have 2 ruger americans that need forearms stiffened. been seeing how they fill the forearm recesses with all sorts of goop then glass bed on top and free float. have used brownells for years (years ago) but never was satisfied unless i added steel powder as it was too spongy w/out it. any new stuff on the market or old that is better? thanks

I use Marine Tex from time to time, but Ive never found Brownells to be spongy..its always worked and is easy to mix..I mostly use Brownells GEL..I use the thin stuff for a paint coat to weather proof the inletting and I thin it, so it looks like polished wood in the inletting.

I had the same concern with a Hogue stock. The local hardware store had these hollow steel rods, maybe a quarter inch diameter. Light weight because they were hollow, but still very stiff. I ground out a grove it could lay in and put a bunch of epoxy on it. Worked very well and hardly added any weight.

I use Acura-Gel, Devcon, JB Weld and other steel added thick adhesives or add powdered steel to the mix mostly because it STAYS PUT....I also have used some Epoxy resins with glass beads I once used for building golf clubs.

For those limp di** stocks I usually just replace the stock with a Boyd's finished and call it good. Purists won't like that but the stocks come oversized in the right places to either free float without doing anything, depending on your barrel contour, or allow for "skin" epoxy fit. A hunnert bucks well spent.

For stiffening I use a piece of all-thread as large as can be worked in with a nut on the muzzle end and mill a bedding block/recoil lug threaded onto the other end. You really don't need to thread it but going one size larger dia threaded hole makes for a very tight epoxied grip and some wiggle room. I also use thin shim stock roughed up on the surface to strengthen the walls around clip style and blind mag wells and to repair split laminated stocks on several of my large cals and a few others from friends BEFORE they wen t**sup.

Brownells and Midway had some videos on stock work/repair at one time. Lotsa good info if you search AR on stock repair.

Good Hunting

Brownells acra glas gel is filled with nylon. It is all I use. It is not spongy, unless you mix it wrong.
What do you hope to gain by "stiffening" a plastic stock's fore end? It is still what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Brownells acra glas gel is filled with nylon. It is all I use. It is not spongy, unless you mix it wrong.
What do you hope to gain by "stiffening" a plastic stock's fore end? It is still what it is.

because its damn near hollow from all the empty squares with thin walls between em. you can barely push on the stock, lean the bbl against a wall etc and the stock moves against the bbl creating contact. and its not free floated stock to bbl.

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Brownells acra glas gel is filled with nylon. It is all I use. It is not spongy, unless you mix it wrong.
What do you hope to gain by "stiffening" a plastic stock's fore end? It is still what it is.

because its damn near hollow from all the empty squares with thin walls between em. you can barely push on the stock, lean the bbl against a wall etc and the stock moves against the bbl creating contact. and its not free floated stock to bbl.

What stock is that, so I know to steer clear?

get on u tube and look up glass bedding a ruger american

My old Savage 110FP in 308 refused to accurately group. The rynite stock was the culpret. Just happens thaat the whole forend is set up like a set of small boxes internally. The front receiver screw was actually tearing up the stock where the screw head is when tightening up the screw. Filled all those boxes with acraglass gel and glassed a thick stainless steel washer under the screw head. Not it will shoot 3/4" groups with M119 Special Ball. Frank

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshotlover:
My old Savage 110FP in 308 refused to accurately group. The rynite stock was the culpret. Just happens thaat the whole forend is set up like a set of small boxes internally. The front receiver screw was actually tearing up the stock where the screw head is when tightening up the screw. Filled all those boxes with acraglass gel and glassed a thick stainless steel washer under the screw head. Not it will shoot 3/4" groups with M119 Special Ball. Frank

this describes what the ruger american looks like a lot better than i did

From all Ive read on AR all plastic stocks are perfection and indestructible...

OOOPs!!

marinetex GREY ... the white is flexible by design

When selecting a bedding material, you need to consider expansion/contraction due to temperature and one which doesn't shrink much when it is curing.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
From all Ive read on AR all plastic stocks are perfection and indestructible...

OOOPs!!

You need to do more reading.

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Brownells acra glas gel is filled with nylon. It is all I use. It is not spongy, unless you mix it wrong.
What do you hope to gain by "stiffening" a plastic stock's fore end? It is still what it is.

because its damn near hollow from all the empty squares with thin walls between em. you can barely push on the stock, lean the bbl against a wall etc and the stock moves against the bbl creating contact. and its not free floated stock to bbl.

Just free float it, apart from my Oberndorf Mauser 404 I free float all other rifles, wood or plastic stocked. I currently shoot a Marlin XS7 in 7mm-08 and have free floated this so I can easily slide a piece of oiled cleaning cloth up the barrel channel and any debris collected in the channel will fall back out. Have done similar to both my sons 7mm-08's, one a Remington 700 the other a Weatherby Vanguard, both use bipods and suppressors and need good barrel channel clearance.

A plastic stocked rifle is not a classic or custom so having good clearance around the barrel is not distracting from anything, it only enhances the accuracy and usability of the rifle for hunting and helps with cleaning after carrying the rifle in bush, rain or snow conditions.

For a flexible forend I doubt if bedding compound alone is the answer ( I been reading more ) I would suggest a small I-beam of a light metal or stiff aluminum laid in the forearm channel, the the complete bedding of the forend in glass covering the I-beam...Its worked on a couple of varmint rifles I built..Also allows the use of a sling. I also did a wood stock with the I-beam inletted into the bottom of the barrel channel, and that rifle has held its zero for the last 8 or 9 years without resighting Im told.

If you don’t want to add much weight, use an aluminum arrow shaft and devcon. Don’t over do it on the devcon if you’re looking to keep weight down