Bedding a 77MkII

[AtlLaw]

I've got an early Mark II in .257 Roberts that I want to glass bed.  On Remchesters I usually just bed the recoil lug area and intend to do the same on this rifle.  Are there any tricks I should know or things to watch out for?

[safetysheriff]

i'm guessing this is going to arouse some of your ire; but why are you bedding the rifle?    i think that many of these rifles that are pressure-bedded such as the Ruger Model 77 MkII and the Rem' Model 700 in many variants,  shoot very well that way.   i think they are improved upon by trigger work and by handloading.    but, too many people have done no good to a rifle by free-floating the barrel and bedding the action.     

Ruger's angled front action screw is a kind of bedding, along with the rear screw, of course.   if anything, i'd pull the barrel'd action and put a small piece of thin rubber (like from a refrigerator magnet maybe with grease on it) under the barrel just behind the foreend, or use a thin piece of vinyl sheeting.    many people have found that very effective in improving the factory pressure bedding.   obviously it's cheap and easy as all getout to accomplish.

because i won't assume what your level of expertise is right now, i'll ask, "does that make any sense?"         

take care,

ss'     

[AtlLaw]

Hey SS!

i'm guessing this is going to arouse some of your ire; but why are you bedding the rifle?

Naw, I don't get ired up at my age!    I did switch this discussion over to the gunsmithing forum after I didn't get any answers here, but I'm happy to continue this thread!  With my Remchesters, if I can't get a rifle to shoot acceptably or as good as I think it can the first thing I normally do is bed the first 1.5 - 2 inches of barrel, the recoil lug and receiver ring.  That normally makes a noticeable improvement in accuracy.

i think that many of these rifles that are pressure-bedded such as the Ruger Model 77 MkII and the Rem' Model 700 in many variants,  shoot very well that way.

As a general statement you'll get no argument from me there.

i think they are improved upon by trigger work and by handloading.

Again, no argument.  One of the first things I do or have done when I start working with a rifle (before load development) is a trigger job or after market trigger.  I have all mine set to 3 lbs +/-.  Then I do the load development to see how she behaves.  As I remember, this rifle shoots best with 115 Nosler PT's seated close to the lands at about 2750 fps. Or, at least that was the hunting load I settled on not having ample time to do everything I wanted to before the season opened.  About a 1.5 inch load as I remember.

but, too many people have done no good to a rifle by free-floating the barrel and bedding the action.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by no good, but my premise has always been that it couldn't hurt (if properly done).    

Ruger's angled front action screw is a kind of bedding, along with the rear screw, of course.

And that's exactly my question, never having glassed a Ruger before, are there any tricks or problems I need to look out for when glassing the area around the angled screw?

if anything, i'd pull the barrel'd action and put a small piece of thin rubber (like from a refrigerator magnet maybe with grease on it) under the barrel just behind the foreend, or use a thin piece of vinyl sheeting.    many people have found that very effective in improving the factory pressure bedding.   obviously it's cheap and easy as all getout to accomplish.

because i won't assume what your level of expertise is right now, i'll ask, "does that make any sense?"

It does.  Someone in the other forum mentioned the same thing.  As I told him I don't remember if I tried that on this rifle or not and it isn't mentioned in any of my notes.  So I assume I didn't.  I will try it though, I love to experiment!

Thanks for your input!

[safetysheriff]

what i meant by doing "no good" after bedding the rifle's action and removing the pressure-bedding at the foreend............is that a number of people actually found accuracy deteriorating.   their accuracy was lessened.   

the part of bedding the action with the diagonal screw doesn't strike me as creating any special situation except for movement of the glass bedding along the channel for the action inside the stock.    you'd be moving some of the bedding compound slightly toward the front of the action and possibly away from the rear of the action and its seat in the stock.   that might create a void at the rear while squeezing out a larger amount of compound at the front of the action.   what might make sense in that case is to use a pillar for the rear screw to firmly locate the rear of the action in the stock.   

let us know how it goes,

ss'