the stock, should I paint the rifle before hand?


Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I recently purchased a Weatherby Vanguard synthetic in .308. It comes with a black synthetic stock and the rifle itself has a blued finish.

I'm interested in painting the receiver, barrel, and stock (as well as scope and rings) with Duracoat OD Green as a base coat, spraying a camouflage pattern (using local vegetation) with Krylon colors, and then finishing the with a matte clear coat. However, I have a few logistics questions about painting:


-Will the bluing need to be removed completely prior to painting?

-Can I leave the trigger on and tape around it, as to not interfere with tolerances between the sear and firing pin? (An extra layer of paint between the trigger assembly and receiver may cause malfunctions.)

-I plan on glass and pillar bedding the action into the stock, should I paint the rifle before hand?


Thanks for any and all help.

I can answer 2 and 3:

It's one screw to remove the trigger. Just take it off!

Yes you should paint it before bedding it - but do yourself a favor and use a different stock. I think you'll be disappointed with the factory plastic version.

Good luck!

 

[grit]

I have no experience with Duracoat. I use the bake on products. I'd give 'em a call or look for instructions on the website.

I'll comment on the rest. I typically remove all bluing via blasting. This is necassary for other finishes. If not necassary for duracoat, it would improve adhesion, make the finish more consistent, and reduce thickness.

I paint after bedding for a couple reasons.

1.When you epoxy bed, epoxy shrinks as it cures. My research indicates I can expect shrinkage to be consistent with the thickness of the metal finishes I use. You'll have to check the thickness of duracoat and the shrinkage of your epoxy.

2. Sand blasting the metal to prep for finish is a great way to clean up after bedding.

3. Painting stocks after bedding allows you to cover all the edges of the bedding which might otherwise show. Simply mask the bedding where you don't want paint.

 

[LXnastynotch93]

Thanks for the help guys.

I've been reading up on floating the barrel, and some say that the Weatherby needs some upward pressure on it to keep it accurate.

Now I'm a bit confused because I thought that a proper bedding and floating job would increase accuracy. The barrel is a #2 contour barrel, however Weatherby's contours seem to be a bit heavier than most so it's more like a #3 from Remington.

Should I still go ahead and do the bedding and floating, or should I just send those pillars on back to Midway?

 

[grit]

Pillar bed and free float. While pressure points can dampen barrel whip, changing pressure on your forend will cause the rifle to shoot to a different point of impact. Lots of things change pressure on the forend, heat, humidity, different rests, sling tension... Always free float.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I'm still gonna say that working with that factory stock is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You'd do much better to pick up a laminate from Boyds or Stockys and then install pillars in that. The plastic stock is going to be a waste of your time.

Good luck on your project!

 

[grit]

I'm still gonna say that working with that factory stock is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You'd do much better to pick up a laminate from Boyds or Stockys and then install pillars in that. The plastic stock is going to be a waste of your time.

Good luck on your project!

I agree. I didn't catch the tupperware stock in the first post. You should always start with a rigid platform. Boyds and Stockys offer some great stocks at a real value. The tupperware stocks are oil based. Besides being way too flexible, bedding doesn't bond to them.

 

[LXnastynotch93]

I'm still gonna say that working with that factory stock is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You'd do much better to pick up a laminate from Boyds or Stockys and then install pillars in that. The plastic stock is going to be a waste of your time.

Good luck on your project!

I agree. I didn't catch the tupperware stock in the first post. You should always start with a rigid platform. Boyds and Stockys offer some great stocks at a real value. The tupperware stocks are oil based. Besides being way too flexible, bedding doesn't bond to them.

Thanks for the insight guys, I would've tried to bed the action with the tupperware stock and it probably would've been a mess. Right now I'm trying to pick up a used walnut stock for a decent price, so if I can I'll use that to bed the action in.

Is it better to free float the barrel first, or wrap electrical tape around the barrel when bedding, and then free float after?

 

[grit]

The tupperware stocks can be bedded by creating mechanical locks and bedding rods in the forend, just for the record.... But, the best you get is mediocre. If you wanted to do it for practice, it might prove valuable experience.

You'll want to make sure the barrel is free floating before bedding the action. You don't want any contact points flexing or stressing the action during bedding. My process is to free float the channel, epoxy pillars in to establish height and alignment, and bed the action. I only bed barrel channels if required.

 

[LXnastynotch93]

The tupperware stocks can be bedded by creating mechanical locks and bedding rods in the forend, just for the record.... But, the best you get is mediocre. If you wanted to do it for practice, it might prove valuable experience.

You'll want to make sure the barrel is free floating before bedding the action. You don't want any contact points flexing or stressing the action during bedding. My process is to free float the channel, epoxy pillars in to establish height and alignment, and bed the action. I only bed barrel channels if required.

That's what I'll do then. I found a guide on the Score High website that explains all the steps of the process very well.

One significant question I have is about the tang inlet on the stock. I've heard that it's best to leave the part of the stock where the receiver tang rests alone, and only to remove material around the action screw. Is this correct to assume?

 

[grit]

I bed under the rear tang. Trace around the action and remove material carefully. The goal is consistent bedding thickness. There are a couple good videos in the video section here.

 

[Dr. Vette]

By placing tape around the barrel you'll probably end up free floating it anyway, as the tape thickness will probably be greater than the thickness of the pads in the stock. This, of course, is assuming the stock you purchase has pads in it. Yes, I do own rifles that are free floated but still have the pads in the barrel channel.

I usually place 2-3 layers of tape on the back of the rear of the tang so that it can flex backward if needed. You can then bed under and behind it with no worries.

For great bedding info, see this thread:
Bedding Project - Sniper's Hide Forums

Ignore the photos on the first page or so - somehow Photobucket lost his links.

Take a look at this stock:
PRAIRIE HUNTER WEATHERBY VANGUARD/HOWA 1500 SHORT ACTION FACTORY BARREL CHANNEL WALNUT (FINISHED)

 

[Shootin4fun]

OK, you guys opened a whole can of worms here!

I too had the idea of painting a Vanguard S2 with a camo look, except for the griptonite pads. I'm a long time shooter and reloader, but novice at smithing.

After reading these posts and others I'm left with some basic questions about the stock on this rifle and "tupperware" stocks in general. MacMillan and so many others make synthetic stocks and hundreds of new guns sport them. Are you guys saying all synth. stocks are tupperware junk or only the V S2??? Dr. Vett & grit, are you saying this from an aesthetic point of view, or out of functionality? You guys start talking about stiffness and so on, and this makes it sound like Weatherby has not done their R&D well on stock materials or made a big compromise in favor of cost.

I also read the post on Weatherby's site saying that the V S2 stock forend applies a slight upward pressure on the barrel. That was kind of shocking to me, since i thought all free floaters are just that - no contact between the barrel & stock at all for the length of it. So what's the deal here- if change stocks, do we need to worry about "applying slight pressure" to the end of the forearm??

I've generally prefer wood, and I don't yet own the V S2. But I thought synthetic would be good for this rifle because I expect it to be exposed to some rugged conditions. I feel like taking a beautiful gun like a Browning Medallion or Wby Mark V into the woods or desert is like roaring up a dirt road in an expensive Mercedies or BMW. Even 1 scratch is a detraction. I've had to live with the dings in all of my guns, some from guys at the range rapid firing their AKs who don't have any consideration or know how to aim their brass well ;-) Ugh!

 

[Shootin4fun]

...And then there's this:

Weatherby Vanguard S2 22250 SPRTR $603.00 SHIPS FREE

Nowhere on Weatherby's site do they say they make a wood stock version of the S2...yet Buds has them for sale. Is this a mistake on the part of Buds, or a stealth release from Wby??