Gunsmithing Bedding and inlet questions

[Mister Ridge]

I recently saw a rifle for sale that had an early McMillan HTG smear camo stock, which would be fantastic for my M40A1 project. Unfortunately, the rifle was a Remington 660 and the action was permanently bonded to the stock. I assume that it's probably not possible/practical to safely seperate the two and reinlet the stock. Am I correct?

 

[308pirate]

I recently saw a rifle for sale that had an early McMillan HTG smear camo stock, which would be fantastic for my M40A1 project. Unfortunately, the rifle was a Remington 660 and the action was permanently bonded to the stock. I assume that it's probably not possible/practical to safely seperate the two and reinlet the stock. Am I correct?

It would be risky to say the least.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Yeah, without knowing what was used to bond the two I wouldn’t risk it, chances are you’d damage the stock.

 

[Wyo_Jo]

It can be done but is risky. My current M700 started in a factory bdl stock with dbm and was full length bedded without release agent. It was broke free with 2 days in a deep freeze and some chisel work. Now most the marring was covered up with a fresh thick layer of bedding once it was reinleted

 

[Wannashootit]

Why can't it be de-bonded with heat like any other glued-in action?

 

[LRI]

I recently saw a rifle for sale that had an early McMillan HTG smear camo stock, which would be fantastic for my M40A1 project. Unfortunately, the rifle was a Remington 660 and the action was permanently bonded to the stock. I assume that it's probably not possible/practical to safely seperate the two and reinlet the stock. Am I correct?

This is an easy fix. I've popped many a "glue ins" over the decades.

Step one, find a steel stick around 3/4" dia and toss it in a lathe chuck. Turn it down till it slips inside the receiver bore like the bolt does.

Once you have this, part it off so a good inch or two sticks out the arse end of the action. Now, warm it up with a hot wrench. It doesn't have to be glowing like a branding iron, but it does need to be good n hot. Slide it up the but of the receiver and let it go to work. Before too long, the gun will stink of burnt peanut butter as the resin starts to cook. You'll see some whiffs of smoke here n there as well. With mild pressure, attempt to separate the action from the stock. If it doesn't come easy, don't force it. Pull your stick and heat it back up again.

When correctly executed, the barreled action will darn near fall out of the stock. There will be a couple of spots where it might get a little crispy but fear not. Just grind those spots down to "good" material and use bedding compound to fill the void.

The thing to really remember when working with a composite stock:

Short of running it through a tree chipper or crematorium, you can't really ruin it. You only create more work for yourself by doing it wrong. That's it. I've literally had stocks show up in my shop in multiple pieces before. I've yet to have one that we couldn't bring back from the "dead".

Easy stuff.

Good luck.

C.

 

[flatland1]

I had to remove a bbl'd Savage action from a laminated wood stock after I'd screwed up by not filling the bbl nut slots with clay and as a result, had glued it into the stock. I'd put an EGW 20 MOA sloped scope rail on the action, so set the rifle up in a cleaning cradle, clamped the stock so it wouldn't roll over, and set an old clothes iron on the scope rail with the heat control set for cotton, which I believe was the highest temp it was capable of. After 25-30 min, I shut the iron off and set it out of the way, and the bedding (Devcon or Marine Tex, don't recall which now) had softened to the point where I was able to lift the bbl'd action out easily.

 

[Mister Ridge]

This is an easy fix. I've popped many a "glue ins" over the decades.

Step one, find a steel stick around 3/4" dia and toss it in a lathe chuck. Turn it down till it slips inside the receiver bore like the bolt does.

Once you have this, part it off so a good inch or two sticks out the arse end of the action. Now, warm it up with a hot wrench. It doesn't have to be glowing like a branding iron, but it does need to be good n hot. Slide it up the but of the receiver and let it go to work. Before too long, the gun will stink of burnt peanut butter as the resin starts to cook. You'll see some whiffs of smoke here n there as well. With mild pressure, attempt to separate the action from the stock. If it doesn't come easy, don't force it. Pull your stick and heat it back up again.

When correctly executed, the barreled action will darn near fall out of the stock. There will be a couple of spots where it might get a little crispy but fear not. Just grind those spots down to "good" material and use bedding compound to fill the void.

The thing to really remember when working with a composite stock:

Short of running it through a tree chipper or crematorium, you can't really ruin it. You only create more work for yourself by doing it wrong. That's it. I've literally had stocks show up in my shop in multiple pieces before. I've yet to have one that we couldn't bring back from the "dead".

Easy stuff.

Good luck.

C.

I had to remove a bbl'd Savage action from a laminated wood stock after I'd screwed up by not filling the bbl nut slots with clay and as a result, had glued it into the stock. I'd put an EGW 20 MOA sloped scope rail on the action, so set the rifle up in a cleaning cradle, clamped the stock so it wouldn't roll over, and set an old clothes iron on the scope rail with the heat control set for cotton, which I believe was the highest temp it was capable of. After 25-30 min, I shut the iron off and set it out of the way, and the bedding (Devcon or Marine Tex, don't recall which now) had softened to the point where I was able to lift the bbl'd action out easily.

Sounds promising. If it doesn't sell in a week, I might try to pick it up. Not sure I'll be able to do the inlet work on my own though. Also not sure I'm going to even keep the project when it's done but it could be good trade fodder for the rifle I really want. Thanks gentlemen.