Bedding a 10/22

[Eznutz]

Has anyone bedded a 10/22 stock. I know they aren't the most accurate 22 on the market and its probably a ridiculous question but I am curious.

I Have added a Tac solutions aluminum/threaded barrel and a Hogue stock and i have noticed the Hogue stock isn't perfectly rigid and flexes near the end of of the stock so i was thinking if i could bed it and lift the barrel a touch it might give me enough clearance to prevent the end of the stock from contacting the barrel.

The gun shoots as accurate as i need and i've never really put groups on paper. It shoots minute of Jack rabbit well enough at varying ranges(especially when you unload half a mag at the critter, odds are pretty good 1 will make contact) and feeds more reliably than most 10/22s out there.

So i am just asking. If you have bedded your 10/22 would you post pics of your bed job so i can see where the "must areas" are to cover and about how much did you raise your barrel. Any tips are appreciated.

 

[ivanthesane]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

I drilled out the take down screw hole and added a pillar made from an air hose bib. Then I bedded the back of the receiver, and around the new pillar using JB Weld. Worked well. Rifle shot poorly with just about everything - Wolf, the $9/box Federal, etc. Shot dime size groups at 50 yards with CCI Blazer.

Lots of how-tos wtih pics, etc. on rimfirecentral

 

[HillBilly_Sniper]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

My last two 10/22s i had i bedded the front of the action and the first two inchs of the barrel seemed to work good

 

[Captain Kirk]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

I only bed the front of the action and a few inches of the barrel while installing a full length pillar. I have played around a bunch with bedding the entire action/trigger group, tinkered with barrel tensioning, the best results I have seen is the method mentioned and pictured.

 

[HillBilly_Sniper]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

^^^^ Pretty much what i did minus the pillars never messed around with them.

 

[Eznutz]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

that looks easy enough. I'll try the front action screw area and a couple inches and see how it turns out. Thanks for your help.

 

[UNCIVILIZED]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

Eznutz, one other thought comes to mind to help you nail more critters & X-rings, given your description of what you figure's affecting your accuracy.

I'm not certain as to which stock you have, or what it's made of. But on anything other than a full on plastic stock, you can open up the barrel channel a little, & epoxy in a few layers of carbon fiber or fiberglass cloth. It should stiffen up your forend; both against sling tension pulling things downwards, & bipod compression pushing the stock upwards into the barrel.
If you're going to go this route, obviously do it before bedding things if you plan to bed. But it should help with lessening POI shift, knock on wood.

 

[Eznutz]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

It is a hogue overmolded stock. I haven't noticed vertical movement in the stock but i have noticed horizontal movement if i put a small amount of pressure on it. I figure if there is horizontal there is probably vertical as well.
I've never played with fiberglass so i will have to look online to see how it is done.

I like the texture of the stock and how light it is for rabbit hunting but if i am trying to upgrade a jalopy by all means let me know not to waste my time. If not then i'll give it a try and see how it turns out.

 

[UNCIVILIZED]

Re: Bedding a 10/22

I'd wager a LARGE sum that if you try & pinch grip the barrel downwards towards the stock, you'll get it to touch. Or if not touch, then a substantial degree of movement.
I'm still aghast any time I do this on an HS Precision stock. They're about as stiff as a wet rope. 'Course there are plenty of other stocks that'll do the same thing when you pinch the forend towards the barrel.

Because of this flexibility, when you load up a bipod, or sling up tightly, the stock flexes, & thus imparts stresses on the rifle's barrel & it's action. A level of flexing which isn't necessarily the same from shot to shot. This can alter one's POA vs. POI, as well as affecting group sizes.

From looking @ pictures of & reading about the stock which you have, it'd be possible to stiffen it, but not within the realm of practicaality. There are just too many voids & pockets in the stock, underneath of the barrel, from what I can see in pics of your stock which I found doing a quick Google of your rig's "handle".

You can get some idea of how to/what's innvolved in stiffening of a stock via reinforcing it's barrel channel in Coldboremiracle's thread My budget .223's finally done
Although I think he doubly stiffens his barrel channel. First with a custom aluminum liner, & then with glass & epoxy overtop of it, if memory serves.

It's not a tough thing to do. One just opens up the barrel channel on a composite or wood stock a little bit, & then lays in a series of layers of epoxy saturated fiberglass or carbon fiber cloth. It's kind of like laying in a couple of layers/pieces of wet lasagna noodles into the barrel channel. And if you want to go high speed, low drag, you can vacume bag the layers of cloth in place until they're cured.

The glass/carbon fiber inside of the barrel channel is simply a smaller diameter version of the exterior of a stock's forend. And both of them serve the same purpose when it comes to stock stiffening.
It's an oversimplification of things, but think of a stock as an I-beam or box beam. Only, there are very few stocks which have the "upper" horizontal flange (of the beam). They just derive their strength & stiffness from overbuilding the bottom & center web sections of the "beam".
Now if you reinforce a stock's channel with epoxy & glass/carbon fiber, you're putting that top "horizontal web" back onto the beam. Making things stiffer by several orders of magnitude.

There's a bit more to it than this. But doing it, plus seeing & understanding the concept are a LOT easier to explain live & interactively.