ok, total and complete nube here to the world of gunsmithing. but i am somewhat mechanically inclined ( i better be i have a masters in mechanical engineering ) and i love to tinker.

i bought a new remington 798 in .375HH, my first big bore (or med bore to some), but the biggest rifle i have anyway. i like the rifle, got a good price on it, but the barrel was not centered in the channel and it touched the stock on one side. i didnt like this, so i though, what a great way to learn some new skills...

so off to the internet, and reading and reading, and an order to stockys for a small bedding compound kit.

armed with my trusty dremel, sandpaper, and a screwdriver, i went to work chipping out the old bedding from the stock. with it all removed, and the outside of my stock only slightly scratched in a couple places from my bouncing dremel (doh!) it was time to sand the channel and remove a little bit of wood. i also sanded a tiny bit in some spots near the action and rear tang in areas that it had lots of stock contact. i wanted to relieve the contact spots to ensure a centered barrel.

taped up the rifle, put several coats of release agent on every piece of metal i didnt want to stay in the stock, and went to work.

in the end, it turned out ok. not great, just ok. i did, however, screw some things up. i didnt put enough compound just in front of the recoil lug, and i have air gaps in the bedding material along the sides of the stock. the barrel is centered, and free floating from the barrel recoil lug.

what i screwed up...
i wasnt sure what to use to wrap the barrel to give me free floating clearance... so my brilliant idea was aluminum foil, a few layers thick. seemed like a good idea, i taped that on, slathered it with release agent, and let everything cure for 24 hours.

today, when i removed everything, my skim coat in the barrel channel (to prevent water damage was my thinking) seems good. doesnt look good, its not perfectly even, but it will work and doesnt touch the barrel.

but when i removed the aluminum foil, bad news. apparently masking tape, aluminum foil, and release agent = removal of bluing. i have some pitting on my barrel now in about a 1.5" spot, right at the forend tip of the stock area. i didnt have time before work to really inspect/clean it up, i wiped it clean real quick, and had to put the rifle up.

i think i'll sand the bedding in the barrel channel a little bit to clean it up and make it smooth and look better, it shouldnt contact the barrel anyway.

can i add more compound in the recoil lug area, between the recoil lug and the barrel lug, to fill up the gaps i left? can i just add more compound on top of whats already there? thats really the only gaps that bother me. the barrel lug is firmly bedded in its recess, and should work fine.

i hate to ding up the stock and barrel on this brand new rifle, but i buy rifles to hunt with and to shoot, so it'll get banged up anyway. might give me an excuse to get one cerakoted, and now i have a stock i can practice my refinishing on

LAy the second layer of compound over the first just as you would on the wood. Just be sure to get in there and sand out any release agent on the bedding compound that may have been left behind and gouge it up a bit to make sure the two layers stick to each other.

And if you're a mechanically inclined Mechanical engineer You're the first!!
Sorry I had to push that button

In the future, use layers of tape on the barrel, not aluminum foil. Before you begin to prep the area for a second coat, use acetone, rags and "Q" tips FIRST to thoroughly wash the area of release agent residue, then blow it dry and repeat the acetone cleaning one more time to be sure you got it all. Other wise you will experience unhappy things.

quote:

Originally posted by kcstott:
And if you're a mechanically inclined Mechanical engineer You're the first!!

What do you want to bet that he doesn't see the humor????



cooperjd
Sorry for the dig, just having a bit of fun. As far as leaving the barrel free floating: your best bet is to use a layer or two of electrical tape on the barrel. Just degrease the barrel and apply the tape lengthwise, then apply the release agent.

thanks for the replies folks, i'll definitely clean out all the leftover release agent before applying any more compound.

once i sand down the barrel channel a little for aesthetic purposes, it should be good to go, i just need to add some bedding between the recoil lug and the barrel lug.

dig all you want boys, i know how a lot of us engineers are i work with a few that are absolutely shocked that i do all my own work on my truck, build decks, sheds, kitchen remodel, etc... its amazing how many "engineers" have never tried to swing a hammer or build something outside of a cad program...

and some of us even have a sense of humor

You're learning. (Me too.) If I want a professional job, that's who I need, but trying is fun.

I work with engineers all the time. Hands down, the ones that were into cars, guns, or carpentry were the best to work with from a craftsmens perspective. I don't know how anyone can expect to really understand how things work without having put their hands on them and put them back togeather again. Congratulations, you will probably find this addicting!

Next time use Devcon 50110 for the bedding. I've found it to be a lot easier to work with than the others. Only downside is it is gray in color.

Changing subjects: the problem is the American educational/college system. Look at how Europe trains it's engineers. It wood be on par with our top Medical school program.
Go to school learn the basics, then spend two years in a lab doing hands on machining, welding, heat treating, etc. then some more school work then off to a four year internship that requires report cards from the company you are interning with and if you don't get good grades from your boss you don't get your degree.
takes eight to twelve years to become an engineer in Europe. Where as here in america you can be designing aircraft parts in as little as six years with only two years of actual engineering classes.

Copper A Masters is something to be proud of. and shows the level of commitment you have

As long as we are changing subjects, here goes.

No one is ever an engineer with two years of engineering classes. Even thirty years ago, only about 10% of engineering students graduated in four years. Most went for five. And you took hard core engineering classes for all but the first year. That was given over to mundane things like chemistry, physics and calculus.

In every state of which I am aware, to be a legal (registered) engineer, you must work for four years under the supervision of a registered engineer, then pass a comprehensive two day test. (Sounds like an apprentiship/residency). Until that time, you cannot work independently as a private engineer or sign off on legal documents.

Hands on ability to machine, heat treat, weld (grow computer chips, operate an oil refinery, design a jet engine, plan a mining operation; there are lots of kinds of engineers) is not a part of the engineering profession. It is their job to design the part or process. It is the job of the constuction and manufacturing people to implement the way it is done and do it. It helps if they understand how this is done, but not necessary. If the ability to be a machinest were required to be a good engineer, we would have lost many of our most talented people. I suspect that some of the world's best machinists would be out of work rebuilding pumps and turbines if they were required to do a critical speed analysis or a dynamic foundation analysis. The list is endless, but you get the picture. It takes a lot of talent to do any job, and the best work is done by groups that recognize each others talents and respect them for what they are.

American engineers are some of the best in the world. I worked for years in refining technology, and the US certainly exports much more technology globally than it imports. Actually, the fact is that the innovation ususally comes from the US. Many companies such as Japan have a key ability to implement an idea once it is developed, but the US has always been the idea factory. That may be the negative side of hands on engineering training.

quote:

Next time use Devcon 50110 for the bedding.

Correction: Devcon 10110 is correct #

quote:

I work with engineers all the time. Hands down, the ones that were into cars, guns, or carpentry were the best to work with from a craftsmens perspective. I don't know how anyone can expect to really understand how things work without having put their hands on them and put them back togeather again.

For heaven sakes, don't lets start talking about Architects! I could tell you some stories about how dumb 99.9% are

quote:

American engineers are some of the best in the world.

Art S. I couldnt agree more, but most are pure assholes. I have to answer to about 15 of em at my mashinist job! Maybe two of them has enough real world know how to pour piss out of a boot.

Art Consider yourself lucky.

And A PE is a different story. In manufacturing you don't need to be a PE to design anything let alone approve the design and get it of to production. There are exception to that statement such as regulated industries like Aircraft, Aerospace and the like. But the nuts and bolts of consumer products are unregulated and therefore I've personally worked with Engineers that were just that, An Engineer by title alone with two years or less of formal college education. Guys that didn't even know what a tolerance stack was let alone when to utilize it.

Now when I said the Europeans had to have all these classes It was not so that they where trained welders machinists, or metallurgists. It was simply a familiarization on what it takes and what is expected. It sure as hell made the guy I worked with a top notch engineer and Sorry but most rank and file American Engineers couldn't hold a candle for this guy.

What I'm saying is the Engineers especially Mechanical ones need a manufacturing background Real world experience to do the job.
If the state would require all persons wishing to call themselves an Engineer to go through it's states PE program I'd be happy. That program mimics the European standard And as far as I'm concerned This country may have the best engineers but it does not have the best educational system to produce the best engineers. There are many country out there that can kick our ass. But the American kid doesn't want to be in school for eleven months out of the year for fourteen years or more of just grade school not to mention undergrad and grad school.
This country's youth is fat and lazy and thinks it's entitled to high paying jobs with nothing more then a four year degree. BS and BA degrees are a dime a dozen. People with Education and Experience are priceless

I am a mechanical engineer who wanted to work in machine design but retired from a career in hydro-power. It was still an interesting career. I grew up on a farm so was familiar with machinery at an early age and fooled around with cars and motorcycles. When first out of school most of the mechanical engineers I worked with were car, motorcycles and gun enthusiasts. I still keep in contact with folks back at work and it seems the younger guys (25 to 40 years old) have no interest in mechanical things outside of work. Instead they are into things like sports, computer games and gambling. It just does not seem they have the same passion for what they are doing as the mechanical engineers of the past.