At long last I'm ready to bed my P-64 M70 .375H&H.

Looking for advice from the P-64 guys who have done it successfully (made the rifle more accurate).

Best regards;
Brett

I'm sure that if you do a search on this site you will find more than enough info on the subject.

Malm,

Thanks for the suggestion, I have done that and read several articles on the subject. If anytinig I'm a bit confused by too much information.

Was hoping that the real experts on this action might have insight to share...

Brett

Brett, I hope you are not bedding the original stock. If you are you will likely loose at least a third of the value of the rifle. It is better to get a take off stock or a fiberglass stock to work with and save the original, IF UNALTERED, for resale later if necessary.

Why are you wanting to bed it? As 404 said,if orignal stock, find another stock to use.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett:
Thanks for the suggestion, I have done that and read several articles on the subject. If anytinig I'm a bit confused by too much information.

Maybe this will help you sort it all out when you decide which stock you will use. The key thing to keep in mind when bedding ANY firearm is maintaining the integrity of it's axis. That imaginary, yet measurable line, that runs down the center of the firearm, from one end to the other. There is little that screws up accuracy faster than bending that line.

Things that can bend the line include tighenting guards screws on an action that is not level, or having the action shift laterally during recoil putting uneven pressure on the barrel as it shifts positions. A stock that is warped will bend the line. The area you are going to have the least amount of control over is when the line bends as the barrel heats up and expands.

To prevent the action from being pulled out of alignment when you tighten the guard screws, most precision shooters use pillars to support the action. To prevent the action from moving laterally under recoil, they use some form of epoxy. To lessen the effects of barrel/heat related problems, most will free float their barrels. Some will not.

Some prefer to add pressure to the barrel. You won't know which will work for your rifle until you test it yourself. Myself, I would start out with the barrel floated, and only add pressure if that didn't work. And I would recommend doing it in that order.

These are the key things you need to watch when bedding ANY action. These key points apply regardless of which brand of action you are bedding. One more thing you need to consider when bedding an action is when to provide solid contact with the bottom of the recoil lug. As a rule, if the guard screw enters the lug, bed it, otherwise, use a few layers of masking tape on the bottom of the lug to provide clearance so that there is no contact, which could over time, cause the line to bend. Good luck!

I have bedded a number of Pre-64's Brett and like the others say, if it is a collectable one, think twice. If not, the "shooters" that I have bedded have all benefitted from a full length bedding, as opposed to floating the barrel. Others like the barrel free floated, namely the 700's. Some like Sakos and Ruger 77's, and model 70's like the full length stuff. I use Marine Tex exclusively to bed with now...its just the best for me...good enough for Jarrett and Carolina Precision Rifles too, so it must be OK. Get it at any boat supply business.

With the pre-64 watch your bolt release mechanisim on the left hand side (as you are shooting it)and the barrel screw, as these are two places you don't want to get too sloppy with the bedding compound. I have not found the need to pillar bed the 70's...all I do is put the floorplate in the stock and use masking tape to hold it and the screws in place, in preparation to spreading the bedding compound into the stock. I will assume you have roughened up the barrel channel and drilled out some holes around the recoil lug area where the bedding compound can flow and strengthen the stock. A dremel tool is perfect for that task. Spray your metal parts with a release agent so they won't stick to the compound. I use Brownells Acra Release spray and it works wonders. In a pinch you can use Pam spray, but I wholeheartedly recommend Acra Release. Now you have the stock facing up, with the screws poking up through the stock, held in place with masking tape. Your barreled action is coated with Acra Release...spray your screws too! As an added insurance, I put a little dab of grease on the threads of the action screws. Mix your bedding compound in a cup with a popsicle stick and start spreading it around the stock a little at the time...take your time and spread it carefuly in the recoil lug area. I kind of tap it around to get rid of the air bubbles if you know what I mean. Look at your barreled action and see where the spots are that you don't want bedding compound...like the bolt release area that I described earlier. Be careful and don't get sloppy around the action screws. Now take a deep breath and set it in the stock. It will be resting about on top of the screws...tighten up on the screws and be glad you put an extra dab of grease on the threads. The extra compound will begin to squish out. I have a pile of Q-tips right next to me that I use to take off the excess compound. At first I use the Q-Tip and just wipe the stuff off. The next step is that I use new Q-tips soaked in WD-40 and really clean up what extra compound is still left. The WD-40 does a great job of cleaning up (sort of dissolves it)what ever compound is left after the initial clean up. Have a few old t-shirts and a tooth brush around....if some compound squishes out and gets in the checkering, you soak the old t-short in WD-40 and scrub out the extra compound with the t-shirt and tooth brush. Now you will have a basically clean rifle, and we will be waiting for the bedding to harden up. Here's the beautiful part. Marine Tex will harden quickly if you heat it up in the sun or use a hair dryer...about 20 minutes, as opposed to overnight! You will know when it hardens good enough to seperate the action from the stock. Don't rush the job. As it is hardening I like to see if I can back the screws out about a turn (ie: I am not gonna have any problems with siezed screws when it hardens for good). If it turns OK, I just tighten it back up. If it feels like you might have problems, you can back it on out, coat it with another smidgen of grease and put it back in. Much easier now than later on. Trust me on that..

Now you are ready to take it out of the stock. Take out your screws and hold the stock in its usual spots...fore end and pistol grip. Rap the muzzle slightly on a table or workbench in a downward motion. It will loosen the stock from the action and you can then clean it up and re-assemble and watch your model 70 go from a 2" at 100 yds shooter to about a half inch shooter if it is capable of that. Every model 70 I have bedded, with no exceptions, has shot under 3/4" @ 100 after bedding...I expect most of them were around 1/2"!

Best of luck.

Malam and Hank,

Thank you very much for the thoughtful and very helpful replys. It really helps to understand the "why" as opposed to just the "how".

The rifle is far from being a collectors peice. I have had a good deal of work done to repair the "modifications" that had been done to it over the years so spoiling a pristine gun is not an issue...

Again thanks for the advice.

Best regards;
Brett

Hank:

heating the epoxy like that will make it more brittle. While the tensile strength will increase, it will come at the cost of much reduced toughness. Personally, I won't do it.

BTW-acraglas or any other epoxy will act the same.

Perhaps I should have said "warm" it up a bit...not getting it hot, per se. Anyway, the Marine Tex instructions spell it out quite plainly that it can be heated to accelerate the curing process and they don't mention anything about it becoming brittle. My usual course of action involves letting it cure outside in the sun on a warm day...not too drastic. I have now bedded over 300 rifles this way and have not had a problem yet. Of course my bedding involves the usual stuff up to .338's. I have not bedded any 375's or 458's lately, so I cannot comment with absolute authority on lack of brittleness beyond a 338 Win Mag that I bedded in 1988 and it has been shooting just fine. Just my 2 cents worth.