Pillar Bedding Question

N

nmibex

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Is the following a reasonable approach for pillar bedding my Ruger?

I have an older model Ruger 22-250 Mark II All Weather Stainless. I’ve order a Boyds Varmint Thumbhole stock that I will pillar bed. After searching the internet I’ve come to the conclusion to only bed the front and rear action screws and not do any skim (?) bedding between the action screws.

I’ve had this rifle for about 13 years. The barrel probably has less than 200 rounds down it as I’ve shot it very little. As I recall it shot a little over an inch in the old synthetic stock with nothing done to it to improve accuracy and very little load development. I’ll use this rifle for shooting practice and varmint hunting.

Thanks,
Dick
 
If you wanna bed the whole thing go for it. I think they were meaning it wasnt necessary between the bridges. For a boyds stock use the biggest pillars you can get- measure the width of the floorplate where the screws go. I suspect itll be around 5/8". Grind yourself out plenty of room for epoxy and use good stuff like devcon 10110. Some of the worst groups ive ever shot were with a boys stock skim bedded. Make sure your bedding makes the stock just a decorative cover for your bedding. Have fun and be careful.
 
nmibex said:
Is the following a reasonable approach for pillar bedding my Ruger?
Click to expand...

No


nmibex said:
.......... snip......... After searching the internet I’ve come to the conclusion to only bed the front and rear action screws and not do any skim (?) bedding between the action screws.

......... snip.......
Click to expand...

Why? This makes no sense to me. If you have your pillars securely fastened to the stock, your action will be contacting the wooden stock on some of the high spots which will change dimensions depending on humidity, making for a less than fully stable support situation. Wouldn't you prefer to have the action fully supported over as wide an area as possible; one which wouldn't change over time and one which would be the same each time you removed and reinstalled the action/barrel?

Some folks define "skim bedding" (distinct from "action bedding") as simply applying a very thin layer of filled epoxy between the action and the wood of an already well bedded wooden stock. That doesn't make sense to me either because an ultra thin layer of Devcon will simply distort along with the wood. You need a significant layer of bedding material to take advantage of the bedding process. Otherwise, it's hardly worth the effort in my opinion.

I've bedded a number of Boyd's stocks and I do the action bedding and pillar bedding in one step. It seems to me that spending a few minutes with a Dremel tool removing some of the wood between the action and stock, especially around the recoil lug(s) as well as making sure there is plenty of epoxy surrounding the pillars is the way to go. You'll need some wraps of tape around the barrel just forward of where the modeling clay bedding dam is located to support the forward part of the action/barrel. Do this fitting before removing any wood from the existing stock, assuming it fits pretty well as delivered.

You'll also need to preserve some sort of small region of support to locate the altitude of the very aft end of the action, often just a tiny area supporting the end of the tang. In between your forward and aft locating supports you should relieve the wood so that you have a decent layer of bedding compound; I usually shoot for 1/16" or more, quite often more around the recoil lug. Try to avoid any real thin areas to insure a robust bedding job that won't chip out in the future.

It seems to me that if you're going to mix up some epoxy and go through all the steps required to do a good pillar bedding job, you'd also want to bed the action as well. I can't think of any good reason not to.
 
Dusty and Mozella, thanks for the comments. The stock is scheduled to be here this Friday so I'll be bedding the action this weekend. Wasn't sure about the terminology hence the skim bedding (?) comment which doesn't make sense to me either.

Thanks again,
Dick
 
On wood i always mill out some gouges at different angles too and kinda make keys for the epoxy to hold with.
 
nmibex said:
Dusty and Mozella, thanks for the comments. The stock is scheduled to be here this Friday so I'll be bedding the action this weekend. Wasn't sure about the terminology hence the skim bedding (?) comment which doesn't make sense to me either.

Thanks again,
Dick
Click to expand...

You DO understand that this isn't a typical pillar bedding job? That the front screw is angled at near 45*?
 
Yes I do. Ordered the pillars for a Ruger online. Did the bedding job some time back. Haven't shot the rifle a lot yet but accuracy did improve. Golf, hunting and the wife keep from getting to the range as much as I should/would like. For limited load development I was getting 3/4 to 1/2-inch groups. Nice to see you posting more again Al. I've enjoyed your post as I have the others that responded to this thread.

Thanks again,
Dick
 
nmibex said:
Golf, hunting and the wife keep from getting to the range as much as I should/would like.

Thanks again,
Dick
Click to expand...

Hunting of course is a good excuse for preventing you to get range time.
The wife is an unavoidable excuse for preventing you to get range time.
But Golf ??

Dick

Just kidding LOL

Seriously though, I always liked the looks of the Rugerr 77 and heard they shot well out of the box. But the angled recoil lug can be a real issue when bedding for better performance.
 
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