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Bedding

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41K views 60 replies 25 participants last post by  Markbo  
T
#1 ·
Bedding?

So i've heard a lot about bedding receivers and or barrels and removing the barrel band etc etc.

What is it? Can anyone explain and or tell me what to do for it if it is necessary?
I like to fiddle around with my 10/22, and so far all the mods have been for the better :rolleyes:
 
#2 ·
Bedding the action is nothing more than using epoxy to form a perfect fit of the stock to the receiver/barrel group. This can improve accuracy of the rifle.

I put a small horse shoe shaped bed at the rear of the receiver that comes forward of the rear of the receiver about 1/2". I bed the receiver at the front under the action screw with a 0.010" layer of tape to provide a pre-load for the barrel. Last, I bed about 1" of the end of the stock at the barrel channel.

What I do to the barrel band is relieve the 'hump' that fits over the barrel itself so that I can see daylight between the barrel and the band. This lets you keep the look of the band without putting any pressure on the barrel.
 
#4 ·
The action is only held in with a single screw, so recoil tends to pivot the action around in the action. When the action is not consistently held in the same position with regard to the stock, it reacts differently to the firing of rounds. The barrel will be setting differently, and will vibrate and react differently, resulting in changes to point of impact. A solid, stable mounting planform gives the best accuracy.
 
#8 ·
I use it on my 10-22s. It will cut your groups up to 50%.

I bed a horse shoe shape at the rear of the receiver. Another spot under the receiver with two layers of tape to give a 0.010" gap to allow a preload on the front end of the receiver. And the last spot is 1" back from the end of the barrel.

One guy I built a rifle for put it in a lead sled. This was a stock rifle, unbedded. He got 3/8" groups at 25 yards. It did not state what ammo he used.
 
H
#13 ·
Here is the difference a bedding job can do for a 10 22.

Amazing bedding results!

During my Christmas break I glass bedded my Ruger 10/22 DSP SS that I had bought used over a year ago. I have wanted to do this since I saw that there was a large gap around the sides of the receiver. After doing a lot of reading about it I finally ordered the materials and went and bought the brass hose fitting for the pillar post modification. I did that first and it was not hard at all, if you have access to a drill press and the correct size forstner drill bits, otherwise don’t even think about doing it. I took my time and taped everything up and then did the inlaying and then waxed everything multiple times. Finally I mixed up the epoxy and set everything in place and let it set up over night. It is a scary process, because you are still not sure that you are going to be able to get your barrel and receiver out of the epoxy and the stock. It took some work to get it out, but it finally came out. I put epoxy everywhere where the receiver and the barrel where making contact with the stock. I taped up the barrel so that I would end up with a barrel band of epoxy just behind the front of the fore end of the stock. I also put a double layer of tape around the take down screw area, so that I would be able to pull down the action to tune it. So in the end, there is pad around the barrel in the fore end of the stock of epoxy and then the bottom back end of the receiver where the bedding is actually holding the receiver in place. The take down screw then pulls down on the whole barrel and receiver downward. I had also ordered a hex head take down screw to use to be able to tune the rifle. I ground a grove on the long end of the Allen wrench, so that I could place the hook of a digital fish scale on the Allen wrench. This is my way of being able to measure the amount of pull on the Allen wrench. If I change the setting on the take down screw, I would loosen it completely and then pull it to back to the new measurement that I wanted. I started off with 1.6 lbs on the Allen wrench.

Well I was finally able to go to the range today and sight it in. I was using Federal Bulk ammo, just to get it on the paper. I was shooting from a wooden table on two sandbags at 25 yards. The first time that I shot a ten round group, I was amazed that I was on the paper and so close to the one inch black square that I was aiming at. (See #1 on 1.6 lbs target.) I shot a few more times and dialed in my tech sights. Then I changed over to some Winchester Super X ammo and cleaned the barrel with a bore snake and kept dialing in the Tech Sights. Then I switched to CCI ammo and cleaned it again and then changed the setting on the hex head take down screw to 2.0 lbs of pull using the digital fish scale and started shooting again. The first 10 shots, I thought that I had just gotten very lucky when the shots where all in the black one inch square. (See #1 on 2.0 lbs target.) I really did not believe what I was seeing. So I had to try again and the same thing happens again! Then I did it again! I was laughing out loud at this point and wondering if I was seeing things correctly in my spotting scope. So I walked down range to make sure that what I was seeing in the scope was really what was happening on the target and sure enough it was. I then went back and did it two more times. I am still so very happy with how things turned out. :D

Now I will have to go back to the range and see how I can do with my Appleseed Rifleman training and my improved rifle. Now that I KNOW that it is no longer the rifle that is off. You can look at the targets for yourself, if I can post them.

Hopefully this will help others to take the leap and bed their 10 22 along with the pillar post modification. So that you are albe to pull down on the pressure points, bottom back end of the reciever and the front pressure pad of the barrel, as they were designed to be. Hopefully I will post some more pictuces of the finished product soon.

Sighting in Ruger 10 22 - a set on Flickr

Image
 
#15 ·
2 pounds fish scale? How long is the hex wrench? multiply the wrench length in inches by the pounds of pull and you get a torque value. A 4 inch wrench tightened to 2 pounds is exerting 8 inch-pounds of torque. Measure the length from where you are hooking the scale to the the center of the wrench.
 
H
#17 ·
I measured the length of the Allen wrench from the center of the downward leg to the place where I ground a grove for the hook of the digital scale. It measure 2.093 of an inch, so if I did my math correctly it is 4.186 inch pounds of torque NOT foot pounds of torque. Is that correct?
For those of you that might not know what I am talking about when I say a digital fish scale. Well it is used to weight a fish after you have caught it and you can find them in the sporting goods sections in stores for about $20. I bought it to actual use to weight fish I caught, but soon realized I just needed something to measure the amount of pull consistently and this works just fine for that. Instead of going out and buying a torque measuring screw driver that would end up being a tools that I would not use much other than tighten down the take down screw on my Ruger 10 22. Problem solved with a new hex head screw and Allen wench and a digital fish scale. I really like finding multiple ways to something that don't cost as much and have other uses. :)
 
#18 ·
That's correct, the inches times the pounds equals inch-pounds. 4 inch pounds sure seems like a light touch on that action bolt, but if it is working, who am I to argue? Actually, the fish scale system can be much more accurate that many "affordable" torque wrenches out there today. I missed your point about the notch the first time reading your post.....it sounds like you get the idea regarding being able to repeat your set-up for consistency. Congrats.
 
H
#19 ·
Reverendg, I too think that is a small amount of torque for the take down screw on a Ruger 10 22. What I think makes the difference in my case is that I wanted to secure the reciever in the stock as much as I could. I applied epoxy all around the reciever including the area at the front of the reciever that looks like a fork somewhat. This area has a slope on it and by pulling the reciever downward with the take down screw, it pushes the the reciever backwards as well. By doing this it forces the reciever backwards and keeps the reciever in place better. Or at least that is what I think is happening.
 
D
#22 ·
Bedding Advice

I am new to this forum, and have been shooting 10-22s since 1984.
I own two older model carbines ('78 & '84). I am in the process of building two full customs, just for the fun and hobby aspects of it.
One custom will be more of a bench rifle, and I will be using a Revolution
Eliminator stock, which is birch laminate and should be (relatively) easy to do a glass bedding job on.
The other build will be more of a tactical point-and-shooter, and I'm using a Promag Archangel synthetic stock for that build.
I plan on using Devcon 10110 Plastic Steel bedding material to bed the action and perhaps 1-2" of the barrel. I'm using Kidd receivers for both, a 22" Whistlepig fluted bull for the bench gun, and a 20" Green Mountain fluted taper for the Archangel build. I've bedded 3 bolt actions in the past with Devcon, and it worked great and has held up well over time. Aside from roughing up the inside of the synthetic stock and perhaps drilling a series of angled "anchor holes" for the bedding material, ARE THERE ANY SUGGESTIONS anyone can provide to help with this job???? Different bedding material? Any warnings or precautions? The 10-22 platform provides some interesting challenges in regard to the bedding part of accurizing with only one takedown screw and funky trigger housing. ANY information/suggestions will be appreciated....
Thanks- DrGavin
 
#24 ·
I know this is a really old thread (I could tell from all the cobwebs!) but it brings me to a question I have.

I recently purchased a tactical stock from ATI. I needed the adjustable stock so two very different sized members of my household can use our 10-22 properly. When I put the barrel and receiver assembly in the stock, my groups immediately went from 1/2" at 100 feet to 3" at the same distance. There are two things which might be affecting the accuracy, and one of them might be caused by the fact the receiver isn't touched on both sides and back by the stock. From the back of the receiver to the stock is .070"! On the slide ejector side it's .015", and the left side it's .035". The cavity tapers from top to bottom, and the whole assembly seems tight at the bottom. But I'm wondering if it would be smart to bed the receiver in this new stock?
 
Z
#27 ·
I use blue masking tape shims to bed the receiver so it has no front/rear...up/down...or rocking...its only a 22...but it needs to be snug imo...a little does a lot...

So even if you intend to use epoxy or whatever later...simply "spot" shimming the sides, rear, and under the v-block with layers of masking tape such that the barreled action cannot move around in any direction once the take down screw is tight...and such that the barrel is as centered in the fore end channel as possible...

If you still have problems...put the gun back in the other stock and verify it still gets the same results where the new stock is clearly the problem then go from there...

And you have to make sure you use the same ammo and same conditions for back to back test to verify the lack of accuracy in one stock compared to the other...
 
#28 ·
ZommyGun said:
If you still have problems...put the gun back in the other stock and verify it still gets the same results where the new stock is clearly the problem then go from there...

And you have to make sure you use the same ammo and same conditions for back to back test to verify the lack of accuracy in one stock compared to the other...
Click to expand...
I sold the other stock on Armslist in less than 30 minutes. (guess I sold it way too "cheap", huh!) Using the same ammo and same condition won't be a problem.

I've ordered some Volquartsen bedding material and one of their Allen head take-down screws. I'm also going to recrown the barrel. I'll follow up with results.............good or bad.
 
N
#31 ·
Gun bedding is very impactful to the Ruger 10/22. They fit loose in most stocks and are held in with one center screw, sits like teeter totter. The whole set up is bad. When you bed the rifle it tightens up the receiver and barrel so it will 1)free float the barrel 2) the receiver fits in the stock the same way each time making a more accurate rifle.

Lets talk about the takedown screw. By design it pulls the reciever into the wood of the stock. It allows it to rest different every time you put it together. I installed a shim that makes it a metal on metal contact.

Adding a rear tang is another upgrade that is a huge improvement. My rifle is very tight.

Check out RFC, lots of this going on over there
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G
#32 ·
For me, bedding the 10/22 made a big difference. I used RTV, and while I had lots of inspiration for that from here and there on the web, a discussion amongst the guys at Varmint Hunters really sold me.

The thing about using RTV semi-flexible bedding is that you have to tune it, but that part turned out to be cheap, easy, and fun. But most importantly, it got me the results I was looking for. You can read about the whole thing here.

Some might say that the need to tune a flexible bedding system means that 'hard' bedding is the way to go. I dunno. I didn't do hard bedding, so they might be right. But research (I put in my sources with links) convinced me that vibration is bad for accuracy, and went with the notion of using a vibration-damping bedding material.

One thing ferdamsher is that RTV is not expensive. Oh, and plastic cling wrap makes a cheap, foolproof release agent!
 
Z
#33 · (Edited)
I don't doubt RTV could provide accuracy improving dampening...I can see where it might make it worse...considered doing the same thing the same you you did on my sporter stock with floated bull barrel...just to see if it makes any difference...mostly because one of my future projects is to mount a scope to the aluminum bull barrel on a 10/22 scout-style...not sure what that will do to accuracy...if anything...but if done in a wooden stock with floated barrel if the scope is a negative it is conceivable that bedding it in rtv would help...I also considered trying something similar on a tube feed 22 bolt action...nice thing about rtv is it can be pretty easily removed later if you don't like the outcome...

Also...I have used the de-resonator on two 10/22s...can't attest to any accuracy improvements...however...they do make nice muzzle protectors.
 
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