Hi all,
Looking for some advice here. I have an older model ruger M77 in .308. It's been around the block a few times, but up till recently it still shot ok with groups around MOA, not a tack driver, but good enough for my purposes. I took off the stock to give it a much needed refinish as the old varnish was cracking off, it looked horrible and would absorb water when I was hunting in the rain.
I sanded the stock back, then applied Tung oil to finish, I followed the method used in one of tibersaurus Rex's videos (he used boiled linseed oil, similar to Tung oil), with repeated coats, wet sanding for the first five and the rubbing in the last five.
I also applied about 4 coats to the inside of the stock, where the receiver goes, I did this to stop it absorbing water and warping the stock when hunting in the wet. I did not sand or rub the coats inside the receiver, and I kept the oil off the bedding compound.
Stock looked good, I patted myself on the back, put it back together, and took it out to check zero with the same loads as what I used to get MOA. This is where it went bad for me, with a 4 shot 2 1/2" group at 100m, the closest 2 shots where an inch apart.
I guessed I must have got some grit or sanding debris between the stock and action that was causing it to not sit properly in the bedding, so I removed the action and scraped around gently with a screwdriver, being careful not to damage the wood. I cleaned out a lot of dried Tung oil and sanding dust, then I put the action back in and screwed it back down good and tight, then fired another 3 shot group, I didn't bother firing a 4th shot because it had already sprayed out to 2".
Whew, stick with me folks, allmost at the end of my tale of woe.
So, what I figure is that the stock has absorbed some oil and warped slightly, causing it to not engage in the bedding properly, or swelled an area of wood that is preventing it from being able to screw down tight against the bedding.
My question is, what do I do now? How can I diagnose exactly what the problem is? How do I fix it? Can I scrape away the problem area, or do I need to re-bed?
I realise this post is long winded so any thoughts and constructive advice will be well received, I would like to get this fixed quick as spring is fast approaching and I need this thing shooting right. Thanks in advance
Looking for some advice here. I have an older model ruger M77 in .308. It's been around the block a few times, but up till recently it still shot ok with groups around MOA, not a tack driver, but good enough for my purposes. I took off the stock to give it a much needed refinish as the old varnish was cracking off, it looked horrible and would absorb water when I was hunting in the rain.
I sanded the stock back, then applied Tung oil to finish, I followed the method used in one of tibersaurus Rex's videos (he used boiled linseed oil, similar to Tung oil), with repeated coats, wet sanding for the first five and the rubbing in the last five.
I also applied about 4 coats to the inside of the stock, where the receiver goes, I did this to stop it absorbing water and warping the stock when hunting in the wet. I did not sand or rub the coats inside the receiver, and I kept the oil off the bedding compound.
Stock looked good, I patted myself on the back, put it back together, and took it out to check zero with the same loads as what I used to get MOA. This is where it went bad for me, with a 4 shot 2 1/2" group at 100m, the closest 2 shots where an inch apart.
I guessed I must have got some grit or sanding debris between the stock and action that was causing it to not sit properly in the bedding, so I removed the action and scraped around gently with a screwdriver, being careful not to damage the wood. I cleaned out a lot of dried Tung oil and sanding dust, then I put the action back in and screwed it back down good and tight, then fired another 3 shot group, I didn't bother firing a 4th shot because it had already sprayed out to 2".
Whew, stick with me folks, allmost at the end of my tale of woe.
So, what I figure is that the stock has absorbed some oil and warped slightly, causing it to not engage in the bedding properly, or swelled an area of wood that is preventing it from being able to screw down tight against the bedding.
My question is, what do I do now? How can I diagnose exactly what the problem is? How do I fix it? Can I scrape away the problem area, or do I need to re-bed?
I realise this post is long winded so any thoughts and constructive advice will be well received, I would like to get this fixed quick as spring is fast approaching and I need this thing shooting right. Thanks in advance
