I have read a number of old posts regarding stocks. It seems as if most big bore rifles w/wood stocks need or should be bedded before shooting. Is this true of production rifles due to machine fitting or am I reading too much into it? One .458 I looked at has a chip out of it at the tang. Would that be a reason to pass on the rifle? Would bedding that and fixing any chip with epoxy make it shootable? I hope these questions haven't been asked too many times. Thanks for your help, Rich

I do not have the experience that many of the folks here do in terms of what a "big bore" rifle needs and certainly each manufacturer its own way of doing things. I guess if I was looking at the 458 you describe, I would have a professional look at it before purchasing that rifle! I would want to know for sure there is no problem and for that I would have someone who knows take the rifle out of the stock and see what problems there may be.

I do have some very recent experience with a 458 win. mag. that was not bolted and not bedded....I guess I should have listend to JudgeG and a couple of others before I shot the thing...but I went ahead...The whole situation has been corrected but I will tell you there is no way I am going to shoot a "big bore", in the future, without it being bedded and cross bolted!!!!!

A couple of years ago I was at a gun show and picked up a Whitworth .458 that had a small chip at the tang where the bolt cleared the action. I borrowed a screw driver and took the action out of the stock. The tang hadn't been relieved enough and this small chip was the only damage. I got out the door with this fine rifle for $250. I relieved the tang, glass bedded the rifle and that was over 700 rounds ago. Take a look at the interior of the stock and if you don't see any splits or crack, you're probably good to go. Don't just take my word 'cause there are a lot of smarter folks than me on this forum, just my two cents.

jjs,hacksawtom, thanks for the replies. I think I will pass on the rifle. It would be internet purchase, no way for me too look it over. It is an old M77 Ruger with the tang saftey. Not sure if that might be a reason for the chipping. Rich

All 458s and up need to be glass bedded at a minimum...I want mine glassed, and crossed bolted and I must have a second recoil lug on the barrel....

Most stocks bust out the stock sooner or later with the big bores...Mostly it has to do with the wood curing while on the gun, and the wood shrinks and leaves a gap, once a big bore gets a gap to work on the stock comes apart, it can also pound a gap in the recoil lug area, and then the magazine panels start spreading and pop goes the recoil lug area, trigger area and/or split goes the tang... as a rule...

I have seen perfectly inletted big bores split out in time without cross bolts. Better to be safe than sorry.

As to your question, sure the gun can be patched in the tang and glassed and cross bolted then it will be better than new....

It really annoys me that we as shooters tend to accept rifles knowing they are not fit for purpose from the factory.

CZ are fitting cross bolts as standard on their big kickers and I don't see any reason for other company's not to do the same.

Now all these people need to do is design/ and supply a stock which is glass bedded straight from the factory. It can't be difficult to incorperate this as an automated step; in fact it would mean less involved inletting of the wood in many ways.

People complain about the poor quality control of modern Remchesters, its only a pity that we as a group don't actually do anything about it at source.

Regards,

Pete