I recently had two barrelled action's spun up on rem 700 receivers, they were trued up and had broughton barrels installed. I then dropped them in AX chassis. One was chambered in 308 and after doing load development I'm very happy with how it's shooting. When I put the barrelled action in the AICS it seemed to make equal contact in the front as well as the rear tang, its shooting great so I don't plan to mess with it.
The other barrelled action is a 338LM, when I installed the ACIS on this one it was obvious that the action wasn't completely strait. When I tightened the rear tang bolt it was clear that it was still settling into the chassis. At the time I didn't think much of it. 250rds of load development later I'm having a very hard time finding a load that it likes constantly. I've tried 4 different bullets and have had it shoot some loads ok, but then shoot the same load poorly after, there's not much consistency. I don't think the problem is me because at the same time I've been doing load development with other rifles that going well and I shot by buddy's 338 on one of the same days and shot four 5 shot groups in a row at 300yds that were 0.5moa. While I have shot some sub 0.5 MOA groups with the rifle in question it wont do it consistently.
So I'm getting tired of burning up pounds of H1000 and Retumbo and wasting 300gr projectiles and have been considering bedding the AX chassis. After searching and reading lots I have decided to just bed the rear tang to relieve some of the stress that might be on the action and hopefully it may or may not get more constant results.
I'm not new to bedding rifle's, have done a bunch of them and the last few have turned out really well but bedding a chassis is new to me and I don't want to mess this up and have to fire up the mill to the chassis and hog it out and redo.
So what I'm asking is: Does anyone have any tips for doing this? Should the surface be roughed up? Should I mill a few shallow holes for a good mechanical lock? My fear is that it will be a thin layer of epoxy and break off over time. Especially at the contact points on the v-block.
Also, whats the best way to have this "set in"? I'm thinking have the barrel in a vice and then raise the chassis with the epoxy up onto the action with the front of the action touching first and tighten the front action screw fully and then I'm undecided on if I should tighten the rear action screw at all?
If anyone managed to make it through this long winded question thank you and I appreciate and tips.
The other barrelled action is a 338LM, when I installed the ACIS on this one it was obvious that the action wasn't completely strait. When I tightened the rear tang bolt it was clear that it was still settling into the chassis. At the time I didn't think much of it. 250rds of load development later I'm having a very hard time finding a load that it likes constantly. I've tried 4 different bullets and have had it shoot some loads ok, but then shoot the same load poorly after, there's not much consistency. I don't think the problem is me because at the same time I've been doing load development with other rifles that going well and I shot by buddy's 338 on one of the same days and shot four 5 shot groups in a row at 300yds that were 0.5moa. While I have shot some sub 0.5 MOA groups with the rifle in question it wont do it consistently.
So I'm getting tired of burning up pounds of H1000 and Retumbo and wasting 300gr projectiles and have been considering bedding the AX chassis. After searching and reading lots I have decided to just bed the rear tang to relieve some of the stress that might be on the action and hopefully it may or may not get more constant results.
I'm not new to bedding rifle's, have done a bunch of them and the last few have turned out really well but bedding a chassis is new to me and I don't want to mess this up and have to fire up the mill to the chassis and hog it out and redo.
So what I'm asking is: Does anyone have any tips for doing this? Should the surface be roughed up? Should I mill a few shallow holes for a good mechanical lock? My fear is that it will be a thin layer of epoxy and break off over time. Especially at the contact points on the v-block.
Also, whats the best way to have this "set in"? I'm thinking have the barrel in a vice and then raise the chassis with the epoxy up onto the action with the front of the action touching first and tighten the front action screw fully and then I'm undecided on if I should tighten the rear action screw at all?
If anyone managed to make it through this long winded question thank you and I appreciate and tips.
