- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Winter Olympics
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
DIY Rifle Bedding
Posted on 6/3/25 at 9:19 am
Posted on 6/3/25 at 9:19 am
Building a new rifle and all my parts have come in. I got a fiberglass stock on sale and really like it, but it's claims of being pillar bedded and no need for glass bedding are complete BS. There was fiberglass resin drips/lumps over the pillars so bad the action screws couldn't even reach. I tried sanding them off, but I can feel significant barrel movement when torquing front action screw. Ordered a glass bedding kit from Brownells. Watched enough youtube videos that I feel comfortable attempting as I have dealt with epoxy in woodworking. Just seeing if there are any tips from those who may have done this themselves. Really only plan to bed where the rear tang and recoil lub/front mounting hole are to get a solid fit.
5
Posted on 6/3/25 at 10:53 am to Jon A thon
It’s not too bad. I used devcon plastic steel which has some tack to it, if you’re using a thinner epoxy consider letting it set up a little. Take your time masking off the action and use shoe polish or Vaseline on surfaces you don’t want epoxy on. Less is more and a slight gap at the top is better than a ton of squeeze out as long as you have good contact at the lug and screws, I would approach it more as spot bedding and you’ll likely be surprised how far it spreads out.
Posted on 6/3/25 at 10:55 am to Jon A thon
Who made the stock? I've only bedded one stock and that was a LOOONG time ago, before YouTube. I just followed the directions that came w/ the kit. You'll get better advice from YT and others than from me. 
Posted on 6/3/25 at 11:29 am to TigerOnThe Hill
Grayboe stock. Like I mentioned, I like everything else about it. And it was like $500 less than my next option with the sale price. But at the bottom metal inlet and in the action space, it was a bit rough with blobs of resin. The screws couldn't reach through to the action threading. Shaved those down and it was fine to mount, but you can tell they aren't perfect when you torque the front screw. I was tempted to bed this rifle anyway, but definitely doing it now. And going to try myself before paying ~$200. They can always fix my screw up, .
.Posted on 6/3/25 at 12:10 pm to Jon A thon
ive done 2 using Marine-Tex, its ~$20 bucks. Its a bit cheaper than the kit from brownells and works great. first was an r700/LTR in 223 w/ the hs precision stock, came out pretty good for 1st attempt, not perfect but good enough.. 2nd was a similar build, gap rock barreled action into a mcmillan m40 stock..old school boomer stick but it's a laser and just flat out shoots, this one came out better, not perfect but good enough to say that bedding with marinetex is solid. Both projects were done years ago, can't remember if youtube was even around at the time, but like others have said there is some really good advice on youtube as far as process, I just wanted to say that for the money, marinetex is a solid choice
This post was edited on 6/3/25 at 12:11 pm
Posted on 6/3/25 at 12:51 pm to Jon A thon
quote:
Really only plan to bed where the rear tang and recoil lub/front mounting hole are to get a solid fit.
That's all you have to do. Anymore is wasted.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 8:23 am to saintsfan1977
Well, did it last night, and while I didn't ruin anything, it's far from great. The epoxy kit was just far too runny and I was nervous to let it sit as the working time wasn't substantial. Those white areas are where I sanded down a bit. Covered them in epoxy, but it all leaked out. On the bright side, I'm not feeling the barrel deflecting when I torque down, so it "worked". Just not sure this is enough contact area around the front screw hole. Think I may find a thicker epoxy and do one more small repair to fill in the white void areas in the front.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 9:42 am to Jon A thon
I wouldn’t be too disappointed in that, assuming all of the epoxy is contacting the action that’s more than enough area.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 11:06 am to Jon A thon
I think it will be fine. I used a product I saw on a shooting forum I bought from Home Depot. I’ll look for it. Worked great.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 11:13 am to Jon A thon
Looks good to me. You need the metal/metal contact between the pillars and action. So you're just basically filling in the voids for extra support.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 7:47 pm to Jon A thon
Married? Does she decorate cakes? Put the bedding material in a piping bag and squeeze it out like frosting.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 9:00 pm to kengel2
quote:
need the metal/metal contact between the pillars and action
I don't trust that the pillars are perfect. How can they be set right if there was resin set on top of the pilar. If they were set with the action or representative 700 clone action (or jig), resin couldn't get there.
In any case, my muzzle brake comes in tomorrow and the build is "done", so going to shoot this weekend. If the groups are garbage, think I'll just have a gunsmith bed it. Was a higher end toy for me to build this gun and wanted to do as much myself as possible, but not going to pay around with it to much just to skimp out on paying for the job to be done correctly. I do think if I had a thicker epoxy, it would have come out looking great (may be fine, but looks meh). All that resin that's missing leaked into the bottom metal cavity. Thicker would have stayed where I wanted.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 7:36 am to Jon A thon
quote:
I don't trust that the pillars are perfect. How can they be set right if there was resin set on top of the pilar.
They may still work fine. If the resin is a thin layer then it's going to compress very little, which is the entire point of the process. McMillan deliberately shorts their pillars so the action sits only on the epoxy. They also say with a good stock (like theirs, obviously) none of it is needed, but they do it because it's become standard and customers expect it when they request custom work.
I'm not a benchrest guy, but if you're looking for that kind of accuracy take a torque wrench and a sled and play around with the torque on both screws. Some settings might just dial in for a particular load.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 7:44 am to Flats
quote:
the resin is a thin layer then it's going to compress very little,
The resin on top was not smooth as if it was formed and set to perfectly fit the action. There was a small droplet at one area and just felt a little uneven on the other mounting hole indicating problems.
Sanded that down. If anything, the bedding job I did set the perfect fit for the recoil lug. The epoxy did work there.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News