Yeah, I've never got around to membership on that one.

Well, here goes....

THE PROBLEM

When I got my thumbhole Omega, it shot great groups the first time out of the box. I shot it about 30 times, then took it in and did a thorough cleaning -- including pulling the action from the stock. When I shot it the next day, the 200yd POI had shifted over a foot and the groups were double the size. What the....played with everything, went through $50 of bullets, no fix. Cleaned it again, shot the next day, and the POI shifted back and groups were better. HUH??? Well, I read online about what bedding and action screw torque can do and got to wondering. So I tightened the screws tighter and sure enough, the POI started to shift! Bingo.

THE SOLUTION

You have to do two things to create consistency when you reassemble a rifle:
1) Pillar bed -- install metal sleeves through which the action screws pass so that they tighted metal-on-metal tightly each time. Unlike any stock material, metal will not compress so you'll get consistency you could never get by screwing the screws to the stock itself.

2) Epoxy/glass bed -- create a form-fitting bed so that the receiver is hugged by a form-fitting glove of epoxy in the stock and returns to the exact same position each time you install it. A properly bedded receiver will fit tightly and need to be worked out of the bed to remove from the stock.

In addition to this, you want the barrel floated from the front action lug forward.

THE PROCESS

-- Take a dollar bill and wrap it on your barrel and slide rearwards. If it does not freely slide down to the front recoil lug, you have floating issues. Note where the bill catches, and use sandpaper (for wood) or a dremel (for plastic) to remove material until the barrel cannot touch the stock. If it is wood, use linseed oil or something to re-seal the wood when you are done.

-- Read up on the internet about how to bed a bolt action rifle like the Remington 700. Your process will have variations, but the basics are the same.

-- Get aluminum pillars. Any tubes you can find at a hardware store will work, but I bought Remington 700 pillars from Brownell's and cut them down to size.

-- Get pillar bedding material. I used a Pro Bed 2000 kit from Brownell's, but Devcon is also used a lot. Never tried it.

-- Once your barrel is floated, wrap masking tape around the barrel an inch or so in front of the front recoil lug just until it supports the barrel in the position it naturally rests when the action is screwed into the stock.

-- Get a drill bit the same diameter as the pillars. Carefully drill out the stock to make room for the pillars to slip in. Cut the pillar material to the right length. When it is firm against the bottom of the lug, it should come out far enough that the head of the screw will be about where it was when it was against the woods stock from factory.

-- Use epoxy that bonds metal and wood/plastic to glue the pillars into place. Do NOT get any epoxy on the lug or where the screw head will touch it. Lash the action in tight with masking tape. Insert action screws and screw tight, let everything dry.

If you are lucky, it'll end up like this or prettier:



-- Identify every surface where the action from the front of the front lug back to the front of the hole where the trigger guard goes through touches the stock. Using a dremel or similar, remove a thin layer of material (1/16" to 1/8") along all these surfaces. This is especially important around all surfaces of the lugs, especially in back. Also around the top of the pillars you just installed. Since the action is tubular, you'll basically have a 180 degree bed around it. Keep the layer pretty thin along the top of the stock where it will be visible.

-- Remove everything from the action that you can -- if possible remove the pins from the drop action and take it off.

-- Put modeling clay in every place you don't want bedding to get. If you screw this up you could permanently glue the action into the stock! Fill the ramrod channel to within 1/8" of the bottom of the action. The tape around the barrel from earlier will create a dam in front.

-- Apply release agent LIBERALLY to all surfaces that will contact the bedding. You can buy this or I used PAM cooking spray.

-- Mix and apply the bedding. You want enough to do the job, but not much excess. If you miss a spot, you can always go through the process from here forward again to fix it.

--When the bedding material is in, screw the action into the stock and torque to the correct specifications (Frankly anything consistent is fine, and I don't even own a torque wrench). Put the gun in a vise or otherwise keep it horizontal during drying.

-- After the specified drying time, down a couple beers to prepare you in case you screwed up.

-- Unscrew the action, try to work the action back and forth loose. You may have to lightly tap the barrel with a rubber hammer to pop it loose. If it won't come loose, put it in the freezer for 3 hours and try again.

-- If you can't get it loose, finish the 6-pack and call it a night.

-- Assuming it comes loose, congrats! Inspect your job and see if you need to add more bedding anywhere. If not, removed the clay and reassemble. Getting the ramrod channel clean can be tricky, I don't recall how I dug it out.

The finished job should look something like this. I got it a little thin between the ramrod channel and action and broke through in one spot, but that spot is not vital:



The benefits are straightforward -- the action is consistently and tightly held into the action the same each time you take it out and between shots (unaffected by recoil), and the barrel is isolated from the stock by floating.

If you have a plastic stock, the process will be more difficult. If it is hollow, you'll have a job filling all that extra space with bedding but it CAN be done.

Again, review online resources on how to bed. You'll see the similarities between them and my directions, and can fill in any gaps I left behind. Then use my pics as a model for where you need bedding.

You can see why I don't like break actions as long distance shooters -- they MAY be good, but it's hard to get the consistency you can with a stiff, fixed action. Same reason you see bolt actions only in precision rifle competitions.

Good luck...