Gunsmithing Stock smithing

[mzvarner]

So i have am considering buying Bell & Carlson Medalist Sporter contour stock for my rem 700 in 308. It is lightly used in town. However, I have a heavy contour barrel. Is it possible, and advisable, to open the channel more to allow a heavy barrel to free float in there. If so what is required in order to do this work? can I just use some elbow grease and sand paper or is it more intensive and something a smith should do?

Bell Carlson Medalist Rifle Stock Remington 700 BDL Short Action

 

[Andy Warhog]

throw it in a mill with a ball cutter and hog er out. or a dremel...

 

[eli polite]

you can also buy ball nose bits for regular hand routers hot melt a stop to the base of the router so it can use the side of the stock as a guide. set the depth of your router to a little bit off at a time 2 passes would probably do just fine

 

[mzvarner]

ALso should I be worried about the fact that it is already been bedded?

 

[Wannashootit]

Pretty sure that it's gel-coated, so you'll need to refinish the barrel channel.

And yes- you'll need to hog out the existing bedding enough to get an adequate new layer of epoxy in place, and re-bed the action.

I thought all the Medalists have integral aluminum bedding blocks (at least, mine does). Are you talking about a skim bed over the block, or does it not have one?

 

[Andy Warhog]

Pretty sure that it's gel-coated, so you'll need to refinish the barrel channel.

And yes- you'll need to hog out the existing bedding enough to get an adequate new layer of epoxy in place, and re-bed the action.

I thought all the Medalists have integral aluminum bedding blocks (at least, mine does). Are you talking about a skim bed over the block, or does it not have one?

why would you mess with the action area or bedding? all he's doing is opening the channel. at most you'd need to re bed the tenon, if you're that kind of guy

 

[41mag]

I took a wooden dowel that was slightly larger than my barrel diameter. Wrapped it with various grades of Emory cloth and used some elbow grease. Took a while but ended up with a nice smooth barrel channel that was very uniform. As Wannashootit said they are gel coated so since mine is black with gray webbing, I just painted it black.
Bob

 

[2clicks]

That's what I do 36 grit to get it going on down to 80, 150 & about 220 to finish. Then a couple Coates of eurethane usually works well to seal up any pours. Or something that's compatible with the stock material.

 

[Wannashootit]

why would you mess with the action area or bedding? all he's doing is opening the channel. at most you'd need to re bed the tenon, if you're that kind of guy

He's buying the stock used- for his rifle...
The bedding for the prior owner's receiver has gotta go.

 

[Andy Warhog]

He's buying the stock used- for his rifle...
The bedding for the prior owner's receiver has gotta go.

I suppose you have a good point there. Have fun with that! Getting old bedding out SUCKS! I haven't found anything, other than time and lots of it, that works really well removing old bedding agent. you've got some good ideas on your barrel channel, maybe somebody has a trick on getting that old glass out. MY advice would be use a dremel, slowly, to get it close and then either 400 the rest out by hand or use a honing stone

 

[mzvarner]

So I bought the stock and want to clarify some of the confusion(?) here. The barrel channel had been bedded, not the action block. The aluminum was still bare. I sanded down the barrel channel for about an hour using 60 grit and paper and varying sizes of sockets depending on the location of the barrel. Everything fits beautifully and the rifle looks really good. However my question now is how much free float is enough. I tested it on a bipod and when I run a 1x folded piece of paper under the barrel it gets some resistance along where the bipod is. The rest of the barrel just lets the paper slide free. Should I sand down more or is this ok? I want this to be as accurate as possible in all applications (hunting and distance shooting).

Here is where it stands now
View attachment 5769

 

[jasonZ]

I'd probably take off a little more, but all in all if a single piece of paper fits it should be alright. There shouldn't be much flex there, but I personally would want to know for sure.

 

[Wannashootit]

X2 ^^

I misunderstood, that's why I questioned about the bedding/block. You definitely don't want any contact...personally, I prefer the "business card" test rather than paper to assure there's clearance even if there's a small amount of flex.