Another bedding question

I got my pillars installed with help from ya'll in my previous thread. Thanks so much! They came out perfect. I used the original formula JB Weld, and they're solid as a rock. Tang is floated to a business card test.
Next step is to do the bedding. I have a question on this: how do I prevent the goop from getting into the screw holes and locking things up? In theory, the goop will stop at the top of the pillars, but if it doesn't, I'm screwed. Per Stangfish's advice, I did not "groove" the top of the pillars, I left them square to the action. Won't that cause a tiny gap for the goop to go into? I already plan on coating the screws with Kiwi, but I'm still nervous about it.

Modeling clay will usually do. Put a very small bead of it around your pillars and don't go overboard on the JB. Yes, coat everything with release you don't want permastuck!

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Originally Posted by Jetpig

Modeling clay will usually do. Put a very small bead of it around your pillars and don't go overboard on the JB. Yes, coat everything with release you don't want permastuck!

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So basically make a small gasket with the clay?

Yeah, I plan on coating everything generously, even my dog for good luck.

Why should the receiver tang be free floated?

I use case lube for the action screws and even the screw holes and inside the action. Smear it around. If you use the action screws for holding it all together, no matter what you try, some can still get pushed up into the screw holes and then it gets driven into the action as you tighten the screws down. You definitely do NOT want that stuff inside the action without a lot of release agent in there beforehand.

The dog is a good idea, too!

One more thing...

VERY important...

Take a xanax when you're done. It can be a killer waiting for it to set! :)

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Originally Posted by JMGlasgow

Why should the receiver tang be free floated?

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I don't know if it is really necessary; some swear by it, others do not.

I think there is a possibility that if it is not floated it can cause binding stress on the rest of the action. The safe bet is to free-float it just like the barrel.

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Originally Posted by foxx

One more thing...

VERY important...

Take a xanax when you're done. It can be a killer waiting for it to set! :)

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Amen to that! I didn't sleep a wink just waiting on the pillars to dry.

I'm thinking I'll put a good coat of Kiwi shoe polish inside the pillars, and coat the bolts as well. Some Kiwi in the bolt holes in the action certainly can't hurt anything either. I'll try to form a bead of Kiwi on the top edge of the pillars too.
Sound like a plan?
Never thought of case lube, but it seems it would run. The Kiwi will stay where I put it. What say you?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JMGlasgow

Why should the receiver tang be free floated?

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Because of the savage action design. There is no action screw back there, so make sure it's not touching anything to avoid a pressure point and stress to the action.

as long as the wax is applied to every bit of the screws and their grooves. You can be more generous with those than the surface of the action. (You want the action to have a light, thin, almost miniscule amount of wax on it... aim for a perfect fit between it and the bedding material when you are done.) Everything else can be lubed-up as much as you feel safe with. For me, more is better.

The inside of the pillars does not matter much. As long as you can remove the screws when done. If some material remains when you are done, you can drill them out.

I coat the action screws with release agent, use a q-tip to coat the threads in the action with release agent, and also use a q-tip to coat the inside of the pillars with release agent. Everything should come apart okay. Bedding compound that squeezes down inside the pillars shouldn't stick to either the screws or the inside of the pillars and what does get in there typically chips apart easily.

Main thing to check when you're done... If for some reason some bedding compound sticks inside the pillar, either drill or file it out so that it cannot contact the action screw. The shaft of the action screw should not make contact with the inside of the pillar (or bedding compound attached to it).

I don't use the action screws, I use guide screws.
http://i39.tinypic.com/b4ys5h.jpg

They're 3" 1/4-28 bolts with the heads cut off and the threads shortened to about a 1/4". After applying the release, Kiwi or Johnson's paste wax, I turn them in until the unthreaded portion bottoms out on the receiver then set it in the goop. I don't "pull" them in the bedding, its too easy to reproduce the stock to action error(s) by flexing the action, they bend easier than you think! Its why I bed a stock to an action, not the action to a stock.

http://i40.tinypic.com/w89a3m.jpg

A few days later I remove the screws, open the pillars for screw clearance then do the final cleanup.

Bill

If you use the brownells bedding screws that look like long studs and screw them into the action first and tape around the barrel to center it in the barrel channel you wont have the epoxy getting into the threads or reciever where the bolt goes.You should always spray oil into the reciver to make darn sure the epoxy doesnt ooze into place's you don't want it either.Tape your stock on the edge's where it will ooze out so you can wipe it off.If it gets on the wood then you are set to refinish it possibly because getting it off is almost impossible.