Bedding job question

[Duffy1298]

I have recently received my A4 McMillan to put my Rem700 in. Just curious as to who to send it to to get bedded. I have an APA bottom RTG, so I was thinking of just sending the barreled action, stock, and bottom metal to the guys at APA to get the rifle assembled and bedded. (If anyones had a bedding job done by APA chime in with your results.)

Anyways.....back to the real question....Id like to know if I ought to have my stock glass bedded, pillar bedded, or glass AND pillar bedded, and why you choose the method you choose. Thanks.

 

[c4xplsv]

Re: Bedding job question

Pillar bedding was originally done to prevent overcompression of wood stocks. Mcmillan told me that they didn't think it made much difference when it came to fiberglass stocks. If you are overcompressing fiberglass then you're probably over torquing your action screws.

Glass bedding does however improve the fit of the action to the stock therefore (hopefully) improving accuracy. That is a fairly common upgrade for a precision rifle, but its not a requirement to get a rifle to shoot well - with regard to using a mcmillan stock.

My FN SPR is only skim bedded but it has very tight fitment between the stock and action. I may do the full glass bed in the future but its not high on my list of things to do.

On another note, many non-bedded mcmillan stocks on the standard FN SPR - I only reference the SPR because it is commercially produced with these stocks - rifles shoot sub-moa groups with good ammo. In other words, the mcmillan stocks seem to fit very well right out of the box. I'm sure someone can show how they had dramatic results from glass and pillar bedding but it really depends on the rifle. Ultimately - YMMV but those are my experiences so far.

 

[STR]

Re: Bedding job question

McMillan beds a lot of rifles, and I mean A LOT of rifles per year. I don't think any just get skim/glass bedded without aluminum pillars being used. It's a simple part of the job that offers guarantee of consistency between the barreled action, and the stock, even if you over torque the screws.

If you're looking for someone to send it that will do a fine job, then you in the right place to ask. There a lot of guys here that will do a great job. APA is one of them. Mark Gordon, William Roscoe, Greg at Southern Precision Rifles, Woody at Xring Accuracy, Mike at Black ops, GAP, and that's just to name a few. All great in no particular order. The price may vary a little form guy to guy, but not much.

Check out William Roscoe's sticky in the gunsmithing section on pillar bedding, and it will give you an idea of what's involved.

The only thing I can think is OK to skim bed is a stock that already comes with an aluminum bedding block in it. Such as Bell & Carlson, and H&S Precision stocks to name a couple.

 

[Copyleader]

Re: Bedding job question

Bedding is done for two basic reasons. First, having an exact fit between barreled action and the stock is crucial for accuracy, a tight fit means repeatability via less movement and vibration. The second reason is often overlooked, which is stress relief. Bedding correctly should also let the barreled action "lie" in the stock without any twisting/torquing or any other stress put on it when the action screws are torqued. To do this, you should install the pillars first, relieve the stock and bed second with your glass or marine tex or whatever and then relieve the pillars last...it's more time consuming and may be confusing but it works...my lead times are about a month for projects like this, shoot me a PM if you have any questions or are interested!

 

[Jered Joplin]

Re: Bedding job question

Here are some photos of our bedding:

Pre 64 Winchester rebuild

Mannlicher safari rifle in the rough

We are normally around 2 weeks on just a bedding job.

The big deal in bedding is stress. If it's not stress free it's not perfect. Pretty is a good thing but it has nothing to do with accuracy. When you combine the two it's just a bonus.

 

[Duffy1298]

Re: Bedding job question

cool ill be sending you guys at APA my stuff to get done here in the next couple of days.

 

[Jered Joplin]

Re: Bedding job question

Just make sure you stick in a note with all your contact info and the work you want completed.