I have read about a titanium epoxy, boat patch, etc.
Is there a type of Bondo that would work?
What is the best for the money cause I need to do 3 guns.

quote:

Is there a type of Bondo that would work?

Bondo will not hold up. Many swear by Marine-tex. I happen to like Acraglas gel.

Acraglas gel or marine tex
Steel bed is a good choice too

I saw a gunsmith using Devcon Titanium Putty 10760 and he swears by it. It is about $85 for 1 lb. How much are the others you mentioned? And, how many guns can I bed?

I like Acraglas Gel also. Brownell's carries it.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx...ct/ACRAGLAS_GEL_reg_

The 4oz kit should be more than enough for a couple or three rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by MRAMSAY10:

Is there a type of Bondo that would work?

"Bondo" won't work, but there is a chopped fiberglass/resin based autobody filler(dyna-glass) that might work for some applications such as filling or repairing a fiberglass stock.

The problem with this type of filler is that it hardens too quickly for most rifle work.

I've used two part epoxy for the last 17yrs on my rifles.Never had a problem and they shoot great.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40165144@N04/?saved=1

I use devcon plastic steel (two part, not putty)

I bed M1As and M1 Garands for across teh course shooting and have seen acraglas, marine tex, ovr the counter epoxy etc fail (loosen up from recoil) in as few as 1200 rounds of 762/3006 (which are actually fairly mild-168-175s at 25-2700 fps).

Devcon has my confidence-several rifles have gone well over 3000 rounds before requiring re-bedding, and that usally due to the owner removing the action from the stock more than once or twice a year.

I have used devcon on a few big ore rifles, same-great compressive strength and machineably hard and tough. 80% steel powder, 20% epoxy. I'd guess titanium, brass and aluminium versions would work as well.

Brownell's Acraglas Gel is my favorite.

I used to dual bed with Brownell's SteelBed on the lug and Acraglas Gel everywhere else.

I use the Miles Gilbert which is the same as the Acraglass.

i just did a stock with PC11. it's the marine version of PC7. a two part paste about the consistancy of soft peanutbutter when mixed. it is white, but is tintable with regular paint tinting colors that are for house paint. i got a few shots of several colors in small plastic containers from my local ACE HARDWARE store for a couple bucks. you put it in one part before you mix the two together.
it worked great. gets real hard so it should work ok.

Sharp chisels and inletting blue.

quote:

Originally posted by SDH:
Sharp chisels and inletting blue.

Knowing this forum, I really thought that response would show up sooner.

SDH's response is right on the money. You can either caefully inlet for near perfect wood to metal contact...and remember, "perfect" does not mean 100% contact.

Or...you can do a sloppy job and use a "dutchman" aka glass to take up the "sloppy"

In other words...there doesn't seem to be any advantage to stuff plastic between metal and wood.

Sharp chisels and inletting blue is for the skilled craftsman, Acraglas Gel was made for the rest of us! Hats off to you guys who do it the right way!

quote:

SDH's response is right on the money. You can either caefully inlet for near perfect wood to metal contact...and remember, "perfect" does not mean 100% contact.

Or...you can do a sloppy job and use a "dutchman" aka glass to take up the "sloppy"

Duane I have the utmost respect for guys like you and SDH who can make tight metal to wood fit and do it in a reasonable amount of time. For the most of us that simply isn't the REAL world. I did my first stock that way 30+ years ago. I bet I spent close to 100hours trying to get it perfect. Last I heard the guy I gave it to is still shooting it with no problems.

After the first I decided I'd leave perfect to those who can do it quickly. So yes I get close do it in a reasonable amout of time and make up the difference in a "dutchman" as you say. I'm happy with the results and the friends and family members I have built for would never know the differnce and could care less.

If every person had the same skill levels then a lot of pros in all works of life would be out of a job.

As a follow up on Duane's comments, some 35 years ago ordered at that time the Premier/F Grade Rem. Mod.700 engraved/top quality wood, etc. and during the conversation with a fellow by the name of Gustaff about the rifle, asked him if he would glass bed the rifle. His response was no he would not do that and those that did were poor inletters/stockmakers!!
Not being in that class of stockmaker, I suggest either Devcon or MarineTex. As others pointed out, in service rifle M1A/14's and Garands, MarineTex works fine and those rifles see far more useage than most sporting rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
SDH's response is right on the money. You can either caefully inlet for near perfect wood to metal contact...and remember, "perfect" does not mean 100% contact.

Or...you can do a sloppy job and use a "dutchman" aka glass to take up the "sloppy"

In other words...there doesn't seem to be any advantage to stuff plastic between metal and wood.

Do you have to do a sloppy job to use the "dutchman", or can you get "near perfect" and then add the stuff to make it perfect?

I like big and fluffy in pastel colors about 800 count...and my coffee served in a china cup...

Just how close to San Francisco are you???

marine tex gray, not white .. the white is softer.

Duane,

I thought glass bedding helped prevent warping, is that just an old wives's tale?

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
Duane,

I thought glass bedding helped prevent warping, is that just an old wives's tale?

I don't know...I suppose there could be the moisture proofing angle. But, you know what happens to a board if you paint only one side.

Steve and Duane, Do you have to sharpen your chisels differently for fiberglass stocks? Mine always seem to dull quickly.

Westpac: Trying to attain perfection is a goal we all should strive for. There are carpenters who are only satisfied with a perfect mitre and others who keep a can of putty handy

We use Marine-Tex on our Legends. The chisel and inletting black on our Classic's. Both have their place and application and both worked equally well

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
Steve and Duane, Do you have to sharpen your chisels differently for fiberglass stocks? Mine always seem to dull quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by DArcy_Echols_Co:
We use Marine-Tex on our Legends. The chisel and inletting black on our Classic's. Both have their place and application and both worked equally well

You are exactly right!

Please be easy on me on this one guys but.......the last couple I have bedded up I used the original JB weld and chopped glass and had wonderfull results.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
But, you know what happens to a board if you paint only one side.

Yes, and most people oil the outside and forget the inside - not that I think you are one!
What threatment do you give the wood in the bedding area? I have very good reults with very thin superglue, as it will penetrate and seal but leave no layer, and is easier to wipe off exess in corners, compared to oil.

Paul Dressel uses this product also...I tried it once, but must have gotten the super fast drying variety./..caused me lots of grief..never had the guts to try it again...any tips?

I use Locktite 401, I think. or ,maybe it is 420...?
Anyway they run real easy and dry real fast as soon as it penetrate the surface, but everything exposed to air hardens real slow and is easy to wipe off with clothes and q-tips.
Compressed air will take off all eccess real easy, but take care of were it flyes - I cover with a piece of cloth.

I have actually soaked fresh chequering with this glue, diamondes becomes very hard and wear-resistent, and here you must use compressed air.

Thanks, Bent...the compresed air probably raises hell with eyeglasses?

And eyeballs

So why are target rifles glass bedded?

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
So why are target rifles glass bedded?

Cause Duane and D'Arcy don't make them.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Please be easy on me on this one guys but.......the last couple I have bedded up I used the original JB weld and chopped glass and had wonderfull results.

Same here TT but with out the chopped fiber glass... It is a little runny and I was thinking on using some micro-balloons next time...If you can find it, buy Industro-Weld (shop size) it is the same thing and way cheaper..

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
So why are target rifles glass bedded?

Because those who build them don't know any better.

This is more question than answer...

When glass bedding kits first came on the general market, modern benchrest shooting was about 10-12 years old.

One of the big problems benchresters had was that their rifle accuracy was undependable. That is, a very carefully hand-bedded rifle which was shooting like a dream could (and often did) go "sour" at the most awkward time(s)...sometimes even in the middle of a match when a shooter was well on his way to what ordinarily might be a resounding win. The result was that the rifle which was capable of winning last week, all of a sudden found itself hard put to finish higher than next to last (or worse).

Many was the benchrest match where shooters could be seen beween relays tearing their guns apart and scraping at the bedding. Often that didn't help, but made things even worse.

Usually AFTER the match, when they could get the rifle(s) into the hands of skilled "bedding" specialists, the rifles would be made to shoot fine again....until the next time they decided to exhibit all the symptoms of wood "intoxication".

Finally someone tried epoxies, with shredded fibreglas mixed into them, believing rightly or wrongly, that the problem was mainly one of wood changing dimensions because of changes in its water content. The fibreglass both helped seal the stock from humidity changes, and put the metal and wood back into close proximity to each other. (Epoxies shrink on setting, so the fit was close, but not perefectly tight in all instances.)

As some old Greek said, "Eureka"!!! Suddenly stock bedding became much less of a problem during BR matches.

That doesn't mean the guns were more accurate with glass bedding than they ever were with chisled wood bedding, but it did appear to mean that they stayed well-bedded longer and shot more dependably.

And, of course there was the little come-on that pretty much anyone could do a useable job of glass bedding while that certainly was and is not true of the average Joe equipped with a wood chisel.

Hence, the popularity of glass bedding applied at first to match rifles, and eventually to almost every kind of rifle whose shooters wanted accuracy they could depend on.

Now, of course, the "glass panacea" didn't and doesn't ALWAYS work, but much of the time it still does.

For myself, I would never want to go back to the pre-epoxy days. I am not an artist with wood, and at this late date doubt I ever could be. But I do like my rifles to shoot well, so I glass bed some of them.

My bad? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
Sharp chisels and inletting blue is for the skilled craftsman, Acraglas Gel was made for the rest of us! Hats off to you guys who do it the right way!

I don't consider inletting the right way. It is old technology like anything else. It was good in its day. Modern epoxies are stronger, more consistent and seal wood.