Well, the bown truck of happiness swung by the Nimrod estate while we were happily torturing the trout in the Hiawassee and Clinch rivers in the Smokies this week. The faithful servant deposited a non-descript white box that could've contained a dozen roses, a decent size torque wrench, or even my McMillan stock I ordered Back in February. It was the stock.
When I opened up the box all I could say was "Big Yawn." Sorry, Fiberglass just doesn't get me excited like a nice hunk of walnut. And I'm not berating McMillan...they make a great product and I think I own 4 stocks from them at current count. But it is utilitarian and will get used...hopefully used hard and often.
Being the immediate gratification kind of guy that I am I couldn't wait to try and put together my new toy. This is where the fun begins.... I unscrew the action screws and the front recoil lug screw under the rear sight and take off the odd shaped hogback it came with. As I'm figuring out what I need and don't need parts and things start falling out all over the place. It looked like one of those Iraqi tanks I shot with my M1A1 Abrams about 10 years ago! Pieces of the thing where going everywhere... It had two steel bedding pillars that fell out, a plastic main recoil lun, a steel forward bedding block...stuff everywhere.
So all I could figure I needed for the McMillan handle were the two action screws as there weren't any cutouts for all the other stuff. I'm going to shoot it without bedding it first as the guy at McMillan was adamant that it would be OK to do. And I won't bed it if its under 1.5 inches at 100 yards.
Anyone else have any comments, input, or experience in this matter?

KY Nimrod,

It would be a big mistake to not have the McMillan stock properly bedded.

Get rid of the forearm screw and the bushing that goes in the barrel recoil lug. Fill that trough in the forward part of the recoil lug with modeling clay before bedding the lug in the forearm, and be sure to touch up any poorly machined surfaces on the barrel lug. Bury a cross bolt in the McMillan forearm before bedding.

The synthetic bedding block glued into the hogback wood stock behind the action recoil lug is hokey. Now you can have a properly bedded action in the McMillan stock.

The spacers that come with the stock can be used as pillars or get some better ones and pillar bed the action.

The cross bolt behind the trigger is not to be used in the McMillan stock.

So, yes, it is best to get rid of all the loose parts, get some proper pillars, and properly bed the barrel recoil lug and action. Free float the barrel beyond the recoil lug on the barrel, and full contact everywhere else, with clearance behind the tang.

I always bed the CZ 550's like this. They will shoot sub MOA if properly done. Otherwise, you might as well just leave it in the wood stock and see what you get until it goes south or cracks.

I don't see any other way to do it. Period.

A hidden cross bolt behind the main action lug has not been neccessary in my experience, up to 500 A2/510 JAB as the McMillan is strong in this area, better than wood, IMHO. This may be open for argument. I do like a hidden cross bolt in the forearm lug area, however.

If you have the classic express stock that fits the BRNO ZKK 602 also, you will have to mill out some room for the CZ 550 trigger group also.

My 2 cents.

[ 06-22-2002, 16:59: Message edited by: DaggaRon ]

I sent my stock maker my cz .416 and he moulded that steel forward bedding block into the forearm. I also had mine reinfroced with Kevlar and carbon fibre & free floated bedded etc.. He also told me to scrap those little cylinders that the action screws go through he reckons that would contribute to the cz stocks cracking. He claims his stocks are 100 times stronger than wood !!!

I reckon you should bed yours as well just in case something goes wrong, you will kick yourself otherwise.

[ 06-22-2002, 17:10: Message edited by: PC ]

Great news, and what an entertaining way to start the post ...brown truck of happiness!!!
But, do bed the rifle. Think of it as 2 days of trouble (to let it harden properly) to avoid another 4 months of waiting. I think it's a stylistic call on whether you bed from the barrel shoulder back, or the recoil lug, but, either way, freefloat the barrel. the easist way is to take some SMOOTH tape (duct tape will work, but it leaves an ugly pattern) and cover the bottom 1/2 of the barrel with it, long-wise, and stop at either the shoulder or recoil lug. Fill all your holes with plumbers putty(doesn't go dry like playduh!), coat EVERYTHING with release agent, twice or three times. and get a box of steel bed.

becareful, wear rubber gloves, and form plasticware mase great scrapers to get the excess off. Think about it, the plastic wont mare/gouge your barrel, and, unless you try really hard, it wont mare your stock.
my 2�
jeffe