Ruger bedding job

ejg

Well-Known Member
Finally got around to work on my friends Ruger 6.5x55.
This rifle shoots hot and cold, I never managed better than 1.5" with
Lapua megas. Bigger problem is that the point of impact varied day to day. (we'll give it a go, if it goes tits up, it's not mine :lol: )

De oil stock.
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Mark the forend, I gave it 1.5mm, goal is to widen each side of the
channel by 1.5 mm.
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Dremel out the channel
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Check gap, rather to much than too little
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One can clearly see where the stock hit the barrel.
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next is release agents
 
Wax all parts that should not be glued or that should release.
Sometimes better to rub down the whole outside of the stock, just incase one touches with epoxy fingers.
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Be absolutely sure all parts are covered by wax, I mostly cover like mad and then remove or rub off excess.
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Next up is paint PVA over the waxed areas, don't forget around tang area and all metal parts, Do the screws real well.
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next up epoxy
 
I chose a resin with a 90 min pot-life, mixing ratio 100 : 25 and being a
high quality resin ratios should be scaled quite accurately.
I mixed 50g and 12.5g hardener I'd say 1/2 g either way would be ok. Found out afterwards half the ammount would have been enough.
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One part of the resin gets mixed with mostly 0.2mm ground glass-fibre and a bit of talcum to make it a bit smoother.
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Nice thing about fibres are they can be layed any way you want.
I like laying a couple carbon rovings around the recoil lug to transfer recoil into the stock directly no flex.
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Got my selection of fibres close so I can grab what I need.
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One layer of the unidirectional carbon and a second layer half way up. This gives grear up down and left right stability.
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The trigger gaurd, and front drop plate assembly with screw are taped in place from the start so that the resin doesn't run out. In the next pic you see the layup of of a strip left, right and bottom of 30 deg carbon almost to the front. The font I changed to 30 deg glass which is sufficient.
This 30 deg carbon increases the up-down-left-right stiffnes quite a bit but increases the torsion stiffness a lot. All this stiffness also helps prevent a stock moving to much when moisture content changes in the wood.
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Now with fibres in place the wet in wet bedding starts, the resin that we mixed with fillers now gets stuffed in the bedding area and tang area. Viscosity must me so that it doesn't run, bit but can be pushed around with a brush.
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In this case I also put some around the recoil lug and barrell area.
Now barreled action must be carefully put into stock. Start with the tang area so the barrel doesn't touch the glassed area in the forend.
start tightening screws, some of the resin will come ****ing out.
Check gap on forend keep tightening until all looks right. At least with the 90 min pot-life one is not forced to rush.
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Also the inside should be bubble free.
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24hr later. Remove the screws, remove trigger gaurd and drop plate.
Then with gentle pressure from the barrel seperate the two.
Normally they seperate fairly stiff because the fit is 100%.
Obviously one cannot have total control of where the resin gets pushed to.
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Now one must decide how far forward one wants to have the bedding running and relieve from there on to have a straight stop. With a dremel and sandpaper all overstanding fibres and rough areas can be cleaned up. Do not sand on the actual bedding area.
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Clean barrel with soap water to get the pva off.
Test if action fits nicely and gap is good.
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I like a bit of a gap up front.
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After that is all ok one can either varnish the sanded areas of the stock or use epoxy to seal it up again.
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job done

edi
 
thank you edi
much appreiciated , thank you for your time and effort to post it i hav learnt alot from this and also hav a stock to do as i had no clue whatso ever , so i bought a plastic stock instead but it looks like the wooden one is going back on
many thanks
stone
 
good post

this looks good, keep going. i have a ruger 77 mk2 that was a stutzen. i cut the stock down and floated the barrel and it shoots well now, but it has a very thin barrel and i might like to bed it at some point.

swampy
 
Interesting post Edi, thanks for taking time to sharing your knowledge. :D

Best rgds

Thar
 
Very interesting.

Can you use the same method on a slightly flexible synthetic ?

I want to fill the voids with S/S rods and micro filler. I'm hoping to stiffen the foreend with out add masses of weight.
 
Thanks for the replies, the danger with these posts is that one comes across as being arrogant or a know it all. I've only bedded maybe 5 or 6 rifles, but have played with polyester and epoxy resins since I was 9, was always facinated by the possibilities of these materials.

The problem with synthetik stocks (injection moulded type) is that some of these materials just don't glue well. I did two lately, a remmy sps and a howa. I think the howa glues a bit better due to higher glass content in the poly-prop material.
What I did to get the epoxy filling to hold better was to to drill holes into the ribs fairly low down, drilled from the top sideways through. roughened all surfaces and filled with epoxy loaded with micro balloons or any lightweight filler. then a couple layers of glass on top or same procedure as the wood stock.
They where never tested so I don't know if it will last, the howa looks a bit more trustworthy, both are very stiff.
One could also grind out the ribs and screw in a piece of wood with stainless screws from the bottom. Wood possibly smaller than the opening and then pour epoxy around before putting a layer of glass in the channel. many ways to do it.
edi
Top sps, bottom howa
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At last we had a go at some paper.
With a bipod on the front and a old sand bag under the but off our
concrete bench. Weather was blustery wind and rainy. Range 100yds.
Firstly I noticed the ruger trigger is not nice, maybe an american lawer stuck in the mechanics :lol:
Scope is a 8x56 S&B with No. 4 reticule
To start we tried some factory sako target (SMK) 139 gr rounds.
Shot a 3 shot group out of a clean decoppered barrel.
Scope had been removed so group was a bit way out, but under an inch.
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Next we zeroed the scope with some lapua megas 156gr, we noticed after a not very good three shot group that one primer was punctured, and a bit of metal carried over to the next primer where it was stuck onto that. ??
So forget about these.
A fella up the country had loaded a couple 129gr SST's for my friend and we tried those. No pressure signs unloaded better than the lapua. I'm not 100% sure but think they are loaded with 50gr N560. a bit of a flame thrower and a nice bang.
First 3 shot group was around 19mm and second 3 shot group was 16mm so about 0.6".
This load had not been tweeked for this rifle and a bit of load developement or maybe another trigger could tighten the groups.. , but as a hunting rifle she'd be fine as is.
My friend was delighted.
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edi
 
Thanks for this - very useful.

When I bedded my.22rf BRNO as well as fibres I added a half teaspoonful of Burnt Scienna pigment which I bough as a dry powder from an art shop. Makes the bedding brown in colour and much less noticeable against the wood.

To freefloat the barrel I put a couple of layers of insulation tape on the underside of the barrel before applying wax - gap thus built in.

Heym SR20
 
Heym SR20 said:
Thanks for this - very useful.

When I bedded my.22rf BRNO as well as fibres I added a half teaspoonful of Burnt Scienna pigment which I bough as a dry powder from an art shop. Makes the bedding brown in colour and much less noticeable against the wood.

To freefloat the barrel I put a couple of layers of insulation tape on the underside of the barrel before applying wax - gap thus built in.

Heym SR20

Heym, you got any piccies of that job?
i took my cz 452 16" varmint to bits the other day for the first time, as the floated barrell is close to the stock on one side, probably could do with a bit of sanding. i think some bedding may be in order as the fromt fixing post which sits in a keyway at the start if the barrell will still allow some movement.

cheers
 
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