Easy question for gunsmiths - what's involved in a glass bedding job?

JerryBobCo

I've toyed with the notion of doing my own glass bedding for a couple of rifles I own, but am not sure just what's involved. And, I don't want to mess up an otherwise nice rifle.

For the purpose of this question, please assume that I'm referring to bedding a wooden stock.

As I understand what needs to be done, it's the following.

- with some sort of special tool, remove enough wood from barrel channel to allow for the added thickness of the bedding material after it has dried.

- mix up the bedding material, and pour it into the area to be bedded. I'm not really sure what needs to be done about the holes in the stock for barrel screws, etc, but figure you just need to do something so that you can use the screws to put the barrel back in and anchor it.

- coat the barrel and any parts that may come into contact with the bedding material with a release agent.

- place the barrel into the stock, screw it down tight, and wait for the bedding material to dry. Once it has dried, remove and clean off the releasing agent.

- put the barrel back in.

Is that all there is to it, or am I missing/mis-stating something?

Also, what if I just want to pillar bed. What does that entail?

Thanks,

SirGeorgeKillian

Sounds like you got the idea down pat. Brownell's has some excellent videos on YouTube to check out too...

KENFU1911

JerryBobCo wrote: »

Is that all there is to it, or am I missing/mis-stating something?

Thanks,

Sounds like the only thing missing is the large chest freezer.......:devil: ....I had to.....Ken

Big Al1

If there's any areas you don't want the bedding to flow into, fill them with Playdough. I prefer the Acraglas Gel.

jbohio

I'm glad you posted this, Jerry. I'm in the exact same boat as you.
Heck, I had the box of Acraglas gel in my hand yesterday at the LGS (and 5 other times), but fear of the unknown kept me from buying it.

snake284-1

Big Al1 wrote: »

If there's any areas you don't want the bedding to flow into, fill them with Playdough. I prefer the Acraglas Gel.

I used to always use either Devcon or Accubed. Then I switched to Steel bed and finally to Acraglass with atomized stainless powder mixed in here lately. I have made pillars with this stuff and then tied it all together in one piece, with the recoil lug and the first 2-3 inches of the barrel, the chamber area that is. This chamber area is a wedge shape and serves to hold the action back against the recoil lug. If you do this with a good synthetic stock, it's as good as pillar blocks, although a bit more trouble than buying it already in the stock.

Teach

Ditto on watching the Brownell's videos. Way back in the dark ages when I started using AcraGlas, the gel didn't exist. We had to mix up the liquid epoxy, and add fiberglass "flocking" that came in a small envelope with the glass bedding kit. The gel works MUCH better. I like to do an action and back of the barrel bedding job, with the barrel free-floated. Sand enough stock wood away to let a dollar bill slide freely from the end of the forend to within a couple of inches of the receiver, then hog that last couple of inches out with a coarse burr in a Dremel tool until there's about a 1/8" gap between the wood and the bottom 1/3 of the barrel. Do the same thing with the recoil lug area of the stock, but leave a couple of tiny spots full height to keep the action from settling too deep into the stock cutout. The recoil lug has to have something solid to sit on.

I use modeling clay to fill up any holes or crevices in the receiver that I don't want the glass to grab, and I use Saran Wrap around the barrel instead of parting compound. The bottom of the receiver, the magazine box, and the trigger guard/floor plate gets a liberal coat of wheel bearing grease. Put the thoroughly mixed glass gel into the stock area, and pull the barreled receiver down snug with the action screws. Be sure the screws are coated liberally with grease, also.

If you want to install pillars, do it as a second operation, after the basic bedding job cures. If you pull the action out of the stock after 4-6 hours of curing, an X-acto knife will trim away any overruns better than if you let it cure overnight to full hardness. Good luck!
Jerry

JerryBobCo

Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep you posted if ever try to do this on my own.