Bedding my rifle today

[Chad44]

I have a savage long range hunter. I love it. It shoots .75 moa if I do my part. I've been working on relieving the stock earlier this week and the time has come for devcon. This is my first time bedding and I'm nervous but have read and viewed everything online so I'm sure I can do it. Looking forward it see if I can get this rifle in the .5 moa range after bedding.
Chad

 

[Shrek]

It scared the chit out of me the first time I did it. I was sure I would screw the pooch and have to cut the stock off. It went fine and I've done it a dozen + times since. I still get a little pucker factor when I go to take one out though. Good luck !

 

[Matt Cashell]

Seems like it is shooting pretty good already, Chad!

I Devcon bedded my Savage, and it was a bit quirky. Remember to float the tang and keep the epoxy out of the trigger assembly. Mine also had the grooves in the nut, so I had to fill those with putty too.

What is your release agent? I used Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish, and it worked well.

 

[Chad44]

Thanks. I'm planning on playdoughing everything behind the rear bolt so the trigger won't be touched. I'm also planning on stopping at the barrel nut and its a smooth one. I'm using kiwi neutral polish as well. I'm also taping the sides and bottom of the lug.

 

[wapitibob]

I contact all 4 sides of the lug to add another spot for rotational resistance at the shot, taping only the btm.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Here is how mine turned out:



The half-hole for the rear screw was a weird part, but I just used plenty of clay there.

 

[BigSurArcher]

Good luck, or congrats if you're already finished. I have done 3 and like others have mentioned the first one was scary. Luckily it turned out great and my Model 70 .30-06 went from a 2" gun to a .25" gun (my best 3 shot group since bedding). The photo below was my first 3 shot group after reassembling and I couldn't have been happier. Take some pics to share with us when it's all said and done.

 

[KMD]

Yeah man, good luck!
Just did my .22-243 in a new Micky Game Scout. I use MarineTex, Johnson's Paste floor wax for release agent and molding clay to dam up the magwell and trigger area. One layer of blue 3M masking tape on sides, back and bottom or recoil lug...

Almost done here, a little more fine relief work is needed, but ya get the idea...

The first one is definitely a nail biter! Hope yours pops out clean for ya!!!

 

[Chad44]

Those look sweet. I had something come up so I have yet to apply devcon. I didn't want any distractions. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the kids entertained for a few hours on Saturday and get it done.

 

[KMD]

Good idea, you definitely don't want to be interrupted when that epoxy is mixed!
If one more pic would help, this is what the stock looks like before applying the bedding compound. You can see where I relieved out a bit of material and made some holes & craters to help the epoxy develop a mechanical adhesion to the stock itself.

And if I could offer ya one more tip, it'd be to use WD-40 and Q-tips to clean up wherever the epoxy flows out around the edges of the action/stock.
Good luck!

 

[Chad44]

Well, I pulled her out this morning and after cleanup I couldn't be happier. I made a mistake with the ratio of devcon on my first attempt. I did 9:1 volume instead of 2.5:1. Got my rifle in the stock and realized it about 30 minutes after. Had to clean up all the soft devcon on the action and in the stock. Also had to redo the play dough. This sucked really bad. Doing it the second time I learned a few tricks that I should've done the first time.
Glad I had plenty of devcon left for my 2nd attempt. There is no bubbles or pockets and my lines look clean so if she shoots I will be really happy. Thanks for the pic. The savage seems a little trickier than Remington. I also have that same half hole on the rear action screw. But clay is the ticket.

 

[KMD]

Glad to hear it! I've forked up a few times, too. But learning from your own mistakes seems like part of the process!
Its gonna shoot for ya, and you'll be one proud papa when it does...

 

[HellsCanyon]

Good job! Those Savages can shoot... I will say to not get yourself down too much if it doesn't improve a WHOLE lot. I've bedded quite a few rifles and depending on how good the stock is to begin with obviously has the most impact on the guns capability. Some rifles benefit a lot from it, others will only see marginal gains. Did you check to see if the barrel had any contact points before you bedded it? I noticed you said you spent some time "relieving" the stock... Either way congrats on a successful first bedding job!

Mike

 

[Chad44]

The barrel had contact points when I bought it but I wrapped a socket in sandpaper to free float it. Also the barrel sat slightly left in the stock. Wrapping several layers of tape around it before bedding fixed that. Now she sits perfectly straight. The rifle was on average a 1 MOA gun. It shot under that sometimes and over that sometimes (mostly me I'm sure). I'm not expecting it to go to 1/4 MOA but a consistent 3/4-1/2 would be sweet. Before bedding, with the action screws out, it was sort of sloppy. I could move it side to side a lot but not much forward and back. Now I can turn it upside down and it still won't move. I can't image I won't gain some from it. Plus it was fun. I'm going to try my ruger m77 next which I've read are a huge pain due to the angled front screw and weird recoil lug(if you can call it a lug). Thanks for the info. I'll be shooting Saturday and ill report back on accuracy.

 

[ST52v]

Waiting to see how this turned out before my brother beds his savage. Did you get a chance to shoot it yet??

 

[Chad44]

I did shoot it last weekend. It improved. The conditions werent great. Gusty winds. If I'm honest I'd say that it went from a solid 1moa gun to a solid 3/4 moa. My groups were bug holes until the 5 shots. For some reason my 5 shot was a flyer. If you can call 3/4 moa a flyer. . I'm happy. It was a fun project. I figure shaving a quarter moa off is well worth a can of devcon. At a 1000 yards that 2.5 inches. I'll be trying my 243 Ruger mark 2 next. It's a 2moa gun.