I took my 416 apart today to do a little final shaping on the stock, and noticed an upward bulge in the bedding, in the area behind the recoil lug recess (the action flat). This is fairly dense English walnut, with a steel crossbolt through the lug area, bedded with Brownell's acraglass gel with stainless steel powder added. There are no cracks in the wood, either behind the lug or behind the mag well. I'm a little surprised this happened.

Obviously I will have to dig it out -- any suggestions for re-bedding to make sure it doesn't happen again? I do have a stainless steel stock pillar in the rear -- no 2nd recoil lug though (didn't think I'd need one with this gun).

Thanks,
Todd

Gel is not very strong and I do not use it for big bores. Try Pro Bed 2000, or Stainless Steel bed, or one of the Devcon products such as Stainless Devcon or Titanium Devcon. And you may want to dig out enough wood so the epoxy can get a good bond on the crossbolt.

Sounds like the stock is flexing, you may need a second cross bolt between the trigger and the magazine. What type action, and how much does the rifle weigh?

Even on a .416 you would not have this problem with a properly installed second recoil lug!-Rob

That be true!!! IMHO 375 and up should have a second lug. Even the Brits put a second lug on my Whitworth 375.

John,
When you talk about a second lug is it attached forward on the barrel? Pete

About 4 to 5 inches in front of the receiver. I will have to dig out a diskette and post a photo. Rob may have a photo also. I posted some photos earlier this year, you may find them in the Big Bore section with a search, can't recall the topic name. Screwed and silver soldered on.

Allright, I'll fill in some blanks:

This is a Mauser 98 action, caliber is 416 Taylor. There are two crossbolts installed (properly), one in the recoil lug area and one in the trigger web area. The stock is a Richard's Microfit, with their unfortunately excessive removal of wood back in the trigger area - this area has all been filled in with the same epoxy. The rear stock bolt is completely encased in epoxy.

I actually removed wood from the recoil lug area to expose the front crossbolt, then used the epoxy to build up a new recoil shoulder exactly fitted to the lug on the action. The front crossbolt is even grooved circumferentially to help the epoxy mould around it.

I thought this would be bullet proof, in fact I still think it would have been if I had known about the gel issue. Robgunbuilder, I take your point well -- installing a second lug was the first thing I thought of when I realized I would have to fix it. My mistake was believing the people at Brownells, who told me that the strength was the same or 'even better' since I used their stainless steel filled gel.

I really should have figured this out after the last trip to the range -- I noticed there was a small gap under the barrel at the forend, where it had been closely fitted -- from the bulge lifting the front of the receiver. I imagine that's also why it took inhuman strength to break the front action screw loose -- it must have been under a lot of tension.

Thanks for your help. Any further pointers or comments also welcome.

Todd

Hmmm, again I can't edit...

John,

The gun weighs about 8.5 pounds.

I might add that this looks like it will be a relatively cheap lesson, aside from the cost of a second recoil lug. At least the stock ain't broke...

Todd---

It sounds like to me the front tang screw is bottoming out before it pulls the action down. Otherwise the action can't lift without tearing through the floorplate counterbore......just no way.

I think it's always a mistake to replace wood with epoxy. Wood is much more likely to handle recoil than glass.

Especially Acraglas gel. I still think the original liquid acraglas is one of the best with Bisonite probably being the hardest, strongest of the bedding compounds. I think the Acraglas is less affected by solvents than any of the others. I know that Hoppes#9 will seriously degrade the Devcon Steel. Regards, Bill.

Been there done that! I have become a total believer in the second recoil lug on anything that will see the bright side of 5000 ft/lbs orf muzzel energy. It's really not hard to add a second lug. I use the method John Ricks taught me and it works every time.-Rob