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Just got a b&c stock for my first bolt action.. Some questions

-paradox-

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 15, 2013
100
1
I just painted it and noticed that the barrel is off center. Will this affect my accuracy? Was definitely expecting more out of this stock. The sling studs are off center too.

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It shouldn't effect accuracy provided the barrel is not touching. Don't let the folks around here discourage you about the B&C stock, no they are not as good as some but they are a very good step above OE stocks. They are trying to do a lot without investing a lot in the manufacturing of the product and little things like that get lost sometimes.
 
Hey guys so i noticed that I can get the barrel centered without the action screws and bdl in but when I tighten down the screws the barrel pulls to the right. Any ideas how to fix this? I did a google search and read that you can remove material in certain areas to remedy it but haven't figured out where to remove material. Any help is appreciated!
 
I have gotten some nice stocks from them. No issues like yours. I would call them and ask.
Check first for any 'slag' you overlooked before assembly, resin or paint.... Lug area and where the bedding block meets fiberglass. A bit of scraping clean necessary around metal to metal should be obvious.
Hope that helps.
 
Hey guys so i noticed that I can get the barrel centered without the action screws and bdl in but when I tighten down the screws the barrel pulls to the right. Any ideas how to fix this? I did a google search and read that you can remove material in certain areas to remedy it but haven't figured out where to remove material. Any help is appreciated!

bed it
 
Hey guys so i noticed that I can get the barrel centered without the action screws and bdl in but when I tighten down the screws the barrel pulls to the right. Any ideas how to fix this?

With the action removed, eyeball the recoil lug - is it properly aligned?
 
I think the B & C can be a good value, but do check it carefully. My Howa barreled action was slightly off center (not as bad as yours), but that was the least of my problems. With careful checking, I determined that the recoil lug on the action was not even touching the aluminum bedding spine in the stock! The rear tang was acting as the recoil lug. I put some light grease on the Howa lug, put the action in the stock, pushed it rearward and secured it. Upon removal, the grease on the lug never touched the aluminum spine. I could grind away some stock material around the rear tang, letting the action move rearward, but then bolt handle alignment with the slot in the stock would be wrong. At this point, I just packed it up and sent it a gun smith for professional bedding. All looks good now.

Phil
 
I think the B & C can be a good value, but do check it carefully. My Howa barreled action was slightly off center (not as bad as yours), but that was the least of my problems. With careful checking, I determined that the recoil lug on the action was not even touching the aluminum bedding spine in the stock! The rear tang was acting as the recoil lug. I put some light grease on the Howa lug, put the action in the stock, pushed it rearward and secured it. Upon removal, the grease on the lug never touched the aluminum spine. I could grind away some stock material around the rear tang, letting the action move rearward, but then bolt handle alignment with the slot in the stock would be wrong. At this point, I just packed it up and sent it a gun smith for professional bedding. All looks good now.

Phil

I just went through the same thing with a B&C for a Howa short action. I called B&C and was told that the stock was actually only made to fit the Weatherby Vanguard, but SHOULD fit my Howa action since they are similar. The rep went on to tell me that if I really wanted to send it to them they would inspect it and fix it if it could be fixed. When I asked how long that would take he said currently I would be looking at 8-10 weeks lead time for an evaluation! Needless to say I just went to work hogging the action area of the stock out so I could just bed it and be done working on my one and only B&C stock. I won't make that mistake again.
 
My guess is the bedding block is properly aligned but the holes for the action screws are misaligned. Ive had to fix this for a friend where the barrel was contacting the stock. Just dro'd it on a mill, found the center then opened it up with whatever size bit was required to get a hole symmetric about the boreline. I did the same with the rear hole as well just to be sure. The bdl inlet was so poor I had to bed that as well. His stock was so bad I cant recommend b&c. Depending on what stock your rifle came with I would usually recommend saving up for something better. Also having misaligned sling studs can introduce asymetric loading of your bipod which wont help your shooting.
 
My guess is the bedding block is properly aligned but the holes for the action screws are misaligned. Ive had to fix this for a friend where the barrel was contacting the stock. Just dro'd it on a mill, found the center then opened it up with whatever size bit was required to get a hole symmetric about the boreline. I did the same with the rear hole as well just to be sure. The bdl inlet was so poor I had to bed that as well. His stock was so bad I cant recommend b&c. Depending on what stock your rifle came with I would usually recommend saving up for something better. Also having misaligned sling studs can introduce asymetric loading of your bipod which wont help your shooting.

I actually think it may be the bedding block on mine.. I realized last night that when I push down on the tang (how it would be if the action screws were torqued down), thats when the barrel moves to the right. I emailed b&c, they said check for paint etc and that just a little bit would be enough to push the barrel off center. Not too sure about that but we'll see..
 
I have gotten some nice stocks from them. No issues like yours. I would call them and ask.
Check first for any 'slag' you overlooked before assembly, resin or paint.... Lug area and where the bedding block meets fiberglass. A bit of scraping clean necessary around metal to metal should be obvious.
Hope that helps.

I emailed them yesterday, thats pretty much exactly what they said. Will check when I get home.
 
I just went through the same thing with a B&C for a Howa short action. I called B&C and was told that the stock was actually only made to fit the Weatherby Vanguard, but SHOULD fit my Howa action since they are similar. The rep went on to tell me that if I really wanted to send it to them they would inspect it and fix it if it could be fixed. When I asked how long that would take he said currently I would be looking at 8-10 weeks lead time for an evaluation! Needless to say I just went to work hogging the action area of the stock out so I could just bed it and be done working on my one and only B&C stock. I won't make that mistake again.

I too got the same 8 - 10 weeks for an evaluation of my stock, leading me to just have it bedded and be done with it. To my knowledge, and what I have read, the Weatherby Vanguard and Howa 1500 ARE identical. If so, then any ill-fitment is due to the stock. I am building another Howa, but will go with another stock or chassis.

Phil
 
I removed all the slag I could find and still crooked. I'm thinking it can be fixed when I bed it but the action screws will obviously be cockeyed in the holes will that be a problem? Here's some better pics.

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I too got the same 8 - 10 weeks for an evaluation of my stock, leading me to just have it bedded and be done with it. To my knowledge, and what I have read, the Weatherby Vanguard and Howa 1500 ARE identical. If so, then any ill-fitment is due to the stock. I am building another Howa, but will go with another stock or chassis.

Phil

I am pretty sure the Vanguard is just a rebadged Howa. The thing that really made me mad when talking to the poor excuse for a CSR at B&C was the fact that when I told him what it was going to take to make this stock work he told me that if I remove more than the thickness of a credit card from any part of the stock any warranty would be void. That is fine, but in the pamplet they send with your new B&C stock it clearly states that the removal of material from the stock may be neccessary for proper fit. However it makes no mention of voiding your warranty if you have to remove more than the thickness of a credit card (1/32"ish) from any part of the stock.

Now my B&C fits perfect after many hours of work with hand tools and bedding, but this will be my one and only B&C stock. I have used $100 Boyds stocks that had better fit and came with much better customer service than this B&C that cost more than double the price.
 
I am pretty sure the Vanguard is just a rebadged Howa. The thing that really made me mad when talking to the poor excuse for a CSR at B&C was the fact that when I told him what it was going to take to make this stock work he told me that if I remove more than the thickness of a credit card from any part of the stock any warranty would be void. That is fine, but in the pamplet they send with your new B&C stock it clearly states that the removal of material from the stock may be neccessary for proper fit. However it makes no mention of voiding your warranty if you have to remove more than the thickness of a credit card (1/32"ish) from any part of the stock.

Now my B&C fits perfect after many hours of work with hand tools and bedding, but this will be my one and only B&C stock. I have used $100 Boyds stocks that had better fit and came with much better customer service than this B&C that cost more than double the price.

Yeah their customer service wasn't great. So.. I basically have to lift the barrel about 1/16 of an inch or so and I can get the barrel centered. So bedding should work right? Just tape the barrel in a few places until it's centered so when I tighten the action while bedding it doesn't move? Anything I missed?
 
You missed too much.
Your photo shows a problem with the rear tang area near the recessed rear bolt boss. Height is not adjusted by your preference, make not that mistake.
No rag, trying to help. I would send it back. Short of that, if the rifle is otherwise 'done', have it bedded by a stock guy. Phoenix or someone. They will correct it. Rifle will be done and not a haunting.
 
You missed too much.
Your photo shows a problem with the rear tang area near the recessed rear bolt boss. Height is not adjusted by your preference, make not that mistake.
No rag, trying to help. I would send it back. Short of that, if the rifle is otherwise 'done', have it bedded by a stock guy. Phoenix or someone. They will correct it. Rifle will be done and not a haunting.

Can you repeat that a little more clearly hah? What about where the rear tang goes? I'm not sending it back, there's a 9 week wait to have it fixed. It doesn't affect accuracy so like I said above, I was already going to bed it.
 
Ok, taped up the barrel and it's now centered in the barrel channel with action screws tightened down. Just need to relieve the edges now.

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I would honestly just fudge it and shoot it. If you get decent precision from it with good ammo I wouldn't spend any more time on it. Try a few different factory/hand loads and see if it likes something. If not just sell it and upgrade, once you bed it it will have near no resale value, unless you sell the whole rifle. BOCO - Buy Once, Cry Once. Where are you located?
 
I would honestly just fudge it and shoot it. If you get decent precision from it with good ammo I wouldn't spend any more time on it. Try a few different factory/hand loads and see if it likes something. If not just sell it and upgrade, once you bed it it will have near no resale value, unless you sell the whole rifle. BOCO - Buy Once, Cry Once. Where are you located?

I'm in washington. I'm not too worried about resale. I've already roughed it up in preparation for bedding, so I'm just going to bed it since I already have the compound. I'll get it straightened out as much as i can and then leave it be.
 
Before you bed it try to remove some of the aluminum from the bedding block where the recoil lug should be making contact. On mine this area was not machined straight and the recoil lug was only making contact on one side which was pushing the action and barrel to the opposite side when the action screws were torqued. Since you are bedding it anyway don't worry about the material you remove since that void will be filled by bedding material. If you just bed it the way it is you will be bedding stress into the action. While I cannot say for sure this will be detrimental for accurracy I do know pretty much everything I have heard and read about bedding always focusses on stress free bedding.
 
Before you bed it try to remove some of the aluminum from the bedding block where the recoil lug should be making contact. On mine this area was not machined straight and the recoil lug was only making contact on one side which was pushing the action and barrel to the opposite side when the action screws were torqued. Since you are bedding it anyway don't worry about the material you remove since that void will be filled by bedding material. If you just bed it the way it is you will be bedding stress into the action. While I cannot say for sure this will be detrimental for accurracy I do know pretty much everything I have heard and read about bedding always focusses on stress free bedding.

Ok thanks for the tip. Your talking about inside the actual lug recess correct?
 
Yes, that is correct.

Hmm. The only thing i dont get is that the barrel is crooked even without the action screws in.. I can slide the action as forward and aft as it will go and its still off center. That's what led me to believe it was just the bedding block that was slightly off center.
 
That makes it sound like the bedding block might be off a bit. If you do bed it as is you might have to enlarge the action screw holes in the stock so they free float and take an recoil.
 
That makes it sound like the bedding block might be off a bit. If you do bed it as is you might have to enlarge the action screw holes in the stock so they free float and take an recoil.

From what I could tell the action screws were still centered but I may enlarge them just for piece of mind. I was able to get the barrel perfectly centered by taping the barrel and it hardly raised the action at all. The bedding block is probably just off center 1/16 or so. I'm going to relieve the edges where the action contacts the stock so there is no stress and bed it. Oh, I did notice there is a high spot in the bedding block. You can see in the pic above where the action was rubbing. Could that cause it?