Hello,

When bedding a rifle, what is the reason for putting a small piece of tape on the bottom of the recoil lug (Model 700)? Would it not be ok to just apply release agent instead?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

The front (towards barrel),sides and bottom of lug should be taped for clearance purposes. This helps in removing the barreled action from stock in the future. Only the rear of the lug should make direct contact to the stock.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Lefforge:
Hello,

When bedding a rifle, what is the reason for putting a small piece of tape on the bottom of the recoil lug (Model 700)? Would it not be ok to just apply release agent instead?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

In theory, the reason tape is placed on the bottom of the 700's recoil lug, is to provide clearance so that the recoil lug doesn't interfere with the seating of the action. If the recoil lug comes to a stop before the bottom of the receiver, where the guard screw's hole is located does, then the action can be pulled out of alignment causing all kinds of accuracy issues. So in an effort to prevent this from occurring, tape is added to provide clearance.

The best way to address this issue is through the use of pillars which provides a solid support for the action, at key locations, which prevents the action from being pulled out of alignment when the screws are tightened. Anyway, that's the story of tapping the bottom. BTW, if one of the anchor points of a receiver includes the recoil lug, as in a Weatherby Mk V, then the bottom of that lug would require a pillar.