Ruger Bedding & forend reinforcing

[ejg223]

Just did a write-up on a rifle bedding job on another site.

My friends Ruger mk2 in 6.5x55 has never really shot great.

Goal was to strengthen the forend and bed at the same time.

Pillars are not so important in this hard walnut . ( It's not a soft mc m )

 

After opening the channel and bedding area, a couple carbon rovings are

placed to transfer the recoil shock from the recoil lug straight into the stock.

 

Two layers of unidirectional carbon to stiffen up-down and left-right..

 

A good layer of 30 deg carbon and 30 deg glas up front

 

Some glass filled epoxy in the bedding area, also tang area.

 

 

After a bit of tidy up work it looks like this.

edi

[Orka Akinse]

Hows it shootin now Edi?

[ejg223]

Orka

She's not even dry yet.

I have no worries about the shooting at all.

Big question is always how far forward do you bed?

I think in this case it's bedded a bit too far forward.

 

edi

[Andrew]

Shoot it and find out. I have several fully bedded hunting rifles that will put three shots into MOA or better. ~Andrew

[ejg223]

Andrew, i was convinced my 308 prefered a shorter bedding,

it seemed to shoot better with about 1 inch of the barrel bedded.

 

The 6.5 has roughly 2" of the barrel bedded. Does someone have a

theorie of this what this length should be?

edi

 

[ejg223]

At last we had a go at some paper.

With a bipod on the front and a old sand bag under the but off our

concrete bench. Weather was blustery wind and rainy. Range 100yds.

Firstly I noticed the ruger trigger is not nice, maybe an american lawer stuck in the mechanics

Scope is a 8x56 S&B with No. 4 reticule

To start we tried some factory sako target (SMK) 139 gr rounds.

Shot a 3 shot group out of a clean decoppered barrel.

Scope had been removed so group was a bit way out, but under an inch.

Next we zeroed the scope with some lapua megas 156gr, we noticed after a not very good three shot group that one primer was punctured, and a bit of metal carried over to the next primer where it was stuck onto that. ??

So forget about these.

A fella up the country had loaded a couple 129gr SST's for my friend and we tried those. No pressure signs unloaded better than the lapua. I'm not 100% sure but think they are loaded with 50gr N560. a bit of a flame thrower and a nice bang.

First 3 shot group was around 19mm and second 3 shot group was 16mm so about 0.6".

This load had not been tweeked for this rifle and a bit of load developement or maybe another trigger could tighten the groups.. , but as a hunting rifle she'd be fine as is.

My friend was delighted.

 

edi

[Orka Akinse]

Lookin good Edi, its like you say, as a hunting rifle it ticks all the boxes.........but............ it would be nice to know how small you can get the groups wouldn't it?

[Ronin]

Edi

 

there are two schools of thought on bedding beyond the action.

 

One says do it to provide extra support of a heavy barrelled rifle with short threads (like Rem 700's) - it will relieve some pressure and stress on the action rather than if the weight of the barrel was just left hanging.

 

The second school says not - and if you go farther forward of the action face, you "interupt" the harmonics of the barrel when the shot is fired.

 

Vaughn's book on rifle accuracy touches on this - an interesting read while I am wearing my anorack

 

I have rifles bedded both ways - I cannot say I notice the difference BUT, I prefer the thought of bedding one to 2 inches (around the chamber area) forward of the action face giving extra support and therefore less stress on the action.

 

Thats my 2p

[ejg223]

Orka, I was never too fond of a ruger but I must say it shot

really well with those homeloads. Barrel is only pencil thick.

Anyway it's up too my friend now.

 

 

Ronin,

I'll stick to between 1 & 2" beyond the action.

 

I always wonder how much effort is put into the stock, barrel and action and then only to

be held together by two wimpy 6mm screws. Doesn't seem to make sense. One would think at least

two screws side by side up front would be better and also stiffen against torque better.

 

edi

[Stonewall]

If you bed the barrel there are two things to remember. First if possible bed only the parallel section of the barrel shank .

Second -mask of the bedding with .010 of tape for 1/4 " aproximately along the top edge . When the barrel heats up from firing -the point of impact will remain consistant and it's easy to check the bedding with a dial indicator.

 

On that Ruger it's best to have equal areas of bedding on both sides of the front guard screw-it's more stable with more bedding area.

 

ejg223 Fine work on that stock and a plan well thought out..

 

Glenn

[ejg223]

If you bed the barrel there are two things to remember. First if possible bed only the parallel section of the barrel shank .

Second -mask of the bedding with .010 of tape for 1/4 " aproximately along the top edge . When the barrel heats up from firing -the point of impact will remain consistant and it's easy to check the bedding with a dial indicator.

 

On that Ruger it's best to have equal areas of bedding on both sides of the front guard screw-it's more stable with more bedding area.

 

ejg223 Fine work on that stock and a plan well thought out..

 

Glenn

Thanks Glenn,

did I understand right you meant the bedding would be from about 4 O'clock

to 8 O'clock around the action and barrel?

Didn't even think of that, sounds good.

 

edi