bedding question
 

this may be a dumb question but what is bedding i see some guns have piller bedding and full length is one better than the other

RE: bedding question
 

I don't know much about it either, but from what I understand, the bedding it what the barrel and action sets in. If your gun was glass bedded or piller bedded for the full length of the stock, supposedly, the barrel and action will never shift the way it sets in the stock. I don't think that it makes any difference to the average hunter, but for target shooting, you don't want to not be bedded solidly. Usually when someone beds their rifle, they free float the barrel as well, not that I have a clue what that means, I was guessing that it means it's not screwed down, the bedding holds it instead, but I could be wrong.

RE: bedding question
 

Free floating the barrel means removing all contact points between the stock and the barrel usually just ahead of the recoil lug to the end of the stock.

RE: bedding question
 

Mike, when you pillar bed a rifle (say a remington 700 action) you drill out the two screw holes to 5/8" Dia. in the stock and glue in aluminum "pillars". The top of the pillars are machined to match the contour of the action. The trigger gaurd rest on the pillars on the bottom side. This allows you to torque the action bolts, and because your not compressing wood or fiberglass they retain the torque. Your providing even contact between the action and the pillars so the action isn't being bent or twisted by the stock. Some people space the action .010" above the stock inside the bed on the pillars to isolate the action from the stock. When you bed the stock, you use some type of epoxy puddy that you place at the rear of the action at the screw mounting area, and at the front mounting point (recoil lug) using tape on the front and sides & bottom of the recoil lug to give you clearance. You only want contact with the rear of the lug. All this bedding work should stabalize the action so it's not being bent when you tighten the mounting screws, and the action isn't shifting around in the stock from shot to shot.

RE: bedding question
 

This is the cheap home brewed method I use with my rifles that more often than not works. I remove the barreled action, take a business card and place it in the stock ahead of the recoil lug and another over the rear screw. I then take an exacto knife and trim the cards to fit the stock and cut out around the screw hole. Then carefull replace the barreled action and tighten the screws normally. Then trim off the excess of the business cards sticking out at the stockline. This should free float your barrel so that there aren't any pressure points on the barrel to affect point of impact between shots. If this does work, it will save you alot of time and money on a custom bedding job. If it doesn't improve accuracy, it only costs you a bit of time, no money, and doesn't permanantly modify your rifle in any way.