csjmd
New Member
Hello all, I'm new to the forum. I found an old thread about bedding the Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather Stainless Steel but it hasn't been active in over a year so I thought I'd start a new one rather than bump the old one. Hope I'm not violating protocol.
This is my first Winchester, and my first rifle with a bedding block. Everything else I own are Rem 700's in McMillan stocks with pillars. When I took the barreled action off, I was surprised by the fragile appearance of the epoxy they used to bed the front lug and float the barrel. I was even more surprised to find that at the rear action screw, the bedding block only goes up halfway, and there is not metal to metal contact between the bottom metal and the tang. The rear action screw is threaded through more of that same epoxy, and the tang is floating on that. In Erniethegunsmith's photos of the Bell and Carlson stock, there is metal all the way to the tang. I contacted B&C, who said they changed the design, but it doesn't affect accuracy. I have a hard time believing this, as I've come to trust nothing but solid bedding with metal to metal contact from the bottom metal to the action. Has anyone run across this? No one at Winchester seems to understand what I'm talking about. I talked to a gunsmith about removing the epoxy, drilling out the half-pillar in the existing block, and re-bedding with a full-length pillar at the rear action screw/tang, but he didn't understand what I was talking about. Someone please help!
This is my first Winchester, and my first rifle with a bedding block. Everything else I own are Rem 700's in McMillan stocks with pillars. When I took the barreled action off, I was surprised by the fragile appearance of the epoxy they used to bed the front lug and float the barrel. I was even more surprised to find that at the rear action screw, the bedding block only goes up halfway, and there is not metal to metal contact between the bottom metal and the tang. The rear action screw is threaded through more of that same epoxy, and the tang is floating on that. In Erniethegunsmith's photos of the Bell and Carlson stock, there is metal all the way to the tang. I contacted B&C, who said they changed the design, but it doesn't affect accuracy. I have a hard time believing this, as I've come to trust nothing but solid bedding with metal to metal contact from the bottom metal to the action. Has anyone run across this? No one at Winchester seems to understand what I'm talking about. I talked to a gunsmith about removing the epoxy, drilling out the half-pillar in the existing block, and re-bedding with a full-length pillar at the rear action screw/tang, but he didn't understand what I was talking about. Someone please help!
