FCP-K bedding question

[groaner71]

I took my stock off today to check the bedding on my .223 and noticed that I had witness marks on the rear bedding block from where the action contacts, but none on the front bedding block. Instead there are witness marks on the bottom of the recoil lug and on the bedding block where the recoil lug has been contacting. It seems to me that the recoil lug is preventing the action from completely seating in the accustock. Correct me if I'm wrong, but should I be filing the recoil lug to allow the action to seat on the front block?

The rifle shoots sub 1" groups at 100m, but I can't help but feel that I can get this thing to shoot better. My weatherby vanguard shoots 1/2" groups, and I really want this rifle to be able to do the same or better!

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[GaCop]

For a standard stock, it won't hurt to try that but you have to be sure to keep the bottom of the lug very straight. If your working with an Accustock, I have no experience with those so hopefully someone with an accustock will chime in shortly.

[groaner71]

Today I took the stock off and took some before and after pics.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29100725.jpg
No witness marks where the front pillar should contact

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29100801.jpg

Witness mark where the rear pillar contacts ... Notice how the contact area tapers off to no contact approaching the forward area

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29100857.jpg
Recoil lug witness mark ... Most of the way to the barrel, but not quite

[groaner71]

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29100934.jpg
Rear pillar showing contact

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29101015.jpg
Front pillar showing no contact with action.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29101035.jpg
Note: couldn't get a clear picture, but you can see the witness marks where the bottom edge of be recoil lug was rubbing on the aluminum in the bottom of the stock in front of the front pillar.

[groaner71]

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29113636.jpg
Applying a few lines of white out to the pillars to check for contact. I had to reinstall the stock and torque to spec then remove the stock and verify that some of the witeout transfered to the action on the pillars, but none at the base of the recoil lug.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20bedding%20fix/2011-10-29115127.jpg
Showing the white out transfer and the modified recoil lug.

I will reblue the recoil lug base now. I used a fine mill file to take about 1/16" off the base. Just enough to eliminate contact between the base of the recoil lug and the stock. Put a small chamfer of the lug so its not sharp, and made sure there were no stray metal filings. Fresh oil and ready to re sight in.

[groaner71]

I did the removal in two stages. After removing half the total amount, I still had no contact with the ft pillar. Didn't want to take off more than I had to

[Guipago]

I had same problem, same gun in .308, look for "Accustock problem solved" further down in these pages, take off the bottom metal that holds the mag in & check to see if the front tag on the mag plate that the front action bolt goes thru is miss-aligned with the rear one, if it is it won't allow the action to get pulled down onto the bedding, the tag bends when you torque the action down, NO touchy on front action bedding, solution is a new bottom metal or file down the bottom metal where it touchs the underside of the aluminium bedding block, mine had witness marks on it to show where it was touching, the area to work on is where a pin goes thru the plate & holds the mag release in. hope you sort it out.

[groaner71]

Thanks. Looks like one more thing to check in to. Your post is actually the one that got me looking at my bedding and thus finding that there was no contact due to my recoil lug interfering with the stock. That being fixed now I will check into.the bottom metal casting as well. I do have pillar contact on both pillars now. But I "feel" some spring on the front pillar screw while torquing to spec.

Thanks for the input.

[Guipago]

Thats the same as I felt when torquing it down but I didn't twig to it, after I adjusted the plate the front screw felt more solid than before when torqued down, it made a dramatic improvment to my groups from 4" down to under 3/4" at 200 yds this was hard for me to believe & I'd just shot it! I took it out to the range where I shoot F-class & had a go at 800yds shooting Federal Premium 175 matchkings off a harris bi-pod & was able to keep them inside our 5 ring which is a 20" circle, I'm a happy little wombat!

[groaner71]

I took my bottom metal off and checked the witness marks on the mag housing metal and stock aluminum rail where the two meet. All good on mine. Time to take it out this weekend and see how it shoots now.

[groaner71]

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/wanted021/savage%20FCP-K/2011-11-05173521-1.jpg

Took my rifle out today. Fixed the accuracy issues. .352 MOA with factory ammo. I'm happy with that. Pulled the second shot on a 5 round grouping. Now to figure out why this blasted trigger keeps tripping! Time for a new thread