First off, I realize this has probably been discussed and I did a search but didn't find an answer. I'm bedding a recent manufacture (FN?) Mod 70 Featherweight 30-06 in its original walnut stock. This has a one piece bottom metal that appears to be cast aluminum with a steel floor plate. My main question is should I bed the full length of the action from recoil lug to tang including support on the side rails and the pad in front of the trigger, or do I just do the recoil lug area and the little bit around the tang? I will be using aluminum pillars. I have bedded numerous round actions both solid single shot and repeaters, with very good success and I typically try to bed the full length of the action. This flat bottom action is a new beast for me. I'm confident I can get a stress free result but I know that different action shapes have different requirements for best result.
Let me outline my concerns. There doesn't appear to be much draft on the flat sides of the action so I'm worried about locking it in. There really isn't much to support in the tang area and the sides around the mag box, so if I have contact there am I asking for trouble? If the recommendation is to just bed around the pillars, how high up the action do I want to go in the front ring area?

I plant to start with the barrel supported under the chamber area and float the fore end and see how it shoots. I can easily remove this if it is flakey, but this worked really well on my M700 Mountain rifle with a similar weight barrel. Front, sides, and bottom of lug will have two layers of tape and thinking about taping the rear of the little block on the tang. Not much meat there but seems it could cause mischief.

I am planning similar and am anxious to hear about the correct technique.

If you are going to bed it full length you better have everything right. What I mean is you have to be sure and fill every void or lock with modeling clay and use a good release agent and a lot of it. I use Trewax floor wax and it is the best release agent every made. When I pillar bed I screw the pillars to the action and then use a big piece of rubber tuding to hold the action in place while epoxy is curing. First I fully disassemble the action then fill all holes and voids with modeling clay. I put clay in the mag well area of action and in the stock to keep epoxy in the right places. I use my release agent on everything that might get epoxy on it that I don't want the epoxy to stick to. I smear it inside the locking lug area and I plug the chamber with a wad of paper towel and put wax on it too. I tape the sides, front and bottom of the recoil lug with black electrical tape. One layer on the sides and 2 to 3 layers on front and bottom. When I say front of recoil lug I mean the side toward the muzzle or front of action. I also tape the barrel from about two inches ahead of the receiver to the muzzle with two layers of tape or one if you want a fine line between the stock and barrel. Tape up your stock with blue painters tape and put release agent on that too. Before you put your epoxy in the stock make sure the barreled action will seat down into the stock without binding and the it goes to the depth its supposed to. Sometimes I will put a couple of small wood screws in a few areas to hold the action and barrel in the position I want it in. I use these as rests for the metal to sit on. Again not putting anything in a bind. When you think you are ready to put epoxy in the stock double check everything again and put release agent on again, it never hurts unless you don't use enough. Mix up plenty of epoxy and fill every place in the stock you want it. Also If pillar beadding you want to put it all over the pillars to be sure they have full contact with epoxy. Put it all together and wrap your rubber bands around the front of the action and stock to pull it all together. Watch epoxy squirt out everywhere and make sure you put a big pece of card board under the gun so you don't mess up your floor. After the epoxy has set for a short time I take a piece of wood like a popsical stick anf scrape of excess epoxy where it squirted out. I'm sure I forgot some steps but it will give you an idea of where to start.

Sam

Sam, thanks for your response. I'm familiar with the amount of detail that goes into a full length bed. My question really is which is better, full length or just at the ends. Was hoping that some of the folks that had done this a time or three on a Model 70 (or I guess a Mauser would be about the same) would chime in.

gzig5,

I've done hundreds of model 70s and I usually just do the recoil lug area but I do pillar it. A lot simpler than a full bed for sure. I've actually started using JB Kwik for quick jobs. No pun. You got to run hard to get it done but I've gotten some beautiful beds out of it. Cheapest easiest bedding I've done.

Sam

I believe, and have done it this way for this belief, that I read an article by a well known smith that the bedding of the tang area as well as sides tend to put it in a bind under heavier recoil.
I used wax on my last two jobs as a release agent and liked it better than the release agent in the kits.
I have used tape on the recoil lug as described above and didn't use any on my last one. It came out a little harder but the barreled action fit's exactly. It was a re-barrel job so I also had to work on the barrel channel. Have not had a chance to shoot it since I finished the stock work.

I bedded a mod 70 into a B&C medalist and used many coats of Hornady One-shot for the release agent. I used 3M bedding material. I did not tape the lug as per my brothers suggestion and it all worked out just fine. Yes it was a bit tight but a sharp whack and out it came.

I have bedded a lot of mod. 70s both hand bedding the wood, and glassing..First of all it depends on the caliber IMO..I will bed a big bore rifle from one end to the other, taping the barrel recoil lug and the action recoil lug with one or two layers of tape on the bottom and sides, and the rest of the action and barrel tight..

One a fwt. mod. 70, I tend to get best results with a 3 point bedding system, recoil lug taped, tang and about an inch or two of the chamber arear of the barrel with upsward pressure at the forend..

One a std. wt. I usually bed the tang and action lug taped and tight barrel, shoot it, then maybe free float it, maybe add upward pressure on the forend..

All rifles may shoot different and they may prefer different types of bedding to shoot their best..so always when bedding a rifle keep in mind that you can take wood out but you cannot put it back, so direct your project with that in mind..

Pillers are good, but not really necessary IMO, as long as the bedding is correct..

If you use the best of wood, that is cured and properly laid out I see no reason for glass except on the big bores and I believe it is wise to glass them, cross bolt them, add extra recoil lugs and do whatever else you can to no ruin somebodys high dollar African safari or Alaskan bear hunt..big bores can be pretty tough on a stock of any kind, even plastics. Many a hunt has been ruined or interfered with from stock failure, among other things.

As to bedding material, I usually use Marine Tex from Brownells but its all good..The secret to bedding material IMO is heat the glass up a tad with a hair blower, after you swab it in the stock, just enough to let it smooth out, then lower the gun in the stock..I like a paint coat in a 375 and down on inletted wood, it smooths out any tiny flaws, cuts or whatever and looks like the stock is polished inside, its just pretty, and perhaps insures a perfect fit...

I have bedded a few wooden stock jobs, but mostly synthetics.
I do not do a full bedding job, only the tang, the recoil lug area and the first 2 inches of barrel. If you are adding pillars, I don't see how a full action bed would be beneficial.
I did try a full action bed on a Ruger MKII, it didn't turn out well. Was lucky to get it apart to remove the epoxy that had locked it up in the mag well, still to this day have problems opening the floorplate on occasion. The fix never really fixed it?!

Cheers.