Skim bedding an aluminum bedding block.

[longgunshooter]

i was just looking at my rem700, HS stock this morning and discovered that the end of the stock is making contact with the barrel. the pressure dosnt seem excessive but its a pressure point none the less.i dont remeber it being that way when i bought it?

Question is, do i place a very small pad under the barrel just in front of the recoil lug and bed it or just bed it the way it sits now and relieve the barrel channel enough to create the float space??

Thanks.

 

[Ankeny]

[ QUOTE ]
I was told to loosen the action screws, then tighten to 65 inch pounds while keeping the barrel centered in the barrel channel.

[/ QUOTE ] The process for tightening the screws is on a data sheet with the manual. Run them in finger tight, hold the barrel in the center of the channel, tighten the rear screw to 35, then the front to 35, then the back to 65 and lastly the front to 65 pounds. Of course, it doesn't mean squat if the bedding is messed up.

I went out this morning in just about zero wind. The first two shots were really close together about two inches low. Then I moved the front rest closer to the muzzle and torched off three more. The group shifted to 10 O'clock. I moved the front rest back towards the trigger guard and the next group shifted to the point of aim.

The guy who was with me said something to the effect that any idiot could see the bedding is messed up. So if any idiot can see the bedding is screwed up why did I have to send the rifle to Williams Gunsight twice and to Weatherby once? Four months of messing around and the rifle is so bad it would be unethical to even take it into the field. Those folks must just shoot a group without regard for repeatability and if it fits on a fifty cent piece the rifle is good to go. There can be no other explanation.

I am not much for Internet bashing, but I have to say, I am very disappointed in this Weatherby product and I hold their customer service department in contempt. Yeah, I'll fix the darn thing myself, but good grief for what I paid...you know.

 

[Hired Gun]

Well I just bucked up and did one. I took lots of pictures. It will be ready to pull Sunday. I sure hope the car wax thing works for a release agent. I used gray Marine Tex. The color looks just right for the Accumark. I am going with what Kirby said on nothing touching the barrel. This one is action only with nothing under the barrel at all. The actions screws are centered nicely in the bed block holes. I took some measurements and found my recoil lug was not touching in the bottom at all. It had .020" clearance. The front part of the bedding block only made partial contact along the front edge. It will have a nice solid bedding now. The bedding was real good in the back. Tomorrow I will post the prep and final look at the wet bedding compound before I dropped it in.

 

[Hired Gun]

Patients never were one of my virtues. 12 hours later and one thing lead to another and next thing you know I had it out of the stock and all cleaned up. It did chip in the rear a little. I think I'm going to leave it that way for now. The recoil lug area turned out well. A little of it stuck to the action and I'm going to leave it there as it completes the puzzle in the front. If it all breaks up later I will get more aggressive and actually remove some material from the stock and drill a bunch of really small holes for the bedding to bite into.
Here are the pics. Be gentle with me. It is only my second attempt at bedding.

Oh, I almost forgot. The car wax worked ok for release agent. I used Meguires. It was all I had.

 

[Ankeny]

Thanks for posting the pics. I finally had enough and I took to sanding the area in front of the recoil lug. Holy cow Weatherby had a huge pressure point right there. Removing just a little material caused the front of the forearm to raise a bunch. Weatherby had bedded the recoil lug and it was touching so I removed the barrel pad completely until the barrel was entirely free floated. I had to sand the front of the forearm until I was down to the sling swivel screw. It really ticks me off that I have been arguing with Weatherby for five months about this very issue. Anyhow, I took the gun out and shot it. The first six or seven rounds were spotty, then the gun settled down and (seems like that's a lot of rounds to seat the action) poured round after round into one moa. Grrr...I am glad I made headway but why oh why can't a repair center...never mind.

I have a bunch of Acraglas gel that I use to do grip reductions on Glock pistols. What's the chance Acraglas would work to bed the action? Maybe I should start another thread?

 

[Hired Gun]

When I put any gun back in the stock I always take the screws up to where they just start to snug and then I bounce it on the butt a few times to seat the action tight to the rear. They make a snap sound when the recoil lugs seats up tight. The way I bed my Mark 5's with the recoil lug 100% bedded you don't have to do that as they fit very sung into the stock after that. On this one some bedding material got past my rubber o-ring dam so I just milled it out with my die grinder. I might even shoot it tomorrow just to see how it's acting.

I'm sure Accraglass would work fine for a bedding material. It's just a lot runnier. This was the first time I ever used the Marine Tex. It is very sticky and kind of thick. The price is right though. It was 27 bucks for enough to do at least 30 guns. I plan to do a gun a week for awhile. The next victim is going to be a wild shooting M77 22 Mag All Weather. No skim bedding on that one. I'm hogging it out for the full meal deal.