Gunsmithing Bed barrel channel for smaller contour barrel?

["HeysKSFirefighter]

I have a McMillan A5 with Sendero barrel inlet on one of my Savages, and am thinking of switching to a light varmint contour barrel (like Shilen #5).

If I screw the barrel on and don't like the aesthetics of barrel in the larger barrel channel, I can simply place some tape on the barrel and bed the channel, right? Would Marine-Tex, JB Weld, or something similar be suitable for that? Would one material be lighter weight than another?

Thanks!

 

[darrenk75b]

Re: Bed barrel channel for smaller contour barrel?

Wrap the barrel in plumbers tape, and bed it with marine tex, devcon or the like. I'm sure you could use JB weld, but the others feel like better options (I'm just imagining squeezing the JB out of 1,047,326 tubes to get enough the bed the channel). Marine tex is likely lighter than devcon

 

[E. Bryant]

Re: Bed barrel channel for smaller contour barrel?

I've used Devcon putty for this in the past, but am tempted to use some System West stuff with lightweight filler the next time.

 

[my human host]

Re: Bed barrel channel for smaller contour barrel?

I've used plain old bondo on a couple of HS stocks with acceptable results. It sands a heck of a lot easier than Devcon.

A #5 and a Sendero countour aren't all that different. It shouldn't take much to fill it in. Messy job tho.

 

[colchester]

Re: Bed barrel channel for smaller contour barrel?

I have used lightweight body filler as well. It worked well for this purpose, cures quickly and as mentioned sands fast and its relativly inexpensive. It also will add less weight than bedding compounds if it is a concern.