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 Okay, this was my first, second and third attempt at bedding my rifle. I will explain that later. The reason I wanted to bed the action was because of the wear marks on the bottom of the rifle was not seating properly in the bedding blocks.
 Here is another shot of the wear on the action. It ran along the sides of the action and the very bottom center.
 At the back, you can see the wear on the tang.
 Here is another overall shot. With the action out, i began to setup everything. Clean the stock up with some acetone, clean the action up as well. Remove the scope etc.
 In this pic is where I ran a "belt" of masking tape around the barrel. This was actually too wide of a piece so I trimmed it up and used only about a 1" wide belt about 1/8th of an inch think. The idea is to get it thick enough to center the barrel in the stock channel.
 Here is a close up of the too wide of a belt.
 More shots of the excessive wear on the bedding block.
 This was probably the dumbest thing I did, I heard to sprinkle powder on the stock and spray the action with Pam, set the action in the stock and see where the action was touching in the bedding block. All this did was turn into a gooey mess.
 I used playdough to keep the Marine Tex out of the vital parts of the gun. I also wrapped the trigger assembly in tape.
 After the 3rd time of doing this bedding, I realized I did not have to be so anal as to fill the entire well with clay. It was overkill but the 1st time around I was really nervous. I had never done this before and wanted to make sure i didnt screw anythng up, which I did anyways but we'll get to that.
 This is a shot of some more playdough that was used as a dam to keep the MT from flowing back.
 Another shot of my overclay, as well as the tapeline along the action to keep any excess MT off that might ooze up out of the stock once the action is placed into the stock.
 At the back of the stock I taped off the sides and around the tang.
 Here is a shot of the playdough dams front and aft. Any excess would later be trimmed with a exacto knife.
 Here is the recoil lugged taped up. I put 2 layers of masking tape on the front, sides, and bottom of the lug.
 Here is the final product of prepping for the action. Note the now trimmed "belt" of masking tape.
 Here is the stock after prepping.
 It's hard to tell because I didn't have a flash, but this was the 1st attempt. There is a lot of pitting from the release agent not working.
 The tang was total trash.
 This is the lug area after the action was pulled
 With the tape removed from the lug, the action will fit nice and tight
 The tang had some sticking problems, the MT didn't release all the way. But it wasn't enough to be a problem
 Once everything is dry you can trim the areas off with an exacto. |
Steps (some taken from Savage bedding 101)
Prep the action. Before removing it from the stock, remove the scope. Yes,
a pain to sight-in later, but you’ll protect your investment. Remove bolt. With the
action still in the stock, wipe down action with cleaner/degreaser; I used acetone. Remove action: Remove action from stock and remove trigger assembly. If you have never taken one apart, they can use 3 hands to reassemble them for the 1st timer. Please make notes and/or sketches of “what goes where” before you take it apart. Prep the stock: Two things to do – (a) Remove material where the action sits so that you get a nice even bed of epoxy and (b) Tape off areas on the stock, inside and out. On mine, I just sanded some of the bedding block so that the Marine Tex would adhere to it. Prep the action: Using the tapeline we first established as the action sat in the stock (before we took it apart), I apply at least one width of tape at the stock line to the entire action. Epoxy will weep out the sides between the stock and action and you want both surfaces there to be taped to protect your rifle. If there is any hole or feature on the action (other than stock-bolt hole) that needs to be protected so epoxy doesn’t flow into it, use either modeling clay or melted candle wax to fill it in. Make sure you avoid creating “mechanical locks”; you want to get it apart again! Apply at least 2 layers of tape to all surfaces of the recoil lug, except the rear surface. I use an exacto knife to trim the tape neatly. I did these pictures after the bedding job – you want yours to be neater. Apply 2 layers tape out on the barrel bottom too. Release Agent and Bedding: Check again to make sure you have everything covered and please do a few dry runs (without epoxy or release agent) to make sure your fit or prep work is sound. Remember: you only want to spray/wax the action and stock bolts – DO NOT apply or spray or apply any release agent into the stock. Spray/wax the exposed metal on the action where it will bed into the epoxy as well the tapelines around the action where it sits above the sides of the stock. For release agent I used Mother's Carnuba Wax. The first 2 times I used Pam Spray Olive Oil, and this didnt release all the way as you will see in the pics. I was told by litto and Mike Miller to use Carnuba Wax and it worked. Listen to that advice! Don't be a dumb@ss like me. Epoxy Bedding: Mix the epoxy of your choice and apply only into those areas where the action sits. Action with magazine (by two stock-bolt holes and recoil lug area), single-shot version: (full action bottom in the stock and recoil lug area). Make sure you have enough epoxy in the extreme bottom of the stock and in the recoil lug area. If it thins out anywhere else, that’s usually OK. You do not want to be thin in coverage at the recoil lug. This is where it all happens. Any excess should weep towards the muzzle, that’s why you also taped the bottom surface of the barrel forward of the barrel nut (which should be taped for 3-4”) with at least two layers. Note: I used wax on the action bolts as well as Pam, as long as it's on there they wont seize. When tightening the bolts, don't tighten super tight. Snug is good. Then let it set up for about 2-3hrs. Getting the action apart: Go slowly, you will need a plastic/wood/rawhide mallet to knock the assembled pieces before you can get them apart. You can rap on the stock bolts a bit (don’t use enough force to damage the threads), and then remove the stock bolts. Okay, this is where I wish I had a video of me doing this. From the last picture to this picture seemed like hrs had gone by. I sprayed about half a can of Pam on the action to make sure it didnt seize, I was paranoid that the action would weld into the stock and I would be screwed. I kinda wanted it to so I could buy that new Prone stock I have been looking at. Anyways, I mixed the MT up, I mixed the whole shabang thinking I would never need it again, what would go wrong? So once it was mixed up I spread it onto the two areas, the tang and behind the recoil lug. I should have used more, be pretty liberal with this. So while spreading on the MT I forgot to spray the action bolts, I begin freaking out and running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off. For some reason I thought this stuff was like super glue. IT ISNT, you have time before it sets. So finally I get everything in and tighten the action bolts snug, but not super tight. Only I think that the bolts will seize and begin loosening them and tightening them back every 30 mins. Like I said, I had never done this before and I was paranoid. So after about 3hrs of waiting I loosen the screws one last time and whack the barrel with a wooden handle. Barrel pops right out. BUT, there is MT stuck on the sides of the action, and some pulled off at the tang. It isnt prety. I scrape if off and start sanding my @ss off trying to get it all out the next day after it hardened. Time to get another bottle since i wasted all the MT the 1st time. Getting this stuff out wasn't hard but it wasn't fun. Don't worry if you screw it up the 1st time. You can get it sanded out and start over. it just takes time. So the next weekend I start over, do the same thing and use the same Pam spray as the release agent. This time though I try and only mix half AND I accidentally ordered white instead of black. Well I think "hey I'll just put some black ink in" NO this sh!t turned orange. So I took what was left of my half a bottle of MT and tried mixing it up. I didnt have exactly half and the mixture never cured after leaving it in. When I pulled the action out after about 3 hrs of setting it looked like melted marshmellows. It was bad, and a pain to clean. Time to buy more. Finally I listened to what I was told by the guys on the DR and used some Mother's Carnuba Wax. This was the liquid kind. I put it on the action a few times to make sure it was plenty coated. Taped of the parts, mixed up a small amount of MT with 1/4 tbl spoon measuring cups and bedded the damn thing a 3rd! time. The finaly result was pretty good. it could have been better but given the last 2 results it was great. The tang wasn't pretty, it probably should be re-done. The bad part was the boat shop only had white, oh well it can be painted. I drilled out the holes with a 5/8 bit and put her together. I took the rifle to the range to see the results. The wind was really bad and me not being the best judge and wind my results varied. Before the bedding I was getting around 1MOA, after I am under .75. But a lot A LOT of this has to do with me and NOT the rifle. Over all I am pretty happy. I did this write up in order to help those who are the DIY types or in my case a cheapass, I am in no way a knowledgeable subject on the matter. I just followed the directions as best I could. Hopefully this helps more than hurts those who read it. At the very least it is something to laugh at. |
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