Hi, I recently had my Ruger77/II cal. 270 W. rebarreled and bedded; now it's a really accurate rifle, but the stock screws won't stay tight, especially the big one in front. What would you suggest to (slightly) lock them? Thanks.

weird... sounds like, if it was bedded, it was inletted too deep and now the screws don't pull it down hard enough...

i use locktight removable for scope mounting

jeffe

No, it's no so; it has been glass/pillar bedded and the bedding is very solid and well made.

How much of the screw threads are gripping in the receiver threads?? Just start the screw in the threads, then count the revolutions (turns) until the screw is tight. If the screws were a tad short before, and the bedding lifted the action just a tad in the stock, you may be feeling the effects.

If the screws turn out a tad short, you can probably get a pair of new screws. They will need to be fit to the gun, and you'll have the chance of leaving them a bit longer.

Screws for a Ruger in Italy, hmmm. Gunsmith?? Ruger importer?? Ruger itself?? Brownells (possibly via friend in the US)??

- mike

In order for a screw to stay tight you have to torque them enough to reach the stretching point of the screw which places the screw in tension against the threads.

Could be who ever bedded it also used an inferior product allowing the pillars to collaspe. Are the pillars metal or glass? If they are metal I don't see how the screws work loose unless they are not tightened enough to start with.

Rick 0311, I might have to disagree with the benefit of stretching the action bolt. It seems to me making it longer will make it narrower, too, causing even more back-out.

I just had my M77 screws back out slightly. I had them set to 36 inch-pounds, and they shot themselves loose to about 30 inch-pounds.

I'm trying teflon tape on them and upping the torque to 40 inch-pounds. I wonder what the heat transferred from the hot action wil do to them and the tape...

Jaywalker

Jay,

Maybe you are misunderstanding what I meant. When you tighten (torque) a screw, any screw, the screw stretches as it is torqued...that’s normal...and that what the torque is designed to do in order to obtain a properly tightened joint that will stay tight.

quote:

Originally posted by wildboar:
Hi, I recently had my Ruger77/II cal. 270 W. rebarreled and bedded; now it's a really accurate rifle, but the stock screws won't stay tight, especially the big one in front. What would you suggest to (slightly) lock them? Thanks.

Try removing the release agent from the stock screws.

George

Thanks for all these input. We used the aluminium pillars from Brownells, the action is at the right level and hasn't been inletted too deep or too high; may be I don't torque them enough because I have no way to measure it.

George, that's a good idea; I will clean the screws with a good solvent.

quote:

Originally posted by wildboar:
Thanks for all these input. We used the aluminium pillars from Brownells, the action is at the right level and hasn't been inletted too deep or too high; may be I don't torque them enough because I have no way to measure it.

You have to tighten the screws enough to obtain a pre-load on them if you want them to stay tight. If you’re using one of the L-shaped allen wrenches you can literally apply as much force as your fingers will allow without getting them anywhere near the fracture strength of the screw. A good rule-of-thumb is to tighten to about half of the fracture strength...which will probably be close to where your fingers tell you to stop if you are using an L-shaped wrench.

wildboar, ...or, you can buy a beam-type torque wrench made by Park - about $30.

Rick, Thanks, perhaps I did misunderstand.

Jaywalker

Was rhe bedding fully cured before you started shooting it? Reason I ask is because some bedding compounds take a few days or longer to fully cure.

anything around 45 in/lbs should be enough to hold it tight, and 60 in/lbs will do a bedding block type stock.

Whether the bedding material was cured or not is irrelevant. If there is a pillar between the receiver and guard (with no gaps) you should be able to torque the screws down so they stay tight, because there is nothing there to compress and allow the screws to loosen up.

After I bed a rifle and torque the guard screws I always re-torque them after the first shooting secession.