Bedding my SA54 Sporter
Instead of starting a new thread for this, I figured that those most interested in this rifle are right here in this thread. I will be brief. I found out from Pete at J&P what size the front action screw was. It's M6x.75. The rear is M5x1.0. I got lucky and found threaded rod on Amazon for both sizes, along with nuts and nylon washers. I wanted to squeeze out the compound using threaded rod and nuts instead of my action screws. The pillars were cut from 3/8" OD x 1/4" ID aluminum tube. I did the inletting with my drill press and an X/Y axis vise. I was worried about the very small tang area, thinking that there was a good chance the bedding could let go in that area so I used a 1/2"x 3/32" key seat cutter remove stock material in the tang area, and using the protruding cutter to undercut that area so the bedding would be trapped under the wood. I removed about 3/16" of material there so that the pillar was captured by that much bedding material. I used a 7/16" Forstner bit for the front pillar so that the bedding could get all the way around the pillar and repair the crack simultaneously. I kept the action centered by wrapping the barrel with electrical tape. I masked off the front and sides or the recoil lug, found the center of gravity of the action with the scope on it and bedded from that point (about 1.5" in front of the lug) back, thinking that if it didn't pan out, that portion could be removed from the lug forward. I used Devcon 10110 and mixed WAY too much. I used Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish as a release agent and, naturally, removed the trigger and mag well, filled voids with clay, and made a huge mess. I put the barrel in the vise upside down, with the threaded rod and pillars attached, put bedding on the pillars and in the stock and placed the stock down onto the action, put the trigger guard back on, put nylon washers on the threaded rod to protect the guard from the nuts and slowly tightened it down, cleaning as I went, until it was home. Then I swapped the threaded rods for the action screws, (with release agent on them) and hand tightened them. It sat like that for a couple of days because I had to work late. I took the action screws back out, screwed in the pieces of rod, and used them as a striking point while putting pressure upward on the stock. A few taps with a mallet on he rods and it came out. I was impressed! Anyway, I have a whole bunch of that threaded rod left, along with nuts and washers if anyone wants some studs. Just PM me with your address and I'll send them on. I have about 30" of both sizes left.