I MAY have screwed up my bedding job...

Well the last rifle I did, I used PC5000 which is a two part epoxy that is fluid enough to flow in the cracks and gaps, and will a libral coating of mother's wax it popped out just fine. This time all I had was quik steel. It mixed up to the consistency of play doh. I taped and coated everything with a liberal amount of Mother's wax. Because of the clay play doh consistency I hope it will bed ok. I torqued the action in good and tight and coated the action screws too. I just hope that I get a good fit around the recoil lug since quik steel doesn't flow like the PC5000 did.

I've used play doh to fill in spaced I didn't want the epoxy to go and never had a problem. You should be ok.

The very worst thing that can happen is, you have to dremel it out and do it again.

Its hard to say at this point. For certain, there is nothing to worry about. If it's not right you can always dremel it out of there and redo it. I have done so a number of times.

The test will be when it is all done, if you can turn the action screws freely and then they suddenly STOP when tight. There should not be any hint of a gradual tightening of the screws. If there is, it is a sure sign you are exerting some kind of binding, or twisting pressure on the action against the stock. The whole point of bedding the action to the stock is to avoid any kind of binding force on it. Instead, it should just sit freely, naturally into position the stock, and the screws turn easily until they suddenly STOP as if bottoming out.

You shouldn't even be using action screws.......should be using bedding screws with no heads.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

You shouldn't even be using action screws.......should be using bedding screws with no heads.

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Yep. Don't use the screws to bring the stock into the epoxy mud and stock. That will almost always cause you to impart stress on the action while bedding. As a result,your when your epoxy sets, the bedding job will be wack 'cuz it's based upon a stressed action.

Cut the heads off of bolts that are longer than your screws... maybe grind the non-threaded ends to a slight taper so they feed into the holes easy... gently press the barreled action down into the bedding material, till it rests on your pillars. Then use electrical tape to hold it there. Wrap your tape around the stock and action near the action screws/bolts and pillars only. You don't want to exert pressure, for example, on the center of the action in the area spanning between the screws. That is your weakest point, and you may cause stress there if you push hard on it.

also wrap tape around your bedding screws , coat w/release agent
you do not want to use your pillars as a recoil lug

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Originally Posted by foxx

As a result,your when your epoxy sets, the bedding job will be wack 'cuz it's based upon a stressed action.

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...as well as all the other stuff you put on top of it.

Bill