Gunsmithing first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

[cooperjd]

ok folks, this is only my 2nd attempt at bedding a rifle, hopefully it will go better than my first attemp

here's the progress so far.....

Got my rem700 in .338RUM, and picked up an alaskan II stock from B&C. this stock has the aluminum block in the stock. after reading around, i decided to go with erniethegunsmith.com and get his accurisers pillars.
http://www.erniethegunsmith.com/catalog/i186.html

first thing was to get rid of the pressure pad in the forend, so out with the dremel and sandpaper and to work. with that cleaned up i got the rifle taken apart and ready to test fit with the accuriser shims. took a few minutes of playing around, but finally got the right combination for the front and rear screws with no interference with the action/barrel and stock.

removal of the pressure pad

small holes drilled into the aluminum for a better mechanical lock

checking clearance of action and barrel

stock taped up and ready to go

action filled with clay

and finally, sitting in the epoxy curing

hopefully it will turn out ok. i may have needed to add a little more near the recoil lug. guess i'll find out tomorrow. if anything i'll have to add just a little bit to completely fill it.

tomorrow i'll break everything apart and see how i did. hopefully this will give me a stress free bedding job.

if it works well, i'll do it again with a rem700 7RM i have with a detachable mag.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

Although it doesn't appear that you installed any pillars, I'm wondering why you would want to do that to a stock with an aluminum bedding block.

Then again, maybe you are confused as to what pillars are. Pillars are usually aluminum or stainless steel round stock with holes drilled in them. You would have to drill out the bolt holes to install the pillars. I don't see any evidence of that happening.

Looks like you did a basic bedding job on the stock.

Straighten me out here please. Did you bed the action to the stock, or did you drill out the block and add pillars along with the bedding??

 

[biner626]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

Mike, they aren't "pillars" per se, but, more like washers.
He got them here.
http://www.erniethegunsmith.com/catalog/c7_p1.html

 

[Mike Casselton]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

Um, OK. Still don't see the need for them with the bedding block, but to each his own.

Hope it turns out well for you.

 

[cooperjd]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

mike, to answer your question as to why, honestly, its because of what i read on ernie the gunsmith's site.

even with the bedding block, that does not guarantee perfect fit between the action and the block. he does a much better job of explaining why than i can

here is a good article he wrote with the how-to that i used.
http://www.erniethegunsmith.com/catalog/i186.html

i read most of his site, and found it very informative

 

[biner626]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

So, have you busted it out of the glue yet?

 

[2Shots]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

Be sure and leave that action in there for a couple days, makes it interesting. Might not be a second time!

 

[cooperjd]

Re: first attempt at pillar bedding w Al block in B&C

sorry for no updates.

of course, with my projects, it didn't go just perfect

so i busted it out, came out w/o trouble. but i didn't put enough epoxy for the first inch in front of the recoil lug recess.

so... roughed up the epoxy in the stock, mixed up some more, more release agent on the action, and back in the stock we went for another 24 hours... that brings us to today...

so today when i busted it out... no bueno.. the same trouble area, just in front of the lug recess, this time it was stuck to the barrel and came out of the stock. apparently i didnt use enough release agent. 2 coats not enough??

so...
action/barrel thoroughly cleaned. 2 more good coats of release agent... and a little more bedding compound in the same trouble spots. i'll break it out tomorrow and check results.

it fits great, and some would argue the value of putting any bedding in front of the lug recess to begin with, but i started down this road, and damnit i'm going to get it done right. so now i'm basically just being picky about how it looks.

the barrel is well floated, i can't wait to shoot the beast. unfortunately i live near our nations capital, so i have a little trouble finding places to shoot my rifles. but we'll see how it goes.