The virgin bedding job / "Expectant father" NERVOUS!!!

[Old Medic]

Part of me wants to go to my bench and pry my precious and trusted friend (112 7 mag) from the still wet bedding compound. But I'm gonna man up and wait the obligatory 10 hours before touching it again. Can you believe a 51 year old, veteran grunt could be so anxious about his first bedding job? Feels akin to the anticipated arrival of one of my younguns.
Oh, please, Lord, don't let Maggie be locked up that Pro Varmint tomorrow! Please!?!

[foxx]

I know EXACTLY how you feel. Normally I recommend a couple Xanax for this part!

[chainsaw]

Just wait until its dry and it doesn't come right apart.Talk about your stomach hitting your shoes!I whacked it with a rubber mallet several times and it was just stuck.One more good whack,after crossing my fingers,and it came apart.Talk about relief.

[scooterf79]

Man I love this, cant wait for these feelings when I do my first bedding job here in the next few weeks! Lol
Scooter

[Bigeclipse]

Part of me wants to go to my bench and pry my precious and trusted friend (112 7 mag) from the still wet bedding compound. But I'm gonna man up and wait the obligatory 10 hours before touching it again. Can you believe a 51 year old, veteran grunt could be so anxious about his first bedding job? Feels akin to the anticipated arrival of one of my younguns.
Oh, please, Lord, don't let Maggie be locked up that Pro Varmint tomorrow! Please!?!

did mine a few weeks ago and although it doesn't look as good as I hoped, I put it back together and went and shot it. Old groups used to be 1.5inches at 100 yards...new groups with same load are now .4-.68 inches with no real load development. These are with my hand loads. Now I know what to do better next time I do a bedding job such as how to make it prettier and eliminate bubbles (had a few but most were in the middle parts of the bedding. The front looked decent (this is the most important part of the bedding area). I also used too much kiwi release. You can tell if you used to much if your bed job is not perfectly smooth i.e. very fine swirl type looking things = too much release agent. Like you I was scared so I used too much haha) Lessons learned and if I ever want to make it better I can simply sand it down a bit and do a skim bedding over top of the original bedding. (heard this works fine with devcon as long as the original bedding was also with devcon)

Long story short...don't get depressed if it doesn't look amazing like some pics you may find on the net. Go shoot it first before deciding to rebed it!

[foxx]

Exactly.^^^^^^

[reynoldsfamily3]

Can't wait to hear how this turns out, I will be doing my first bedding job next week.

[Old Medic]

It appears my trepidation was unfounded, because Ol' Maggie popped right out of that Pro Varmint like a champ. After dremeling the rough edges and cleaning the action, I have to say I am very pleased with the results of my first bedding job. I see no bubbles and the finish of the compound is quite smooth. The Pro Varmint stock is now hanging from a rafter in the greenhouse, in front of a space heater, with a coat of the desired paint. I'm interested to see if she shoots as well as she did in the Choate. I love the weight reduction.
I'll definitely be doing it in the future when necessary.

[scooterf79]

Sounds good! If ya have time or a chance...post some pics...Id like to see it. And...did u have the choate tactical? Ive got my 280AI in a choate tactical, its a bit heavier than I anticipated, Im curious to your weight loss?
Scooter

[Fotheringill]

Little hint very good for winter.

If stuck, put it outside wrapped in a blanket or whatever. Metal will contract. Then tap with a rubber mallet. It should come out.

Summer, throw it in a freezer and do as above.

[Old Medic]

Little hint very good for winter.

If stuck, put it outside wrapped in a blanket or whatever. Metal will contract. Then tap with a rubber mallet. It should come out.

Summer, throw it in a freezer and do as above.

Hey, that there's some good info to have. Thanks.

[Old Medic]

Sounds good! If ya have time or a chance...post some pics...Id like to see it. And...did u have the choate tactical? Ive got my 280AI in a choate tactical, its a bit heavier than I anticipated, Im curious to your weight loss?
Scooter
I am plum tickled with the drop in poundage. As close as I can tell with the scale I have it's purt near five pounds less with the Boyd's Pro Varmint. As far as pics go - I tried it a while back but gave up pretty fast. I have little patience with computers, and the instructions in the forum didn't jive with what I found in Photo Bucket. The rifle is all together now, but if you're game, and want to PM me your cell, I'd be glad to text you a couple of pics of the rifle. I don't have any of the bedding job. It looks like most of 'em I've seen on here.

[scooterf79]

Oh ok, Ill send ya a PM. Thats awesome about the weight loss! What contour barrel do you have? I actually have a sporter contour boyds that I ordered wrong (meant to order a SF and ordered a CF). My 280 barrel is a light varmint, so Im not sure itll fit that stock. Pm inbound
Scooter

[limige]

Very nice.

I ordered some devcon. Im going to try it out and pillar bed a 22-250 I have. Been using acraglass but I want to give devcon a try.

Hoping all turns out well

[GaCop]

Very nice.

I ordered some devcon. Im going to try it out and pillar bed a 22-250 I have. Been using acraglass but I want to give devcon a try.

Hoping all turns out well Having used the Devcon a number of times now, I believe it's easier to use than acraglass. It sets up a bit quicker than acraglass too.

[Old Medic]

Oh ok, Ill send ya a PM. Thats awesome about the weight loss! What contour barrel do you have? I actually have a sporter contour boyds that I ordered wrong (meant to order a SF and ordered a CF). My 280 barrel is a light varmint, so Im not sure itll fit that stock. Pm inbound
Scooter

That rifle is a 7 Rem. Mag, target action, trued nut and lug, barrel is 26" heavy varmint .815", Timney trigger, EGW 20 moa base, Millett tactical rings, Hawke Eclipse 30 6-24x50 MilDot IR scope. In the Choate stock I had it a fuzz over 1/2 moa to 800 yards with 168 VLD's over 64 grs IMR4831 with MV 3050. I hope it still shoots that well. Waiting for the lacquer finish to cure and harden before I try her out. I still can't believe how well that gray Valspar Stone paint accents the rifle hardware. With two coats of lacquer the stone paint has a "grippy" texture without being too rough. Very, very pleased to say the least. About to order a sheet of 1/8th inch Kydex to make a cheek rest. Then it's on to the 6.5 Creedmoor build.
Oh, yeah, with the bi-pod and loaded ol' Maggie weighs in at a touch over 12 lbs. For an old grunt, that's a number I can live with.

[scooterf79]

The pics you sent me look really good! Im actually gathering parts for a 7mag as we speak, and am wanting to shoot the 168s too. I really like the idea of the paint job. Did you do much stock prep?
Thanks
Scooter

[Old Medic]

The pics you sent me look really good! Im actually gathering parts for a 7mag as we speak, and am wanting to shoot the 168s too. I really like the idea of the paint job. Did you do much stock prep?
Thanks
Scooter
I just removed the butt pad and swivel studs, plugged all the holes with tissue paper, and wiped it down good with alcohol. I might try the Photo Bucket thing again. Those pics from my phone aren't very good. We'll see.

[limige]

Received my devcon today;)