I've got a 700 .264 that shoots .75" at 100 with an HS Precision stock. In preparation for a high country buck hunt (which didn't materialize) I replaced the Leupold rings with Talley's and the HS stock with a Brown's Precision. I bedded the action last summer and shot it for the first time last weekend. I was lucky if any group was under 2". ). I was shooting from the same lot I used with the last time I shot. It shot all over the place. I was lucky to get any grouping under 2”. I figure I did something wrong with the bedding since I’ve not done it before (although I’ve worked on my rifles and shotguns as an amateur for years). I had torqued the action screws to 50 inch pounds by the trigger and 70 inch pounds at the fore end. The screws came out much easier than I think they should have. I had used blue Loctite so they definitely should have been tougher to move. I think the screws were too short since it was bedded so I’ve ordered longer screws from Brownells. I had less than three full turns of contact with the old screws which I think doesn't have enough contact allowing the screws to easily back out. I also found the bolt release button was hitting the trigger (Jewell trigger) guard not allowing it to freely move. I filled a little metal off the trigger plate and side of the release button and then polished it. It now moves freely.

The barrel is not touching in any way and is fully free floated. The bolt release would only “stick” once the front action screw was torqued to final. It did not stick if only the rear screw was tightened. This leads me to believe something may not be right about my bedding since tightening the front screw would twist the barrel enough to stick the release button. I can’t move the barrel once the recoil lug is fully seated even before inserting the screws, though.

Can someone tell me if it's just wishful thinking that longer action screws are going help? I could always dremel out the bedding and do it again but I really don't want to do that. The rifle shot fantastic with the old, heavy HS Precision stock.

I guess I would check the scope mounting bolts also. I might even put the Leupold rings back on it

But that said you had a rifle that shoots into .75 and you messed with it. Oh well

Yeah, I had to drop some weight if I was going to carry it on a high mountain pack hunt. It was way too heavy.

Had a similar problem when swapping stalks. Chased mine down to the magazine box. Was not enough room between the bottom metal and the action. Tighten up the action screws and it torqued the action just enough to cause the rifle to shoot like $#it.

With that said I would first look at the scope rings....as PDS suggests put the old ones back on and see how she goes!

Best of luck
Carl

Are you pulling the barreled action rearward into full contact with the recoil lug before tightening the action screws?
If you aren't, it could be causing your problem.
Have you checked for contact along the action?
You can use prussian blue, charcoal or candle soot to check for contact in the stock.
Does it have pillars?
If it does, are they in full contact with the stock AND the bottom metal?
Check as above.

Cheers.

It sounds like you have a high spot in your bedding somewhere between the front ring and the tang. I would remove any contact between the action except for the front ring and the tang. HS stocks usually come with longer than standard screws and if properly fitted and bedded your BP should work just fine with the screws you have. Check the mag box as suggested and clearance the bolt release so it operates freely(it might be your high spot).

No pillars. I can't move the action at all once the lug is in the recess. It slide down in and doesn't move.

There is bedding material from the back of the recoil lug to the back of the action. And then there is bedding material under the tang. It's smooth along that entire contact point.

I looked at the mag box and trigger and see no contacts to the stock.

I'll try to get some pictures. Those are with a 1000 words!

Stand the rifle on its butt. With your index finger and thumb pinch the barrel and the end of the stock at the same time. About 1/2 the pad of your finger and thumb on the barrel and the other on the end of the stock.
Now loosen one of the action screws, feel any movement??? If the answer is yes then the bedding is an issue. If the answer is no, retighten and loosen the other screw. There should be no movement. Try this with the magazine box in then try with it removed.
Let us know how it goes.
Best of Luck
Carl

quote:

There is bedding material from the back of the recoil lug to the back of the action. And then there is bedding material under the tang. It's smooth along that entire contact point.

I always had the best luck with only bedding the from of the action and about 3 inches of the barrel in front of the action.

Here are a couple pictures.

cjw, I'll try that. I can say that when the rifle is in a horizontal position, it will not move when the rear screw is removed. When the front one is removed the weight of the barrel drops it so that the rear of the action comes off the tang.

Strip that stuff out, and redo it with a set of pillars. Bed the entire action, and about half to 1 inch of the barrel. When you do the bedding make sure there is no pressure or binding of the stock. Support it during the bedding process by holding the barrel in a vise with everything upside down. This will reduce the chances of induced stresses in the new work.

The bedding that is currently there is not really sufficient for anything. When floating anything less than about .030 is about useless. it isn't just a mater of having clearance while everything is sitting still, but maintaining clearance when everything is trying to move when the rifle is fired.

Seeing as how you are trying to keep weight to a minimum I would suggest contacting Score High gunsmithing, and have them send you one of the Pro-Bed 2000 bedding kits. THe compound is extremely light, doesn't break down, and the pillars are adjustable Just follow his directions.

Here is one thing that is missed more often than not; make sure the bolt handle is not touching the stock when cocked.

quote:

The bedding that is currently there is not really sufficient for anything

That's what I am seeing too

Gonna re-do it this weekend. As I posted the pictures I realized it was going to have to re-do it.

Thanks for the replies!

quote:

That's what I am seeing too

+1
I don't happen to use pillar on a normal bed. But, each his own. I do happen to bed up to the stock line and about 2" out the barrel. Make sure the screw holes are large enough that the screw doesn't contact. Also I put a layer of tape along the front and bottom of the recoil lug. Insures the lug doesn't cause a contact point on the bottom and the tape in the front makes it easier to pull the action from the stock.

Before I started this thread I emails Browns and I sent him these pictures today. Mark called me this morning and talked to me for probably 30 minutes. I thought I'd post what he said.

He said the bedding job looked fine from a functional perspective and there's enough coverage. He said he couldn't tell if the bedding job were good but only that it had enough coverage. He said none of his guns would go out looking like this but that it would work from a functional perspective. To paraphrase, it looks like sh!t but should work.

He said relieve the front, edges and bottom of the recoil lug, relieve a little more around the screw holes, torque to 30 inch pounds on the rear and 35 in the front and see how much movement I get on the fore end when I remove the front screw. If more than .005" re-bed. If not, go shoot it. If it doesn't shoot right, re-bed.

I relieved a bunch of material around the front, sides and bottom of the lug and around the screws. I also ground the magazine down since I could see it hitting the metal on the trigger plate. I'm going to shoot it like this and see what happens. If bad, I'll remove the magazine to see if it makes a difference. If I can't get a decent group it'll get re-bed and, hopefully, look at lot better!

The last pic is my attempt at showing how little thread contact there is for the action screws. You can see that pretty well in the first two pics with the screws.

Looks like the action is sitting above the stock.

Yes, I believe it is.

I should have been more clear. IF you end up needing to redo it. I would relieve the stock enough to allow the action to sit properly.

Just me but, even if what you have just done to it allows it to shoot better I would still redo the bedding.

Again that is just me.

My thoughts are that you didn't have relief in front, on the sides and under the recoil lug. Relieving that as you did should fix most of the problem. The mag box could be another source of problems, and sounds like you're on track with fixing that.

dave

I shot it again today and there were some good groups but lots of flyers. I had to tighten the rear screw twice so longer screw will definitely help. I wond have those until mid to late next week. I'm fighting my urge to re-bed it and changing only one thing at a time (the screws) bu I'm sure I'll end up doing it again. I never did like the look of the tang when I first bedded it.

Oh, I should add that I changed from a 140 grain Partition to a 140 grain A-Frame. They were shooting an average 3400 fps with a slightly sticky bolt. No issues opening, just slightly more pressure than an empty chamber. We'll see what happens at 95 degrees as well as when I've got the thing "back to normal".

quote:

I

Rebed it and the screws would then be plenty long. While I agree 1 thing at a time my 1 thing would be rebed it.

Good luck

Don't know your barrel length but can't imagine 3400 with a 140 A Frame

All stripped, prepped and ready to bed. I'm waiting to apply a third coat of wax to the action before setting it.

I know, that's freakin' fast. It's a 26" factory barrel.

I would like to add that you will need to bed the first 2" of the barrel to really make that bedding job stable. I have found that 2" works for most rifles.

Cheers.

After cutting and rethreading the longer screws it's back to its former self. Just screwing in the screws I could tell it was seated better. The trigger was much farther from the guard and everything just felt and looked better. I've got a little more to do with the a-frames and I'll be in business.

I just thought I'd follow up on this in case anyone was interested in what the end (or close to end) result has been. I shot this group yesterday. It's .635 center to center at 3220 fps. Of course, after all my playing around with Retumbo, A-Frames, Sciroccos and VLDs the original load is still the best. I'll be shooting a bit more for consistency but I'm about done.

It's interesting to note that I shot this group with the Magnetospeed chronograph on the end of the barrel. I really want to see if the group opens significantly once it's removed.