help needed bedding a Choate v-block

[jayvav]

I've been reading up on bedding for the a while now since this will be my first bed job. Im trying to squeeze a little more accuracy out of my model 10fp in a choate stock. I know people have different opinions on if bedding a v-block is necessary but I am sure it couldnt hurt if done right. My question is, when bedding the v-block is it necessary to remove some of the aluminum to make clearance for the bedding compound or should i just spread the compound over the block as it is? and if it is necessary, where exactly should i remove the material from? Has anyone had any experience bedding a choate stock? Id be interested to hear how it worked out for you.

Thanks,
Jay

[pepper savage 111]

Um... just bed the recoil lug are if you feel the need to bed the stock. I WOULDN'T EVER remove any material fron the billet bedding block. The whole point of a full length aluminum bedding block is that aluminum is soft enough to form around and cradle the action when properly torqued yet still strong enough to keep it in one spot. Feel free to try and bed the action area but I think you'll just end up hammering brass tacks into nine inch nails.

[FW Conch]

I agree with "111". The Choate stocks may not be pretty, and they are heavy. But as far as the bedding system, they are the "cats butt" :-). Many of us in this sport do things out of OCD, or whatever, and proclaim "it really helped". Perhaps what really happened, we thought it should help, and it gave us more confidence and made us a better shooter? If your Choate Stocked rifle won't shoot with a high dollar chassis system, it's not the fault of the Choate bedding system.

Now, if you have the time and money to do this, and are sure it will be beneficial, please do so and let us know how it worked out:-).

Please do not remove any of the bedding surface!

JMHO...Good Luck...Jim :-)

Oh! Where are my manners....Welcome to the Forum ! :-)

[foxx]

all of the above, pepper and Conch.

[jayvav]

Thanks for the replies. I guess if i bed it at all it would just be the recoil lug area. I still see a lot of people remove some material from the front of the block area to give some clearance for the compound. do you think this would be helpful at all or does it really make a difference?

[pepper savage 111]

The recoil lug channel in the choate stock is plenty large enough for any available recoil lug. You wont have to remove any material.

Food for thought. Unless you're custom making a stock from scratch, there's no reason to remove any material from the action/recoil lug area. If you have a fitment issue with a stock you bought, contact the manufacturer who made it.

[foxx]

The recoil lug channel in the choate stock is plenty large enough for any available recoil lug. You wont have to remove any material.

Food for thought. Unless you're custom making a stock from scratch, there's no reason to remove any material from the action/recoil lug area. If you have a fitment issue with a stock you bought, contact the manufacturer who made it.

Well, if I am bedding a wood stock, I always relieve wood wherever I plan to add epoxy. The whole point of bedding is to replace wood with epoxy.

[FW Conch]

And not aluminum with epoxy :-)

[Txhillbilly]

I have 4 Choate stocks and 3 Boyds laminate stocks. None of them are glass bedded,and they all shoot 1/2 moa or better when I do my part.

The only rifle that I've ever felt the need to bed the action on is my 1903A3,and it really didn't need it.

[Bunky-Shooter]

I own 2 Choate stocks and both have shot .20 groupings .. (5 shot @ 100yrds) The aluminum bedding system is one of the best in the business. If your gun isn't shooting tight groups you should start a process of elimination to get your groupings where you would like them... bullet, powder, load charge, seating depth along with shooting form. Just some food for thought.. Its not the bedding
system.. I agree with FW, replacing aluminum with a softer epoxy is not the way to go... good luck !!!

[eddiesindian]

I own 2 Choate stocks and both have shot .20 groupings .. (5 shot @ 100yrds) The aluminum bedding system is one of the best in the business. If your gun isn't shooting tight groups you should start a process of elimination to get your groupings where you would like them... bullet, powder, load charge, seating depth along with shooting form. Just some food for thought.. Its not the bedding
system.. I agree with FW, replacing aluminum with a softer epoxy is not the way to go... good luck !!!

roger that
for the money?....you just cant beat it. Ive had mine on my K model in 308 shooting heavies and the ergonomics of the stock fit perfect. big,heavy, got some gerth at the palm. its perfect for me as is.
the only thing I did was bed the recoil lug.
I can actually admit that I prefer choate over hs

[Beekeeper]

I've got a model 10 action with a .308Win Shilen barrel in a Choat stock, and I can shoot under 3/4" easily, and 1/2" on really good days with handloads. I'd start trying to rule other things out before looking at the stock at the issue. I agree with the first poster too on not removing aluminum from the stock.

[LongRange]

ive been watching this thread since it was posted and i will have to disagree with a few of you guys about bedding an aluminum block...i had a bell clarlson A5 and can tell you the aluminum blocks are not perfect like you guys think they are...are they better than wood or plastic? sure they are!! are they as good as a devcon bedding? NO!!

like the poster above i shot about 500 rounds through a shilen barrel in the BC A5 and the groups were like his 1/2" or so...no disrespect Beekeeper or to anyone else that has posted here but im not happy with 1/2" groups.

i pulled the action out of the stock one day just to see what was going on and the recoil lug was barely touching the block and only on the left side and the action itself was only touching in spots and mostly on the right side where the tang met the action...when i first shot the rifle i had to add 8 moa right to get on target at 200yds.
after bedding the entire action and lug i got 7 moa of the 8 back and the rifle shot in the 3s and 4s with me driving.

when i bedded it i put 3 or 4(dont remember exactly)pieces of gorilla tape(aprox .070")on the under side of the action right at the recoil lug then put the same tape on the bottom of the action at the tang where it met the action.i wrapped the barrel with black electrical tape a couple of inches back from the end of the stock and went a couple of wraps at a time until i could set the action in the stock and push on the tang with my thumb and nothing moved...i was running a PTA so i added a pillar for the third screw.
i used a dremell and a carbide bit and removed a 1/4" from the recoil lug area(front of the block)then used the same bit and cut some channels in the block then drilled several small holes in the block and bedded the entire action.

you can see how much material i removed at the lug...i wanted LOTS of devcon in there...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-6.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-6.jpg.html)

the pillar added...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-6.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-6.jpg.html)

finished bedding...the hole at the front screw was from the tape on the action screws and the one at the rear must of been a bubble....

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-7.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-7.jpg.html)

[foxx]

Longrange, you did a great job bedding your rifle. There is no doubt about that. Before you did so, though, you inspected it to see it needed bedding. That is not to say all of these need bedding. If the aluminum rail matches the action close enough (as designed), bedding is not necessary. Likewise, if a custom bedding job is not done right, it too needs to be redone.

[Iowa Fox]

LongRange that's a very nice looking job of adding the middle pillar and your bedding job. Could you tell any difference in group size adding the pillar and bedding?

[LongRange]

Longrange, you did a great job bedding your rifle. There is no doubt about that. Before you did so, though, you inspected it to see it needed bedding. That is not to say all of these need bedding. If the aluminum rail matches the action close enough (as designed), bedding is not necessary. Likewise, if a custom bedding job is not done right, it too needs to be redone.

thanks for the props foxx...and i didnt say that an aluminum bock NEEDS to be bedded...and you are 100% correct that mine did...but even had it fit right i would have bedded it anyway just as i did. and i agree if it fits right it dont really NEED to be bedded but on the other hand some of us are not ok with "close enough" or the groups that close enough produce. the choate stocks are not a super high end precision stock and neither are the B&Cs and IMHO a GOOD bedding job will just make them better.




LongRange that's a very nice looking job of adding the middle pillar and your bedding job. Could you tell any difference in group size adding the pillar and bedding?

yes...as i said above i had to dial in 8 MOA right at 200yds to get on target when i first put that rifle together and groups were 1/2" to 3/4" no matter what i did...after bedding i had to dial 7MOA back left to get back on zero at 200yds so i gained back 7MOA of wind...groups went from 1/2" + to high 3s low 4s on average with an occasional high 2 if i was having a good day...but keep in mind my aluminum block wasnt right to begin with.

[PaddyD]

I just received my new Choate Ultimate Varmint for my old FP. Was all ready to bed the recoil lug till I thought about why I have this type rifle in the first place. I bought it because I could easily swap barrels and go from my .308 to a 6mm BR. I passed on the bedding sinceI don't know if my lug will be exactly put back in it's original position or not. Anyone bed and then rebarrel? Any issues or is it all good?

[foxx]

Don't bed the nut and you will be fine. I always bed up to rear of lug, free float under it an forward of it.

[LongRange]

^^^this right here.

[barrel-nut]

ive been watching this thread since it was posted and i will have to disagree with a few of you guys about bedding an aluminum block...i had a bell clarlson A5 and can tell you the aluminum blocks are not perfect like you guys think they are...are they better than wood or plastic? sure they are!! are they as good as a devcon bedding? NO!!

like the poster above i shot about 500 rounds through a shilen barrel in the BC A5 and the groups were like his 1/2" or so...no disrespect Beekeeper or to anyone else that has posted here but im not happy with 1/2" groups.

i pulled the action out of the stock one day just to see what was going on and the recoil lug was barely touching the block and only on the left side and the action itself was only touching in spots and mostly on the right side where the tang met the action...when i first shot the rifle i had to add 8 moa right to get on target at 200yds.
after bedding the entire action and lug i got 7 moa of the 8 back and the rifle shot in the 3s and 4s with me driving.

when i bedded it i put 3 or 4(dont remember exactly)pieces of gorilla tape(aprox .070")on the under side of the action right at the recoil lug then put the same tape on the bottom of the action at the tang where it met the action.i wrapped the barrel with black electrical tape a couple of inches back from the end of the stock and went a couple of wraps at a time until i could set the action in the stock and push on the tang with my thumb and nothing moved...i was running a PTA so i added a pillar for the third screw.
i used a dremell and a carbide bit and removed a 1/4" from the recoil lug area(front of the block)then used the same bit and cut some channels in the block then drilled several small holes in the block and bedded the entire action.

you can see how much material i removed at the lug...i wanted LOTS of devcon in there...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-6.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-6.jpg.html)

the pillar added...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-6.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-6.jpg.html)

finished bedding...the hole at the front screw was from the tape on the action screws and the one at the rear must of been a bubble....

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-7.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-7.jpg.html)

I agree completely. I have a B&C Medalist A5 that needs the same treatment. Otherwise a good stock, but the block on mine doesn't fit to my liking.