I have a couple of Winchester Model 70's that I would like to glass bed the recoil lug in the stock. One stock is a fiberglass synthetic, the other, a laminated wood stock. Is this a relatively simple do it yourself project, or would it be better to pay a gunsmith? Living in the Northeastern US, Massachusetts to be exact, it is difficult to find reputable gunsmiths to do the work. Any thoughts on this?

Glass bedding the lug is simple to do, but it isn't really a replacement for actual glass bedding if you're doing it for accuracy. People kind of overplay glass bedding a lot. Properly done, it takes out the (SPRING or FLEX) between the stock and receiver out. In most cases glass bedding will decrease group sizes from virtually nothing to an 8th of an inch.

Bedding the lug does not accomplish this. All bedding the lug does is keep the action from slopping back and forth and possibly blowing out the recoil lug. In all practicality, keeping the stock bolts tight accomplishes the same thing.

Why guns sometimes shoot miraculously better after bedding is because the gun plumber often messes with the barrel bedding which actually can have a dramatic affect on group size. Medium to heavy, stress relived barrels often shoot a lot better if they are free floated. Buggy whip barrels or barrels with a lot of stress in them can be calmed down by full length bedding or the addition of a heavy pressure point.

Bedding rifles starts a lot of arguments !

I bed the action and a couple of inches of the barrel in front of the action and free float the rest.

For me this has worked well no matter the barrel weight used.

Easy to do. Good idea to also bed the rear rang so that the action sits in one spot at all times and does not move.

When bedding the recoil lug, make sure you use a bit of electrical tape in front, bottom & sides. this will ensure that only the rear of the lug is bedded.

Remove the electrical tape once your bedding sets.

I use two layers of tape on the sides and bottom of the recoil lug, but only on a Winchester, add release agent and glass orfice, the lug and a small portion of the barrel down to center of bore more or less to make the barrel level..You can tape the barrel ahead of the chamber area if you want to free float the barrel or free float the barrel by hand inletting..

It takes some training or experience to properly glass bed IMO otherwise you can very easily get a butchered up mess..If you have not done before Id highly recommend sending it off to a gunsmith such as Dennis Olson Plains Mt. He is good and won't break the bank..406-836-3790

Thank you for your answers. I was once a machinist quite some time ago, and this didn't look like a very complicated job, but if there is even a chance of messing it up, I would rather pay someone else to do it. Thanks again.

I am a desk work guy all my life.

Just tried my hand at DIY. I got my first bedding job right - just following an article from Rifle magazine I think.

I've now done many rifles and even build a new stock from a blank.

Since you were a machinist you will know that patience and one small step at a time will get you there!

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Originally posted by Gracedog:
Thank you for your answers. I was once a machinist quite some time ago, and this didn't look like a very complicated job, but if there is even a chance of messing it up, I would rather pay someone else to do it. Thanks again.

If you buy Brownell's Acraglass Gel, all the info you need, is in the instructions provided.
Otherwise, you can google instructions on how to do a good job.
I bed all my own rifles, with wood stocks, whether I bed the entire action, or just the recoil lug, I add aluminium pillars. This helps accuracy a lot.

Cheers.

As the guys above stated, it ain't rocket science. It's pretty easy.

The thing I always fret about is "Did I remember to put release agent on everything" or did I get complete coverage with the release agent?

I always worried about gluing my action into the stock. Still do, but haven't messed one up yet.

If it sticks don't freak out. The action comes out best with some rocking from barrel to tang. Find a dowel that fits into the action, wiggle the barrel at the fore end alternating with wiggling the dowel. Resist the urge to knock it out from the mag well.

I do it in stages, first the tang, then the rest of the receiver, then the chamber area. Some have you hog out some wood to replace with bedding. I don't go too crazy, you don't need a thick layer of bedding. I makes some holes and grooves to lock the bedding to the stock. I also drill some holes in front of and beside the rear tang bolt. I fill them to make a pillar out of bedding epoxy.

Remove trigger and fill anything that could key with the bedding with modeling clay. If the action seems to stick, some say put the whole thing in a deep freeze then try to wiggle it loose.

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Resist the urge to knock it out from the mag well.

I did that to a Mod 70 Winchester using a block of wood and the guide rail just tore off on one side!

Took it to a gunsmith who used a cadmium based alloy to weld it back on at low temperature to avoid weakening the action!

I had one stick despite release agent but only had drawer freezers. After asking several neighbours, I found the old lady next door had a large chest type. She was deafer than I am and explaining to her why I needed to put the rifle into it was the hard part

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Originally posted by sambarman338:
I had one stick despite release agent but only had drawer freezers. After asking several neighbours, I found the old lady next door had a large chest type. She was deafer than I am and explaining to her why I needed to put the rifle into it was the hard part

You need to make an action jack. Load it up very slowly and they always pull free without breaking stuff. If you forget the release agent (I have pulled some for customers who did that) you load it up and put it on the dash of your car in the hot sun with the windows closed. Every 20 minutes you increase the load. In that kind of heat 120F to 130F the glue turns to a very slow putty and the jack slowly sucks it out. Takes about 3 or 4 hours of slowly advancing the jack, but nothing gets destroyed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV60DDda7LU

Well as you can see more than a few have screwed the pooch glass bedding early on..One does go thru a learning process, and the more jobs one does the better he will hopefully get at it..

Based on posts, I would suggest a beginner start out glassing the tang, recoil lug, and 2 inches of barrel under the chamber, then later do the whole gun tight or free floated depending what the gun likes..I would also suggest starting on a less valuable rifle than a pre 64 Win.

I have beded maybe 500 to a 1000 rifles?? over the years, never stuck one but had some very scary moments removing some..The tension is great in the beginning, and becomes less at mid term (that's when you stick them as a rule) the the tension returns as you become experienced and competent!

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Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
I had one stick despite release agent but only had drawer freezers. After asking several neighbours, I found the old lady next door had a large chest type. She was deafer than I am and explaining to her why I needed to put the rifle into it was the hard part

You need to make an action jack. Load it up very slowly and they always pull free without breaking stuff. If you forget the release agent (I have pulled some for customers who did that) you load it up and put it on the dash of your car in the hot sun with the windows closed. Every 20 minutes you increase the load. In that kind of heat 120F to 130F the glue turns to a very slow putty and the jack slowly sucks it out. Takes about 3 or 4 hours of slowly advancing the jack, but nothing gets destroyed.

That makes sense to me as the older epoxy resins I know of let go at 50C. Some of the newer ones claim 80C - something to beware, perhaps.

As to that rifle I mentioned, the book (Carmichel?) said to take the barrel/action out after half an hour, so my search for a freezer was a bit fevered. The freezing worked fine, though, I'm happy to say.

I have not stuck a barrel in many years, that's the best advise one can give, but I do have a taper block of hard wood that I can stick in the bottom against the bolt and hit/tap it with a lead hammer. it works well on all but the worst of glass bedding jobs. I have used it more than a few time on other folks glass jobs I had to clean up..I tap the action the tap the metal in front of the forend with a rubber hammer, go back and fourth, usually works, if not stick it in the chest deep freeze in my shop overnight..the tap it out..so far so good, but one guy brought me a purposely fully glassed stock that no release agent was used..whew!!