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Bedding a BA in a chassis without the mess?

BuildingConceptsllc

Don't Start None, won't be none.
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Minuteman
  • Nov 13, 2020
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    Alabama
    Anyone ever bedded a BA in a chassis with epoxy putty and plastic wrap on the action AND the chassis? I don't particular want to put crap all over my recoil lug and action nor chassis, but I can't help but have the feeling there has got to be some movement happening or flex or something.... I'm not having any serious issues with zero holding but then again, I've been playing with so many different bullets that I don't know if I would see it just yet. I don't really want to find out the hard way and have always wanted to bed my chassis. Then again, when I want to upgrade or change it, I don't want permanent crap on it so I was thinking of a way to have the best of both worlds and use plastic wrap on each side to effectively make a perfectly fit bedded block that fit in the space on front of the recoil lug and action - chassis interface area, that the action screws would keep in place, though it would also have an extremely tight fit. I would do this even if it took some serious fitting to make right. I am also a skilled wood worker so fitting the epoxy where needed isn't a big deal.

    How dumb am I for this question on a scale of 1-10????

    @MikeRTacOps @Terry Cross @lowlight
     
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    Anyone ever bedded a BA in a chassis with epoxy putty and plastic wrap on the action AND the chassis? I don't particular want to put crap all over my recoil lug and action nor chassis, but I can't help but have the feeling there has got to be some movement happening or flex or something.... I'm not having any serious issues with zero holding but then again, I've been playing with so many different bullets that I don't know if I would see it just yet. I don't really want to find out the hard way and have always wanted to bed my chassis. Then again, when I want to upgrade or change it, I don't want permanent crap on it so I was thinking of a way to have the best of both worlds and use plastic wrap on each side to effectively make a perfectly fit bedded block that fit in the space on front of the recoil lug and action - chassis interface area, that the action screws would keep in place, though it would also have an extremely tight fit. I would do this even if it took some serious fitting to make right. I am also a skilled wood worker so fitting the epoxy where needed isn't a big deal.

    How dumb am I for this question on a scale of 1-10????

    @MikeRTacOps @Terry Cross @lowlight
    You need about 6 weeks of counseling.
    I have a headache and possibly a kidney stone from trying to absorb your conundrum. :)

    My official answer is that I haven't bedded a chassis since the last 1.5 AICS I did about 20yrs ago so I am not qualified to field your question.
     
    You need about 6 weeks of counseling.
    I have a headache and possibly a kidney stone from trying to absorb your conundrum. :)

    My official answer is that I haven't bedded a chassis since the last 1.5 AICS I did about 20yrs ago so I am not qualified to field your question.
    🤣🤣🤣🤣
     
    It won’t work, you can’t get plastic wrap to form perfectly to all of that intricate geometry. You can do what you’re asking though, just put release agent on both sides. Hornady One Shot gun lube (not case lube) works fine for this. You just need to make sure everything has a coat on it.

    You might have a hard time getting the epoxy piece out though, it’ll be mighty snug in the recoil lug area and because air can’t easily get under the epoxy, it’ll likely form a vacuum in there as you try to remove it that’ll make it that much more difficult to get out. It won’t be bonded if you do your release agent right, but you’ll probably think it is at first if you try to take it out.
     
    It won’t work, you can’t get plastic wrap to form perfectly to all of that intricate geometry. You can do what you’re asking though, just put release agent on both sides. Hornady One Shot gun lube (not case lube) works fine for this. You just need to make sure everything has a coat on it.

    You might have a hard time getting the epoxy piece out though, it’ll be mighty snug in the recoil lug area and because air can’t easily get under the epoxy, it’ll likely form a vacuum in there as you try to remove it that’ll make it that much more difficult to get out. It won’t be bonded if you do your release agent right, but you’ll probably think it is at first if you try to take it out.
    10-4. The plastic wrap would be the release agent in my head anyway.... but I guess you are saying that won't work and I'd need to use a different release agent such as Vaseline or something instead of the plastic wrap to keep the action and chassis from adhering to the epoxy putty?
     
    Here's something you could try:

    Remove the front action screw and see if the front half of the receiver tries to levitate off the register. If it does, the solution is to get the rearmost point of the tang feature to sit tangent in the V block.

    I solved this a little differently long ago when AI chassis stocks were all the rage. I punched a big hole where the rear screw goes and tapped it for a 1/2-28 thread. Next, I took a stick of brass and turned/threaded the OD so that it'd screw into the hole. Once installed, I'd poke the hole down the middle again for the screw. If you can imagine this, it's basically like installing a tree stump right in the back of your stock inlet.

    The final setup was to make progressively deeper passes with a form tool I had ground (an endmill with a .675" radius ground on the bottom) until the "stump" became tangent to the pair of flats formed by the "V" of the chassis block. Doing it this way offered a cleaner alternative to slathering up the back half of the chassis block with epoxy and it solved the issue of the action trying to hunch its back like a cat when both screws are snugged down.

    Good luck.