Bedding a Rifle with Steel ?

JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
I stopped by a gunsmith shop today. This particular Gunsmith is my least favorite and least trustworthy, but he is close by and I drive by his shop everyday that I drive to work. I stopped in for another reason, but I asked him about bedding my Win mod.70. He said he can steel bed it for $95. I've never heard of that, He says that's the best way to go, and the only way he does them anymore. I've never heard of it, and was kind of dumbstruck and didn't ask any questions. So, is he right ? is it the best way to go ?
 
Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I used conventional Brownell's Acra Glass Gel on my Model 96 Swede , 6.5 X 55 sporter. It doesn't have steel bed.



Does it look like I made a mistake ?
3 shots at 107 yards today.
6.5 X 55 , the load was 45 grs. of IMR 7828 and the Hornady 140 gr. Spire point.



I might consider something like Steel Bed if I was glass bedding a 460 Weatherby Mag. or something like that.

I don't shoot calibers like that , so I really have no legitimate use for Steel Bed.
 
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Josh

Josh

Well-Known Member
My 416 Rigby has steel bedding, so I would almost have to see some pics of his work.

Don't mind the leg that matches the white floor lol



 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Ben, as I'm sure you realize, the Mausers are already steel "pillar bedded" as part of the design. Paul Mauser was no dummy, though a lot of other rifle designers have chosen to ignore this effective technique. Also note the Savage bolt-action rifles with synthetic stocks....they have steel pillars as well, and are known for their out-of-the-box accuracy.

I don't mean to sound like a wannabe expert or process snob, but personally I won't even bother bedding a conventional bolt-action rifle unless I use steel pillars. YMMV. Done right, it's a labor-intensive, two-part process, one for which a steel-filled epoxy is more suited than Acraglass. I use Devcon liquid steel or Marine Tex grey. The proof in the quality is how much the action is stressed when the screws are torqued, measured with a dial indicator and base attached to the fore-end, and in the groups shot through long strings of fire with the barrel cold or extremely hot. I've been amazed how stress-free bedding and the resulting meaningful action screw torque has settled down a few of my rifles and taken the "walk" out of groups.
 
Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Ian said:
Ben, as I'm sure you realize, the Mausers are already steel "pillar bedded" as part of the design. Paul Mauser was no dummy, though a lot of other rifle designers have chosen to ignore this effective technique. Also note the Savage bolt-action rifles with synthetic stocks....they have steel pillars as well, and are known for their out-of-the-box accuracy.

I don't mean to sound like a wannabe expert or process snob, but personally I won't even bother bedding a conventional bolt-action rifle unless I use steel pillars. YMMV. Done right, it's a labor-intensive, two-part process, one for which a steel-filled epoxy is more suited than Acraglass. I use Devcon liquid steel or Marine Tex grey. The proof in the quality is how much the action is stressed when the screws are torqued, measured with a dial indicator and base attached to the fore-end, and in the groups shot through long strings of fire with the barrel cold or extremely hot. I've been amazed how stress-free bedding and the resulting meaningful action screw torque has settled down a few of my rifles and taken the "walk" out of groups.
Click to expand...

Ian,

A stress free bed of the barreled action is what it is all about regardless of the epoxy compound used.

Ben
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
Ian, that was a very good read. It has convinced me to start thinking/researching, doing the bedding myself,,,and strongly thinking of ordering those Pillars (or making them?). But I am considering the acraglass kit over the stainless steel epoxy kit which is twice the price.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Acraglas is good stuff, particularly the "gel" kind (though it's easier to get voids with the gel if you aren't very careful with how you press it in place), but the compressive strength isn't near what the Devcon Liquid Steel (grey Marine-Tex, virtually the same thing). Do you need it? I don't know. I think that it's more important to bed the pillars and then skim-bed with the SAME stuff so it all flexes the same than it is to use the most compression-resistant stuff out there. The pillars themselves take the vast majority of the compression load anyway, that's what they're for. Acraglas has been the gold-standard of bedding for a long time now, mainly because it's strong, sticks to just about anything, is strong when very thin, doesn't crack, is totally solvent resistant, and doesn't shrink when it cures.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
It sounds like I go back to work sometime this week. Many times, when I'm into a work cycle, after the first paycheck, I start buying items for a project I want to do. Pillars and some bedding stuff to be determined later.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
Well I got the Pillars and after reading about how to go about this bedding project, I 'chickened' out and brought the Rifle to my local gunsmith...yes, the one I mentioned in the OP, He has done some very good work for me, the couple of things I haven't been happy with...well, those are stories I won't go into, but part of the problem may have been me asking him to do things he was hesitant to take on and I convinced him to do it. Anyway, he said he has done many bedding jobs...So I am confident he'll do a better job than me. I should have it back in 2 to 3 weeks.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
As long as he understands the two-part process of first bedding the pillars/bottom metal alone while completely floating the action and barrel and THEN skim bedding the action and recoil lug with 5 inch pounds on the screws, you should be fine. Lots of people want to cram it together all at once, even with the pillars, and unless you REALLY know what you're doing that isn't the way to go.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
I stopped by my LGS last friday and he hasn't got to it yet. I read your comment yesterday and started worrying. So I stopped by his shop again today...just to chat about his process. He said, "Yes, of course, I will install the Pillars first, with glass bedding, then after that's set, I'll work on steel bedding the receiver area and the first inch or two of the barrel." then he said, "It's funny you ask that, back in the day, All I did to rifles was pillar bedding, then when I started using the steel bedding, I went away from the Pillars, I just didn't think it was necessary anymore, but I will surely put them in for you, since you bought them."
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Hmm. Ok. "necessary" is relative I guess, depends on how little stress you want on your action when the screws are torqued to full value. Lots of rifle actions function just fine when bowed into ill-fitting wood stocks under tons of stress from the action screws, it's all about how consistent it is. Just look at the M14 rifles, their actions and barrels are bowed like a fishing rod when the trigger group is latched down, that's what keeps the gun together. Find a slow-motion video of an M14 or M1A firing on utoob and you'll learn a lot about these rubber noodles we call rifles.
 
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