How hard is it to glass bed a rifle?

[OldJoe]

I have a Ruger M77 Mark II with a wood stock that I was thinking of glass bedding the action myself. I was just wondering how hard it really is to do. Can someone with basic ?handyman ?type skills accomplish this, or should it be left up to the pros. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[RELH]

OldJoe;

If you have basic handy man type skills, it should not be to hard for you to do if you follow some simple guidelines and take your time.

I would recommend using Brownells Acraglas gel for your bedding compound, it is not as runny as some others and you can stain it to match the wood stock color.
the main areas that you need to bed are the recoil lug and the flat area just behind the lug and in front of the magazine cut out. You also need to bed the rear tang area of the receiver and the areas of the floor plate where the action screw are located. you may have to remove some wood located behind the recoil lug if you have a tight fit there. On the lug, you only want the back of the lug making contact. You should tape off the sides, front and bottom of the lug. Use masking tape and use a sharp razor knive to cut the tape even with the lug edges. This way the lug will not bind in the action and will be easier to remove for cleaning at later times.
Now the most important step is the use of a release agent so you do not end up gluing the action to the stock. Several things can be used, but for the first time I would say you should use the spray on release agent sold by Brownells. It will get into the small areas that are hard to get coated. Be sure to use it on the screws also. I would spray two seperate coats on for good coverage. You only need a thin film on for it to work.
There is a book written by Jack Smith titled " The Gun Digest book of Riflesmithing" that will cover this topic very well. It will explain things in good detail, that I would have to type for hours to cover. You may have to get it from a book store that has out of print books. It also covers many many articles on rifles that are aimed at the hobby gunsmith who wants to work on their own rifles.
I would recommend it very much, as I have skipped over many small details that are important to doing the job right the first time.
RELH

 

[OldJoe]

RELH

Thanks for the helpful info. I will check that book out.

OldJoe

 

[coonhound40]

I would agree with everything RELH has to say with a few additions. I use a dremal tool to remove about an 1/8" of would around the recoil lug and rear tang. IMPORTANT, You will want to leave a couple small strips of the existing wood so the action has something to sit on when you drop it into the wet glass. The other thing you will want to check 1st is the free float of the barrel. with the action bolted tight see if you can easily slide a dollar bill between the barrel and stock. If you can not, you need to sand or scrape enough material away to accomplish this. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF HAVING AN ACCURATE RIFLE. As RELH stated be sure to get all components coated with release agent and look for any voids that the glass could flow into, if these exist the glass will lock your action into the stock. If any such places are present fill them with modeling clay.

Good Luck and good shooting

 

[rost495]

Personally I'll bed the rifle first. And then clear out the barrel channel. If I clear the channel then I need to add tape to the bottom of the barrel to keep it from sinking deeper into the bedding compound. No sense in putting a bunch of compound in there and then squeezing most of it back out again.

But thats just me.

Jeff

 

[Hoss]

How about glass bedding a synthetic stock? Is it practical with todays aluminum bedding blocks? I am going to replace the wood stock on my rem 700 with synthetic and was wondering if I should bed the new synthetic or if the aluminum bedding block in the stock is good enough.

 

[rost495]

all bedding blocks are not true. Had a few senderos that act much better after a smidge of bedding so that you didn't twist the action as you lugged it down.

Now I got to reading the floating part and dollar bill. Just clearing a dollar bill isn't good enough in my books. Especially on a wood stock. Needs more clearance Everything can be affected by heat and cold and expand or contract some. Wood even is worse with moisture.

Last thought-- hunting weight factory barrels sometimes shoot much better with pressure points in there so if you sand that point out and it shoots worse, don't be surprised. Just put it back in.

Jeff