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Glass bedding

Ethan87

Private
Minuteman
Aug 4, 2021
8
4
Nc
Hey y’all, im getting a b&c medalist stock for my weatherby vanguard s2, and am planning on glass bedding it because im sure it wont fit perfect. This is my first time doing this. My question is, how much material should i dremmel and what areas should i dremmel from the stock? I will attempt bedding from the recoil lug to the tang. Ive heard that you should leave a sliver of material untouched as a height refrence but i dont know where to do that at.

Thanks in advance
 
Before you get carried away, install the action in the stock and shoot it.
B&C makes a really decent stock and the Howa/Vanguard is a really decent action.
They may not need bedding.
I understand that, its just i know my luck lol. Im definitely gonna shoot it first im just getting prepared for the worst
 
Leaving aside whether or not you should bed (I don't believe it's bad to do if done properly, and it's a joy to have a "fit like a glove" between the stock and BA, although it makes resale a pain), I'll try to answer your question.

There are lots of ways to bed, and most of them work just fine, so know that to start. The least intrusive is what's typically called a "skim bed," where you remove little if any material and just use the epoxy to fill in surfaces to make a glove fit. Lots of people do this with no issue, but I tend to be concerned that a little bit of flex could break the bond and flake the stuff out; not saying that concern is valid, just what my mind's eye can envision. I tend to go to the other end of the spectrum and remove a fair amount of material, including some opposing holes that make the epoxy structure impossible to pop out; these holes are usually in the receiver bearing surface aft of the recoil lug, and I drill them maybe 1/4" deep at opposing 45-deg angles, but I'm pretty sure this is overkill. To answer your first question: it's totally up to you, you can just skim bed and remove basically nothing, or hog out substantial amounts of material to leave a good-sized epoxy bed after the job is done. Not sure there's a right answer to this one, just lots of opinions/preferences.

I think your second question, where to leave the elevated surface(s), is much clearer and with far fewer "right" answers. I subscribe to the "stress-free" bedding technique used by Richard's Custom Rifles (link below), and I'd recommend their DVD that shows the whole process to any first-time bedder. In short though, you leave the rear tang contact surface (should be aluminum in that B&C stock) untouched, or at most with the paint removed (very, very carefully). Then you remove enough material around that aluminum surface and everywhere forward of it to ensure no contact anywhere. To set the forward height, you wrap the barrel maybe 2-4" from the end of the stock in electrical tape with just enough layers where it drops snugly into the barrel channel and is centered, with no slop and not "propped up" out of the channel on the two edges on either side. This will ensure the BA is centered left/right, and also addresses any concerns about having to choose where the recoil lug does and doesn't touch. Put two layers of masking tape on the rim of the recoil lug (left/bottom/right edge), as well as the front (muzzle) face, leaving the rear of the lug untaped. I usually also remove material behind the recoil lug to ensure there's enough room for a good epoxy layer there as well. There should be enough clearance before bedding that the only contact points are at the rear tang and the electrical tape. When the bedding sets, you should have full contact at the rear tang (which you can also bed, just to get good fill around that aluminum contact surface and also to set the rearward limit on the action location, plus it just looks nicer), under the front portion of the receiver, and at the rear of the recoil lug, but nowhere else. Some folks like to bed the first inch or two of the barrel as well, and that's fine too; honestly, it's easier to do it that way, since you don't have to remove the excess epoxy in front of the recoil lug recess like you do using my method.

Does that make sense?

 
Oh, and +1 to MarineTex or Devcon. MT is cheaper and works just as well; honestly, if it's not a super critical job I just use JB Weld and can't tell the difference.
 
Leaving aside whether or not you should bed (I don't believe it's bad to do if done properly, and it's a joy to have a "fit like a glove" between the stock and BA, although it makes resale a pain), I'll try to answer your question.

There are lots of ways to bed, and most of them work just fine, so know that to start. The least intrusive is what's typically called a "skim bed," where you remove little if any material and just use the epoxy to fill in surfaces to make a glove fit. Lots of people do this with no issue, but I tend to be concerned that a little bit of flex could break the bond and flake the stuff out; not saying that concern is valid, just what my mind's eye can envision. I tend to go to the other end of the spectrum and remove a fair amount of material, including some opposing holes that make the epoxy structure impossible to pop out; these holes are usually in the receiver bearing surface aft of the recoil lug, and I drill them maybe 1/4" deep at opposing 45-deg angles, but I'm pretty sure this is overkill. To answer your first question: it's totally up to you, you can just skim bed and remove basically nothing, or hog out substantial amounts of material to leave a good-sized epoxy bed after the job is done. Not sure there's a right answer to this one, just lots of opinions/preferences.

I think your second question, where to leave the elevated surface(s), is much clearer and with far fewer "right" answers. I subscribe to the "stress-free" bedding technique used by Richard's Custom Rifles (link below), and I'd recommend their DVD that shows the whole process to any first-time bedder. In short though, you leave the rear tang contact surface (should be aluminum in that B&C stock) untouched, or at most with the paint removed (very, very carefully). Then you remove enough material around that aluminum surface and everywhere forward of it to ensure no contact anywhere. To set the forward height, you wrap the barrel maybe 2-4" from the end of the stock in electrical tape with just enough layers where it drops snugly into the barrel channel and is centered, with no slop and not "propped up" out of the channel on the two edges on either side. This will ensure the BA is centered left/right, and also addresses any concerns about having to choose where the recoil lug does and doesn't touch. Put two layers of masking tape on the rim of the recoil lug (left/bottom/right edge), as well as the front (muzzle) face, leaving the rear of the lug untaped. I usually also remove material behind the recoil lug to ensure there's enough room for a good epoxy layer there as well. There should be enough clearance before bedding that the only contact points are at the rear tang and the electrical tape. When the bedding sets, you should have full contact at the rear tang (which you can also bed, just to get good fill around that aluminum contact surface and also to set the rearward limit on the action location, plus it just looks nicer), under the front portion of the receiver, and at the rear of the recoil lug, but nowhere else. Some folks like to bed the first inch or two of the barrel as well, and that's fine too; honestly, it's easier to do it that way, since you don't have to remove the excess epoxy in front of the recoil lug recess like you do using my method.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the reply.... i understand what you are saying about leaving a portion of the tang untouched. What stumps me though is that with this being a weatherby/howa, there isnt much room at the rear tang to leave untouched. Im sorry about me being such a newbie. The picture is telling you what im saying.
 

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Thanks for the reply.... i understand what you are saying about leaving a portion of the tang untouched. What stumps me though is that with this being a weatherby/howa, there isnt much room at the rear tang to leave untouched. Im sorry about me being such a newbie. The picture is telling you what im saying.
Yeah, I see what you're saying. I'd say leave that rear tang as is, unless you want to remove a little stock material on the sides of that recess then fill it in with epoxy. Or you could just basically put a skim coat in there, then gently torque it down and wipe out everything that squeezes out, that'll result in a glove fit around the rear tang. I don't think you need to bother removing any paint there, unless it's obviously kinda a thick coat. What you don't want is to bed the whole action, then later down the road have material flake off at the rear tang (definitely saw this at both front and rear action screws in my Bergara B14 stock) and change the height of the contact surface. That would put just a little bit of torque in the action from the front to rear action screw, since now your rear tang would be getting pulled lower by the action screw.

Clear as mud?
 
Could i not, “in theory” dremmel out that rear tang except for two little knotches at the edge of the recess for the rifle action to sit on? I would perfer to not skim bed it as i dont want to have any issues such as you are saying later down the road.
 
You can, but I don't see any advantage. That rear tang contact point doesn't look mangy, so I'd expect it to be pretty repeatable. Is it flat? Is it clean? If so, and the rear tang of the action is nice and flat (pretty sure that's what my Howa 1500 Mini looks like), then I'd say let it ride.

Actually, here, here are a few pics of how I handled my B&C Howa 1500 Mini bedding job. Looks like I got epoxy all in that rear tang recess except for right at the very rear, so I'm guessing I removed material on the front half to 2/3 of that contact surface. You can also see that there's epoxy fully surrounding the sides of the rear tang, which I like, gives it a good "home." Up front, you can see that the receiver sits on only epoxy, on the sides of the receiver and under both the large flat portion and the recoil lug (I wanted the underside to be 100% on epoxy since the action screw is in the recoil lug and I didn't want to torque it over a "high spot" on the large flat section touching the underside of the receiver). This is achieved using that electrical tape strategy I mentioned. I hogged out the area forward of the recoil lug and sealed the whole barrel channel after since I'm using a barrel nut setup and need clearance for all the nut geometry to free-float.
 

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Anywhere that I'm applying bedding compound, I will take a small grinding bit and gouge the surface to give the epoxy something to mechanically lock into.


If there is paint, I will grind away any paint so the epoxy bonds to the base stock material

Other than that, I don't remove a ton of material from the stock.

Is it the best method? I dunno....but ive never had bedding break loose or experienced any accuracy issues from doing it this way.
 
Ok thank yall all for the help, As soon as i get everything shipped here ill get it done.