First ever pillar and bedding job / Savage 111 Trophy Hunter

[PowellSixO]

Well my new Boyd's Pro Varmint stock came in Monday. The factory Savage stock that came on my rifle was horrible, so I decided to replace it. With not a lot of choices for this rifle, I ended up choosing the Pro Varmint stock from Boyd's. When I first got it, I tried to set my barreled action in the new stock. The action and barrel fit in the stock, but there were a few small clearance issues. I used a small file to open the areas up, that had the clearance issues. After that, I removed the pillars from my Tupperware stock, and drilled holes in the Boyd's stock to accept them. Then I drilled holes in the stock and removed some of the material for the bedding compound to stick to. I taped everything off, filled holes with putty, and coated the action with shoe polish. I then applied the bedding compound (JB weld), and stuck the action back in the stock for 24 hours. I cleaned it all up, and had to apply a new coat of textured paint, because I had chipped some of it off in the sanding portion of my work. All in all I'm very happy with my first pillar and bedding job. It is time consuming, and I know I didn't do a perfect job, but I'm happy with it. What do you guys think of my first attempt at this? Thanks for looking.

Stock straight out of the box with the pillars sitting in place.











Holes drilled in stock and material removed for bedding compound.






Action taped off and putty in place.




Stock taped off and putty in place.







Action and barrel in the stock to sit for 24 hours.
















Action and barrel came right out, but I used a little bit too much JB weld. Lol.




All cleaned up. There is a little over spray on the bedding compound from my paint job. I cleaned it before I installed the action and barrel.




Back together and ready to go site in. gun)

 

[ntg]

Looking good! Please keep us posted on how it shoots. I've got the same stock for a 7-08 barrel I'm putting on a 110...got to get it done! Your's got me excited.

 

[Pdvdh]

My suggestion for your next bedding job: I wouldn't bother with placement of bedding material along the sides of the magazine cutout. That just creates extra work with little to no benefit. It might even reduce the strength of some stocks along the magazine. I know it would have weakened my McMillan stock constructed with their Edge technology. There's a layer of very tough/strong material that wraps over the top edge of my McMillan. I wouldn't want to drill or remove that material directly behind the recoil lug.

 

[PowellSixO]

Looking good! Please keep us posted on how it shoots. I've got the same stock for a 7-08 barrel I'm putting on a 110...got to get it done! Your's got me excited.

For sure. I'm hoping to get to the range on Friday. I need to get it sited in, and get my drops from 100 to 700 yards. That's as far as we can shoot at our local range. It's been a good shooting rifle for me already, but I'm hoping with the new stock my groups will shrink up even more. I'll post my results.

 

[PowellSixO]

My suggestion for your next bedding job: I wouldn't bother with placement of bedding material along the sides of the magazine cutout. That just creates extra work with little to no benefit. It might even reduce the strength of some stocks along the magazine. I know it would have weakened my McMillan stock constructed with their Edge technology. There's a layer of very tough/strong material that wraps over the top edge of my McMillan. I wouldn't want to drill or remove that material directly behind the recoil lug.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't even think about that. This stock is pretty beefy, and I made sure that I got the bedding compound down in every single hole. I let it sit between applications, to make sure it ran down into every hole. I didn't have any air pockets at all, so I'm hoping it will be strong enough. If not, I'll just have to buy another one and do it again.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Looks pretty good. I would be very please with that.

 

[tbrice23]

Looks good.
I have bedded with JB before, now I use Devcon sreel 10110 .

Believe me, Devcon is much stronger and doesn't run.

I don't like to tie down the action to the stock, it puts stress on the process at hand. You might have bowed the stock upwards slightly by taping it upwards.
Also dont forgot to relieve the bedding on the barrel nut a DEFIANTLY make sure the tang is free floated.

Just some things to consider.

 

[etisll40]

Is the Boyd's stock a composite? What's the stock called? The look is pretty nice, I might pick one up.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Pdvdh]

I have bedded with JB before, now I use Devcon Steel 10110 .

Believe me, Devcon is much stronger and doesn't run.

I've used JB Weld to set pillars before. But I use Devcon Steel Putty 10110 for the rest of the action bedding. 10110 is the cat's meow.

BUT a warning on the use of Devcon Steel Putty 10110. The Hardener can get stiff and go bad after it's been opened for a year or so. I had a batch I purchased and opened 16 months ago. I'd bedded two rifles with it in the first 6 months. Then just recently I tried bedding another rifle with it. I thought the Hardener seemed too stiff, but I'd only use the product twice before. I tried mixing the hardener into the steel and it remained very stiff. Didn't lose viscosity like the first two rifles I had bedded. I went ahead and tried to bed the 3rd rifle with the mixture. Bad move. I had suspicions it wasn't right and sure enough, it never really set up. I had to methodically remove all the Devcon the following day, and then totally re-prep the stock. Bummer. I ordered a new batch of Devcon, and a week later bedded the rifle for the second time. Turned out great. But a LOT of extra work prepping the stock the 2nd time around.

After using the new batch of Devcon, I screwed the lid down tight on the Hardener, and then wrapped the plastic container in aluminum foil multiple times. Sealed the aluminum foil edge with Duct tape, and then placed the Hardener back in the box with the steel. I'm hoping this will extend its shelf life after opening it.

I don't think the steel goes bad for a long time. It's the Hardener that will bite you in the ***. Next time I'll know better. Hopefully the members that read this will be able to avoid my experience. After this happened to me, I spent some time researching and found some user feedback from another guy that had the same experience I had with the Hardener going bad. So be forewarned. I was hating life there for a period of time.

I like the Devcon so well that I'll spend the $45 for a new 1 lb batch, even if I only use it on a single rifle stock. The product has a 5-year shelf life - UNTIL you open the containers. I ordered the 2nd batch off FleaBay, and made sure I ordered from a supplier that was selling a lot of Devcon, just to make sure I wasn't buying old stock. That worked well. The new container's expiration date was 4 years 11 months away, meaning the product had just been manufactured about one month prior.

 

[Hired Gun]

Doing your own gun work can be very rewarding.

Tips on bedding:

I like to bolt the pillars directly to the action to be sure they are up tight where they will be once the action is torqued down.

Second item is the amount of tape and where it is. It is placing a lot of stress on the action that will applied directly to the action when it released and the action bolted down. This is not desirable. It only takes minimal pressure centered at the rear tang or in the case of a Savage over the rear bridge to hold it down and up front where the barrel is supported on tape to keep it centered in the barrel channel. The rear tie down can be over the bolt drawn back or a wood dowel that fits in the action. Just keep the tension to a minimum. No pressure whatsoever is acceptable from the stock upward high centering the action or from the outside bending it down. It only takes about 2 pounds of pressure to measurably bend a barreled action supported at the ends.

Third point: I want no bedding or anything touching the barrel anywhere. The front of the lug is good if you don't mind it being hard to remove from the stock. Most guys don't like the front of the lug tight but I believe it helps with accuracy. It's okay if epoxy oozes out under the barrel while bedding; just machine it out during the clean up.

I do like it down the sides for appearance but don't believe it adds anything or hurts anything.

I would skip the tape on the outside of the stock. I prefer to just fully clean up the top edge while the bedding is wet with q-tips. Same for the play dough. That stuff is hard to remove. I use paraffin wax to cover the holes in the steel and use it for my release agent. Then just a little heat from a propane torch or heat gun and it runs right out of the holes and unless you are coating it the wax job on the metal can stay. I don't try to clean up anything inside until it's cured. If you smear it into the crevices it just sticks worse where if big thick globs are just barely touching they are much easier to remove. I like to butter up the stock with enough to do the job leaving it high in the center so it squeezes from the center outward and then butter up the action to ensure their are no air pockets in the finished product.

Lastly, I would also suggest Marine Tex grey. It's a lot easier to work with and is a very durable product for bedding with some of the least amount shrinkage over time. What Are the Best Bedding Materials? Speedy Speaks « Daily Bulletin

 

[PowellSixO]

Is the Boyd's stock a composite? What's the stock called? The look is pretty nice, I might pick one up.

Thanks,
Ed

This particular Boyd's stock is called the Pro Varmint. It's made of wood laminate, and has a black textured paint job.

 

[PowellSixO]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I'll have to get some of the Devcon for my next project. How long does the Devcon take to set up? The JB weld took FOREVER. It said 15-24 hours on the box, and it took ever last bit of 15 hours to be hard to the touch, and every bit of 24 hours before I was brave enough to handle it.

 

[tbrice23]

I think 45 min to START to set.

To me, I don't care what the set time is. CURE time is what I wait for. Once I've got everything cleaned up ( 30 min or so) I don't even think about moving or even breathing on it until 24hrs later.

 

[Pdvdh]

Doing your own gun work can be very rewarding.

Lastly, I would also suggest Marine Tex grey. It's a lot easier to work with and is a very durable product for bedding with some of the least amount shrinkage over time. What Are the Best Bedding Materials? Speedy Speaks « Daily Bulletin

HG,
You've got me interested. So is Marine-Tex Gray easier to work with than Devcon Plastic Putty, or approximately the same? Have you settled on Marine-Tex Gray, after having used Devcon in the past?

It looks like Marine-Tex Gray is available in 2 oz packaging? But I don't think the 2 oz kit would be enough for a rifle stock - do you? If it would be, that's convenient and cost-effective since I only bed one rifle stock per year - typically. I read where Marine-Tex has a 2-year shelf life after opened, which is longer than I got out of the Devcon Steel Putty hardener. But shelf life wouldn't matter if 2 oz of Marine-Tex was enough for a single rifle bedding job.

If you've used both and prefer Marine-Tex, I'll probably try it the next time I bed a rifle. But should I buy the 2 oz kit or the 14 oz kit? Thanks.