My freshly rebarreled 7mm wsm is on its way ! :D

[Shrek]

Let's hope three times is the charm ! I just ground the first bedding and the fubar patch job out and did the whole job again. Good thing I had a whole pound can of marine-tex gray.

 

[Shrek]

This rifle is back on the front burner. I took the new to me McMillan Edge and I spent most of last night and several hours today fitting it. The bedding is curing now. I got the stock used and whatever they used to bed it before was terrible ! Kind of soft and flexible. I think it was lightweight automotive body filler. It took a good bit of careful grinding to get it all out . I didn't trust it so all had to come out.

 

[Shrek]

I'm terrible at pictures but a couple to show how much I had to grind out. This is veyclosd to what I would take out anyway so maybe it wil help someone. Im not done in these pictures but I'm done undef the lug.

 

[Shrek]

Curing

 

[pyroducksx3]

It would be hard for me to buy a used stock again and never one that has been beded. I took a loss on a McMillan for the very same reason.

 

[Shrek]

Pyroducksx3 , it wasn't too bad and I'm not even remotely close to being wealthy so I can work around it. What was so bad about the McMillan that you had to eat it ? With patience and ingenuity I can fix most things about a stock. I'll still need to lengthen the ejection port cutout on this one but I'll do that between this action bed and bedding the bottom metal. I'll use a little MarineTex to re texture from where I've sanded to finish after I router it out with the dremel tool.the bottom metal cutout was the really challenging grind out. I think I took two hours to grind a little and fit the metal then grind a little more....very tedious work.

 

[pyroducksx3]

All the stuff you just said make it not worth the risk. It would have to be a substantial saving to even consider all that. In my case the guy was less than truthful, said it had been bedded and that's all. The gunsmith said the barrel channel wasn't opened evenly and digging out all the old stuff and fixing the mistakes was going to take a lot of material. It was still usable but he didn't like it, so I bought a new manners and never looked back. In most cases people want to take very little loss on their top end stocks. In my case I ate it, I disclosed to the buyer that the barrel channel was opened up unevenly and it would take work so I lost 50-100$ on the resale I can't remember. So my used stock savings actually made a new stock cost that much more.

 

[Shrek]

I've been fortunate so far. I've purchased rifles , stocks , and a bunch of other stuff and it has all worked out. One of the B&C stocks I purchased had a slightly out of alignment aluminum bedding block that took some work but I saved over half on new. This McMillan saved me time and money. It was accurately represented and a fair deal for me. The original bed job was a hair to the right but when I ground it out and opened the barrel channel it was fixed . It should look good once it is painted.

 

[Shrek]

I just popped it out and started to remove the tape and clay blocks. I'll clean this up when it is more cured but if I try now it will chip at the edges instead of sanding down. I ended up with a void under the tang but I'll fill that and any other issues when I bed the bottom metal. I'm no artist and you'll see much cleaner jobs but I wanted to post a diy with very basic tools. I have a dremel and a couple of heads for it and hand chisels. No professional machined blocks or a mill to clean it up. I'll clean it up with a little hand sanding and I small grinding head to remove any material inside and away from an edge. I did most of my bed jobs without the dremel and unless you are the zen master with one I'd proceed very cautiously.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Looking good Shrek.

 

[Shrek]

Thanks Justin. I had to throttle back the 6.5 saum build when my tractor broke down Friday morning. I decided to put the McMillan on the 7wsm and run with it . I'm going to order a Game Scout with edge fill or a Manners EH4 for my 6.5 build when I get back from hunting.

I haven't really looked at the Tikka action but a Winchester action is a good bit harder to bed than the Remingtons I've done. How are the Tikkas to bed ?

 

[Cahunter805]

Shrek
Looking good man! Be sure to check the specials page before ordering at McMillan. I just picked up my gamescout there and had it within 3 days.

 

[16Bore]

What bullet are you running and whats the magbox length?

 

[Shrek]

16bore , I'm running 168gr Berger classics in a 3.045" magazine. I'm waiting on a magnetospeed to arrive before I start load development. I had it throated hard on the lands at that coal. I think I can pick up another .04" of magazine pretty easily by removing the tie plate in the box and having it welded or soldered at the seam.

 

[brushape]

Not sure if you care or not but the tiny hometown hardware store near where I hunt black tails had 7 flavors of 7wsm factory ammo including 5 type of Winchester, could be a way to solve your brass issue

 

[Shrek]

Bushape , I went Sunday and looked at loaded ammo to pull down. Plenty of it on the shelves so if it comes to that I'll do what needs to be done. I'm hoping Winchester comes through for me by early October. I have 46 cases to work with now so I'll see if I can make them last. I got a cheap socket to put them into to spin while I anneal them. I've been stalling because I'm afraid of ruining them but I'll go have a few Margaritas and have at it soon.

 

[Justin Crossley]

I haven't really looked at the Tikka action but a Winchester action is a good bit harder to bed than the Remingtons I've done. How are the Tikkas to bed ?

They are really easy imo. Some guys are leery of doing them because of the recoil lug design. So far I haven't had any trouble with them.

 

[Shrek]

It's all bedded but I'm still waiting on parts for my airbrush so I can duracoat the stock. A couple of thoughts on my bedding process. I had been toying with trying just Hornady One Shot as a release agent and did it one this rifle in two different stocks. I'm going back to my old way which is kiwi neutral shoe polish put on and polished and then a light coat of one shot to cover anything I might have missed. Reason I'm going back to polish is that anywhere I wipe away excess bedding the bedding residue wants to stick. I have gotten it all off pretty easily but when I polish it with kiwi it comes off by a quick finger rub. Edges of the bedding have chipped when I pulled the action in places I've wiped also. I pull my actions as soon as the bedding set up but before completely cured so it's not 100% strength so a little grip on the action is enough to flake off tiny chips. So my opinion is polish is the best method vs one shot and the two combined are foolproof.

 

[Shrek]

A few pictures before I get to paint it. The smudges on the stock were there when I bought it second hand. The white spots front and rear of the ejection port is where I had to relieve it to match the wsm action. It's perfectly fit but it looks higher in photos.

 

[Shrek]

It has weighed in at 8lbs 2.65oz. It has.a #4 Lilja 3 groove 9 twist barrel finished at 25.25" and a McMillan edge with a 15" LOP . Pretty good considering the longer heavier barrel and longer stock.