bedding a tacticool

[jpdown]

I just finished pillar and glass bedding a tacticool for Savage 11 CF DBM with LV CBI barrel.

1. I put 4 layers of tape under the tang and under the barrel at the forend to float everything. Had to open up the barrel channel for the LV CBI barrel.

2. I did not need to remove stock material because I had plenty of room for bedding already. Only roughed up the bedding surface.

3. I put 2 layers of tape on front and sides of recoil lug and around barrrel nut. No tape on back of recoil lug. I also remove a little wood behind the recoil lug so that there is room for bedding material

4. I use Devcon Plastic Steel Epoxy from the local hardware store, but JB weld will also work.

5. My advide is to get some 3 inch 1/4" fine thread bolts and cut the heads off. Screw into action and put 2-layers of tape around bolts at the base of the action. This is so your action screws will will be centered in the stock holes. Push the action down into the bedding using the bolts attached to the action to guide into place. You want the action to set stress free while the bedding cures. Trying to tighten the action screw to pull the action down into the bedding may intoduce unwanted stress. Then you can just tap the bolts protruding through the stock to break the action free after the bedding has cured for 24 hours.

6. Pillars are not necessary if you are bedding the action and both action screw heads are going to tighten against metal (ex. CF DBM stock) and not wood (ex. front screw on woodk blind magazine stock).

7. Best household release agent in Kwiki Neutral shoe polish.

Also, if you are bedding a stock with DBM, make sure it is going to feed before you start bedding the action. The DBM for my .204 Ruger set too low in the tacticool stock and it would not feed. I had to deepen the DBM inletting and bed the front and rear of the metal DBM frame to replace the wood I removed. I also had to sand 1/4" of wood off the base of the stock around the trigger guard so that the bottom of the stock was flush with the top of the trigger guard. A lot more work than I had planned for a "drop-in" stock. This may not be an issue with a larger caliber (ex. .308).

After all that inletting and sanding, I re-painting the stock with Duracoat. Next step is some webbing paint and I'm done. The pictures below show the final results of the pillar/Devcon bedding job. Note I had to sand off a lot of wood around the trigger guard to get it flush with the bottom of the stock. So it has lost some of its "Tacticool" look.