Well, I glass bedded my 700 BDL SS 300Win mag. I took alot of time in prepreation, and studying. I have been very hesitate, since I have seen people actually totally ruin a rifle by glueing it to the action, (no trigger assembly.
So thanks to Ridgerunner and Pawildman, I got far. Good advise and much appreciated.
First my fears caused me to screw up some. I was scared I would get glass in my action screws and that just sounds bad. So I put apatch of clay into each action hole on the stock. So when I pushed the screws up the clay seemed to push out too much and made my job look bad and not let the glass coat good enough close enough to the action holes. My tang looks horrible. Second, I was able to pull the action out easily enough 10 hours later. But the small tiny skim on the back of the recoil lug inlet did not adheise well, and pulled out a little with the action. Probably the most important place to have glass, and not its bergered up. Its skin thin however so maybe it won't matter. I am going to try to clean up some, and try to shoot anyway to see how it turns out.
In retraspec. I would have not messed with the tang area. There was a good fit there anyway. Second, I would use inletting screws, the kind you install in the action and then drop it in and used tubing to tighten down the action to the stock. That way, I would not have any fear of getting the epoxy in my action screw threads and would have not used any clay in that area.Antoher thing,I would either use more floc or get the gel type. I wanted to bed more on first 1" of the barrel out of the action, but it was so runny, it didn't stay in position. I was bedding a cheap injected molded stock, so alot of the barrel channel was hollow, so I need the epoxy to kinda stay on the edges more. lastly, I might let it dry for 2 days before pulling out the action. Its still sorta soft after 12 hours. And think I would want it to be rock hard before pulling out. Maybe this is a mistake.
Thanks James and don for all you help. Lets hope it shoots.
Well, if you can get the rifle out of the stock, it is far from a total loss. For one thing, you have come away smarter than you started, which is always good. Another thing is that sandpaper, or a dremel attachment will remove that glass bedding. Its messy, and its work, but you can set it back to normal. It did take time and a bit of money, but some times you have to cut losses.
After doing one gun twice and another gun once, and realizing what a massive mess and pain it is, I would just send it off to be done by a pro. Personal opinion.
Glad its not a total loss big.
__________________ You get what you put in, and people get what they deserve. - Kid Rock
Mark - you didn't do badly at all for the first time. I like the Gel better than the regular Acra Glas - doesn't run. And I like JB Weld best of all. The thing you get better at over time is knowing just how much to put in to where there are no voids, but you don't have hardly any over-run either. Prep is real important. I like to lightly coat the metal surfaces with Break Free, and then over coatthat with the Brownell's release agent. And you do want to let it dry completely before attempting disassembly. If one ever gets really stuck, you can put it in the deep freezer for about three days and they pop it loose with a sharp rap.
One other thing that many folks don't realize is that you don't necessarily have to do the whole job at once. If I am full length bedding a rifle (which I don't often do any more), it is a lot easier to do the action first -and then the barrel channel as a second step.
And any voids you have now can be filled in, after roughing up the surface a little, and re bedded. You don't see the bedding job - it is purely a functional element of the rifle. When bedding around the lug and the tang, go in there first with a small dremel bit and create little places for the compound to hold onto the stock. Particularly important with those pesky plastic stocks that don't want to adhere to the compound. Make a little "dovetail" where the compound can flow in there andresist coming out later.
__________________
A man has got to know his limitations . . . . .
I spent all morning cleaning up and actually its not as bad as I thought. I didn't remove all the epoxy behind the recoil lug as I thought,most of it was release agent film and about 80% of the epoxy is still there. Also, now the action doens't wobble around any. Its very tight. Also, I notice in front of the recoil lug inlet, it filled in a significant gap. I bet its over 1mm. That had to be hurting things wth agap that huge. It also looks real good up above the recoil lug inlet to the edge of the stock. I think I am going to let itcure for 10 days, and put it together and let it rip. I still have to lap the scope rings and won't do until it cures more. I set the trigger to 2.5lbs. It was shooting 1.5moa consistently but strung shots horizonially. I took out the little plastic pressure points.
I am wondering if I should worry any about the tang. Thats the ugly part. If it fits nicely aruond the tang area already, can one get by without doing the tang and only recoil lug?
One thing guys, I got ton of experience doing it. I think I could do an allstar job if I did it again. I woudlnt' mind doign it again on a synthetic stock, as I can trim carefully if needed. But a nice walnut would be a different story.
I'm with rosko, if ya got it apart on your first one you did better than alot of guys, he's right about the point of doing it enough to know how much to use to keep runoff to a min., thats why I quit, didn't do it often enough to become efficient at it and cleanup was to much hassle. try it out see how much accuracy improvement ya got.
RR
This is the front Recoil lug area. I know I got alot of run off into the open barrel area. But only think I don't like is where the clay pushed out the epoxy
Did it twice with theacraglass. I learned that if you want to do problem areas like the tang,use acraglasGEL, much easier to work with, not so runny, especially for a once a year gunsmith like myself. Best of luck with your bedding job and try the gel next time.
I did a glue in on my first attempt. That was about 1969 or 70. Bet it's still that way. It was a bolt Win 22 RF. The guy that stole it is stuck with that stock!
When I bed in a rear tang I dig out the whole area a bit so the epoxy isn't so thin. I do that everywhere I put epoxy. Then on the rear tang, I fill the screw hole with clay and leave it. After the barrel and action are remover, I take out the clay and drill out the screw hole in the stock. I also drill small holes under the epoxy to help hold it in place.
Screwed up my Glass Bed Job
