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Do I bed her or …..

794 views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  rat31465 
#1 ·
Free floating the barrel I understand and have done this to both my Ruger 10/22 and my VQ17.
Bedding the action, the barrel and or Pillar bedding confuses me. It seems with pillar bedding your mucking with harmonics, transmitting vibration to and from a previously free floated barrel. You just undid what you undone!
Bedding the action makes sense as your supporting it all the way around evenly. But again, it marries the action/barrel assembly to the stock so it's rock solid.
I can see logic in giving support to both the barrel and action but having both locked firmly into the stock has to effect barrel harmonics.

On one hand I agree that you don’t want stress at the barrel/action connection. On the other hand wouldn’t it make more sense to support those two places with something that will cushion it as opposed to connecting them rigidly? I’m thinking of a bed of silicone or something of that nature. It would be easy to do and easily removable should you wish. More importantly to my way of thinking it would allow everything to remain free floating but yet gently cushioned.

I know all the serious people seem to bed their rifles. I am wondering if anyone has tried an alternative approach and what success or failures they have had.

Since I am dealing with Ruger's design of the 10/22 on both of these rifles as opposed to your typical bolt action, would the bedding be done exactally the same way?
 
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#2 ·
Shamus said:
Bedding the action, the barrel and or Pillar bedding confuses me. It seems with pillar bedding your mucking with harmonics, transmitting vibration to and from a previously free floated barrel. You just undid what you undone!
You can bed the area under the barrel, but it's not necessary assuming it's already free floated. Bedding simply means you're putting a layer of epoxy on top of the wood. It doesn't necessarily mean you're 'un-floating' anything. If the wood isn't going to touch the barrel/action, even if it warps, no bedding is needed.

The whole reason for bedding is to stiffen the wood to the point that you don't have to worry about it warping and changing pressure points on the action. It doesn't necessarily reduce vibration, it just makes it consistent.

Some people free float the action as well as the barrel when they bed it. The only points of contact would be the pillars.
 
#3 ·
Re: Re: Do I bed her or …..

Wildewinds said:
The whole reason for bedding is to stiffen the wood to the point that you don't have to worry about it warping and changing pressure points on the action. It doesn't necessarily reduce vibration, it just makes it consistent
I'd have to loudly dispute that description of bedding. Bedding is done to eliminate any possible movement between the action and the stock, so that it HAS to do the same thing shot after shot.

If there is any room between the stock and the action, the action can change positions on every shot. Bedding stops that from happening.

Ron
 
#5 ·
Wildwinds, Please don't take this as a flame, but I just have to say that your concept of bedding shows is not correct. The object of bedding is to mold the action to the stock so it is form fitted. Doing this will stiffen the bedded area, but that is not the primary purpose for bedding. Pillars are used to keep the wood from compressing when you tighten the action screws, but the rest of the action must be form fit also. Having the action just touch at the pillars would result in a VERY loose action. Most good gunsmiths will glass bed a stock as well as installing pillars. Some like to bed an inch, or so, of the barrel but the rest will be floated. Just coating an area of the stock(barrel channel, etc.) with epoxy or glass is not bedding it. Bedding is the FORMING of the action or barrel into the stock. Again, please don't take offense by these corrections, I just want to make sure we all are on the same page.
 
#6 ·
Just as the wrong torque applied to the take down screw can throw off accuracy I believe that having the wrong pressure points can have equal effect.
The balance point of my rifle with the scope is ½" in front of the take down screw. To eliminate the possibility of the stock ever warping to the extent it might touch the action/barrel I need to isolate it by, in effect, raising the barrel block a 1/16th off of the stock so that everything is floating from that point. Locking the rear of the receiver from movement left and right would be the only remaining issue.

CG Millenium uses a product called Adiprene. A flexible bedding system applied so the barrel and action ride on this materiel not on a hard surface (glass bedding). It is used to suppress barrel vibrations throughout the assembly.

Back to my original question, should the stock absorb the vibration as much as possible, or should it be isolated from the vibration?
 
#7 ·
I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert gunsmith. I was just passing along information that I've read. That information may very well be wrong, or I may be misinterpreting it.

My main source is this: http://riflestocks.tripod.com/bedding.html That's the site recommended by Richard's Microfit Stocks when you want to do up one of their stocks. It's what I used to do my stock from them.

That site, along with a few others, say that you put tape on the action at all points except the back of the recoil lug and the areas of the pillars. The tape is layered to provide clearance after it's removed and the epoxy is hardened.

To me, that means that the epoxy is not flush against the action. It's basically free floated except at the pillars and the very rear of the action.

Like I said, I may be wrong. Maybe it's supposed to be molded to the action without any clearance whatsoever. However, most all the directions I've read have called for layered tape to provide that clearance.
 
#9 ·
Bedding

I do actually use a router to route a channel down the length of the forearm, especially on thin walled wooden stocks. I will fill this with Acra-glas gel and aluminum filings. I think that it does stiffen the stock and help prevent warps that might occur due to moisture. However I do free float the barrel above this channel. As for the use of Pillars in bedding. I prefer the stainless steel variety over aluminum. They are set in to provide precision contact points for the action to be torqued into with *Repeatability* with little or no compression of the surrounding wood or area. Pillars when installed allow the shooter to correct such problems as uneven barrel channels and also provide clearance of the action screws as you do not want the sides of your bolts touching the stock either. I feel that the barrel should float free to vibrate freely, the action on the other hand needs to be solid. Its a formula that has worked for years and I see no need to argue with it now.
 
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