Removing bedding to allow for new aftermarket recoil lug

I'd like to use a stock and a bedded action for a 338 Edge build but I want to go with an aftermarket recoil lug. I tried to save a few bucks when I bought the rifle and bedded it with the factory lug. Now that I want to swap barrels to a larger round can I dremel out the devecon bedding in the recoil lug area and re-bed just this area or am I asking for trouble. I know I'd have to get creative with removing material to get the new bedding to "lock in" to the existing devcon.

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated.

That stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime saying comes to mind >:(

I am not sure what stock your working with that might be important, but.....

The working side of the lug (rear facing the front of action landing) should not change. The area in front of the recoil lug is not important, in general; the bottom of lug should not touch the epoxy or stock anyway. You must have bedded the first 1" to 1 1/4 in front of the lug? If you just rough it it all up with sand paper or whatever ("no shiney stuff"), clean with lacquer thinner to make sure it is clean, use the same epoxy, make sure the new lug is not touching new epoxy (if it is you can remove material until it isn't).

If you can increase the temperature to around 120dF (hot box), this will make the epoxy more viscous (make sure the gun is level), increase the bonding strength and shorten the cure time markedly. I use a different epoxy with a higher bonding stength. Devcon sets in 16hours @ roughly 70dF=2500psi, so ~2650psi=120dF for 4 hours?

Got to thinking about what you need to do.

Take the lug place it against the front of the landing area, scribe a line so you know how far out to go. Peal the epoxy off in thin layers with a sharp wood chisel (think small) until enough material is removed (if you remove too much see message above). Assemble the rifle, start shooting.

Thanks for the good ideas!

I didn't think about the fact that the rear face (the important one) of the lug would not change. I bedded with 2 layers of scotch tape around the bottom and sides of the factory lug and right up to the front and rear face. And yes I did bed an inch or so in front of the the lug.

Any negative effects caused by not having a perfect bedding surface on the front face of the lug (barrel side) if I shave it off in thin layers?

Did you mean to say old epoxy in your original reply? "make sure the new lug is not touching new epoxy " If not what did you mean by this (I assume you're talking about new epoxy on front, non-working face of new lug)?

Thanks again for the help.

Mt_hunter, How ya' doin', The after market recoil lug will most likely be a little wider & require you to open up the bedding @ the recoil lug. (my experience) Dremel makes a cutter that works like an old reel type lawn mower blade that will allow you to cut into the area of the lug bedding closest to the trigger. Dremel #115 & #9903 both work. # 9903 will allow you to get into the corners better. If it were me, I'd go ahead and tape off the stock around the receiver and wrap sand paper around some rubber automotive hose (pick diameters that work best for you) and rough up the bedding around the action. Leave a high spot (pillars?) and take out enough material to make for a nice "skim" bed through-out. You can put machine screws through the pillars to insure you don't bugger them up when sanding out the bedding. Pick a screw head just slightly larger than the pillar diameter. I just wouldn't be comfortable bedding only the recoil lug if it were my rifle. To many things to go wrong.-------DON'T step over the dollar ;D Once you have the new lug bedded you'll never have to do it again. Hope this helps, Dale

hog it out! rebed the lug, good to go!

The area infront of the lug will have no effect on the recoil area, however depending on what recoil lug your using you may have to trim the sides to make it flush. This is not a big deal as long as you just shave it flat (continuous surface) for the entire plane. If you don't rebed the lug then it's the old but you rebed the lug area it is the new. 8-p I would wrap the action "studs" (headless 1/4-28 NF machine screws) with tape to make sure the action is centered, if you rebed the lug area. I assume that you bedded the area in front of the lug to stiffen the stock, which is ok just as long as you don't let anything touch the lug other than the front action landing (rear of the lug), layers of tape are fine. B&C Carbelite classic stock's come this way from the factory in the lug area (to stiffen the stock?) and have to be hogged out for larger lugs.

Hope this helps!

At a bare minimum you need to rebed the lug. The "working face" of the lug will absolutely change from the old one.
The old stamped lugs are not the same thickness all the way around.
Therefore they'll project from the action at odd angles depending on thickness variations.
If the top (near the scope) of your old lug is .005" thinner than the bottom you can expect a .0025" discrepancy.
Your new machined lug should be precisely the same thickness. Usually they're deeper as well as wider.
You need to hog out the whole thing and start from scratch.

Personally I would rebed the entire action. Why upgrade the lug and cheat on the bedding?

Thanks for all the input guys. I think I'll do it right the 2nd time (already screwed up the 1st by not going with an aftermarket lug) and rebed the action & lug. Or maybe that would be a good excuse to upgrade the stock. ;D