Originally Posted by
Colorado Cajun
I'm going to wait on bedding anything in the barrel channel until after I finish the action area. The weakest part of the stock and where I think it was flexing is at the recoil lug. I took a lot of material out of that area and will fill it with bedding. I'm thinking it will stiffen it up so I'll wait to see how much.
Do you tape the first inch or so on the bolt before putting the release agent?
I think you will regret not bedding the barrel section at the same time that you bed the receiver. If you do the barrel section later, you will sqeeze some bedding compound up onto the bedding that was previously done for the receiver. I tried to add bedding once (long ago), never again. The only good way to do that is to re-sand the receiver bedding and put another coat of bedding down so that the barrel bedding is the same as the receiver.
Do not put tape on the bolt. After you are done it is easy to clean out any thread impressions from the bolts by using a drill bit. I do coat all threads with a release agent, just in case. My favorite release agent is a floor paste wax (Johnson) that I have used for years. I almost never use the release agent that comes with the kit - it works well, but I like the wax better. The wax can be applied very thinly or it can be used to partially fill in exposed threads. The wax is quickly cleaned off with some WD-40.
I cut a V shape in two ends of a strong cardboard box to hold the rifle while bedding. The box makes clean-up fast, and it allows you to support the weight that is used to press the barreled action down into the bedding. Your weights need to be placed so that they can not slide off of the top of the receiver while the bedding is curing.