what you wish someone would have told you before bedding your first time!

I am about to bed my savage 110 .270. I have a DBM with a walnut "classic" styled stock. The stock is contacting in multiple places, and I think bedding will help out significantly. I have read several articles on here, and watched a few vids on youtube etc about how to do it. I have bedding compound and some olive oil pam release agent. Also, some modeling clay and tape. What is something that you wish someone had told you to do before you bedded your first rifle, that would have made it turn out better. I really don't want to mess this up.

thanks

I hope you are planning to use Devcon for bedding and Kiwi neutral shoe polish for release agent. To use anything else is amateurish and a waste of time. Remember to float the tang.

Charlie

What he said.

And make sure to use blue painters tape on anything and anywhere you don't want the Devcon. And clean up any of it that is forced out when tightening everything down. Just thin the thick parts down as the thin parts will just break off with the blue tape. Coat everything with the release agent, even the areas you swear the Devcon can't reach because it will.

And finally, resist the urge to check it for at least 12 hours. I normally do mine in the evening then check on them in the morning.

Dolomite

what you wish someone would have told you before bedding your first time

That modeling clay can be a bear to remove but that play doh works just as well and is easier to remove

It takes less bedding material than it might appear. Resist the urge to add just a little extra.........If you do add a little too much, a night in the freezer works wonders. The bedding agent does its job but a mechanical lock can occur if the material squeezes where you don't want it.

"Bed me first."

Wait . . . do I get to choose the someone?

Skip the Pam and use Kiwi Neutral.

I tried Pam once and still had sticking issues. Switched to Kiwi and never looked back.

+1 on Kiwi and Playdoh. If you use JB Weld - be patient and wait at least 48 hours - it sucks scrapping out an unset glob of crud. ;)

blue painters tape on sides, bottom, and front of recoil lug. One wrap around barrel nut, two layers under tang.

Play doh is much better than moddeling clay.

Also - think about how you are going to position action in stock and try it several times before you use the epoxy. Surgical tubing, dummy action screws (I use a spare set with tape around them to center the screw up in the pillar on stocks with a pillar).

Vinegar on a paper towel cleans up epoxy really nice (but it is also TOUGH on blued finish!).

I always put shoe polish over the blue painters tape to keep epoxy from sticking to it.

".....what you wish someone would have told you before bedding your first time!"

I do hope we are talking about settling a barreled action into a rifle stock here. Otherwise we may have unwittingly opened a venue to a maelstrom of rather unusual and titillating suggestions.

uj

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Originally Posted by Uncle Jack

".....what you wish someone would have told you before bedding your first time!"

I do hope we are talking about settling a barreled action into a rifle stock here. Otherwise we may have unwittingly opened a venue to a maelstrom of rather unusual and titillating suggestions.

uj

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Wait a second . . . are we talking about rifles in this thread? I was wondering why everyone was suggesting shoe polish as a release agent.

A wealth of good information has been supplied to you. Your bedding job should go well. I'll add, make sure your barrel and tang is floated and "your good to go".

Has anyone here tried the Whidden V-Block for bedding?

http://www.whiddengunworks.net/beddingblockbuynow.html

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Originally Posted by oldguy

Has anyone here tried the Whidden V-Block for bedding?

http://www.whiddengunworks.net/beddingblockbuynow.html

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No but I've been meaning to look into it. His shop is in Nashville Georgia about two hours south of me.

wow, thanks for all the replies everyone. I believe you talked me into swapping the pam for Kiwi polish. Also, I'm a little concerned about removing the trigger mechanism. Anyone every just taped all around it really well and had that turn out ok, or is removing it the only way?

Well teebird, its been done both ways. I prefer to remove the trigger just to be safe. This will allow you to use plumbers putty, play doh, silly putty around the area of the rear action screw w/o smashing same w/ the tape on the trigger group. Take pics of the trigger group at various stages of dis-assembly for reference. put a 1 Qt ziplock bag over the trigger as you dis-assemble to trap loose springs, pins etc. ............... It really isn't all that difficult. If you have questions just give a shout! good luck, Dale

+1 - done it both ways. Used to remove them, now I don't. I would say to remove it at least once so that you get a feel for how much the epoxy moves and flows etc. (Just to be safe).

And yes the sear spring is a bit of a PITA to get back on (take a pic of it before you take it apart) but it really isn't too bad (third hand helps).

Removing and reinstalling the trigger group and mag well is simple, and makes bedding easier.

My method for reinstalling the trigger group is use the smallest needle nose vise grip to hold and squeeze the sear spring, and use a slave pin to align everything while you insert the pivot pin

I didn't remove my trigger group. I did mask it all up with a good layer or two of blue painter's tape and then some swipes with the Kiwi. Turned out fine.

Being somewhat lazy, I leave the trigger in place and cover with blue painter's tape and Kiwi. To date, never any issues when bedding this way.

has anyone tried using a couple of layers of the thin plastic wrap rather than the painters tape?

You want the thickness of the tape.

The last several I've done, I used electrical tape. It forms to shape really well around the recoil lug and trims easily. And you can use it to cover the gaps around the magazine box too. Being fairy slick surfaced, it take Kiwi really well. I even use it to cover the action bottom around the trigger and sear release, just a strip there instead of clay. After doing this once, I quit using clay altogether.........
Elkbane

I'll have to give the electrical tape a try.

Iv'e used electrical tape for all the bedding iv'e done, and really like it, even without the Kiwi, it will release, but i still coat it anyway...always easier to do it right the first time.....rsbhunter

Excellent thread. Good question with great answers

well, thanks guys for all the great tips and answers to my question. Today I took the plunge and did my first bedding job. I took all your advice and went with the Kiwi neutral polish for release agent. I had already ordered the Pro Bed 2000, and had heard good reviews, so I went ahead and used it. I went WAY overboard on the blue painters tape, but better safe than sorry..... I used a dremel tool to rough up the spots around the pillars and drill a few small holes to get a good lock. Also, a cheap woodcarving set to take some wood out from around the pillars and on the sides. Also, I ended up leaving the trigger on the action. I used modeling clay to fill in the nooks and crannies, and taped it all up with electrical tape. Hopefully when I get home from work tomorrow, i will be able to pop everything apart and begin cleanup. Here are a couple of pics....one of the prepped stock, and one of the whole thing after I squeezed it together and taped her up to dry. Thanks again for the help.....and if anyone is reading this that is thinking of doing your rifle for the first time, so far it hasn't been bad at all.

[img width=300 height=450]http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/fullup3/IMG_3641.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=400]http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/fullup3/IMG_3679.jpg[/img]

Looks good. There is no such thing as overboard with the painters tape. Let us know how it turns out.

thanks geargrinder. When I got home this afternoon, I removed the black electrical tape and then turned the rifle upside down and hit the barrel with a rubber hammer. Shockingly, it popped right out of the stock! I then removed all the blue tape, and started peeling and chipping the bedding material away from the edges and places where it didn't belong. The hardest part was getting the modeling clay out of the few nooks and crannies and out of the front of the trigger mechanism where I used it to keep the bedding out. I still will probably have to spend a few minutes tomorrow making sure its all gone. I then cleaned everything up really good and oiled all the metal down. Snapped her back together and put the scope back on. Everything is now back together and it looks great. I'm very surprised at how easy this process actually is. All of your tips were a great help, and I appreciate the feedback very much. Sadly, due to work, and an out of town wedding I have to attend, It will probably be one day next week before I can get to the range. But I will post an update as to whether or not the accuracy seems to be improved.....but I'm sure it will be! ;)

I'm getting ready to do mine this week. I removed the trigger group and clayed a couple of small spots around the trigger area. I also removed my magazine from the receiver and clayed the notches in the receiver.

My stock had a large plastic bushing on the bottom for the front action screw so I removed mine and bedded in a large steel bushing. I got some brass pipe from home depot and bedded it on top of the bushing. I also bedded in a rear pillar and had to cut an angle off the top to let the bolt release lever clear since it is so close to the rear action screw.

I got most of the routing done so far but just need to touch up a few spots. I've got my barrel nut taped as well as the front of the recoil lug. I bedded an M14 before this and the thickness of Kiwi polish is not ideal for that type of bedding so I took some advice and went with Valspar 225 for release agent. It's expensive and hard to find but I'll be using that on my Savage since I have about half a can left over. When I bedded my M14, I could see the manufacturing stampings in the bedding.

I don't think mine will be as pretty as others I have seen here, but it should work.

Thanks for this thread. I'll be re-reading it this week before I apply the JBweld.

Tony.

Mother's California Gold car wax is an excellent release agent.

I would leave your mag box attached to the receiver. Lightly coat metal with the car wax suggested, roll some clay out to form a 3/16" string, apply to the joint between action and mag well.

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Originally Posted by teebirdhyzer

But I will post an update as to whether or not the accuracy seems to be improved.....but I'm sure it will be! ;)

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Sorry if I missed it but I just looked through 2 months worth of threads and didn't see your results.
How did it all turn out?