Help with pillar/glass bedding Ruger 77/22 rimfire

[patrick_sween]

I'm about to attempt my first pillar/glass bedding job, on my 77/22. I have a few questions. I think I'll use the Acraglas Gel from Brownells. Is there any special tips to using it, or is it as easy as they say? Also, the 77/22 has a pretty complicated bottom profile. I'm planning to plug all openings and pin holes with clay before bedding, is there a better way to keep the glass where it belongs? I have my pillars cut and fitted, and the stock has been reworked to accept them with no binding. I intend to bed the flats around the pillars front and rear, but should I also bed the flat between the trigger hanger and the mag opening? How about the first inch or two of barrel? There's no typical recoil lug on this action, so what areas should I be concerned with? I plan to use electrical tape around the flat sides and around the rear of the action to provide clearance and prevent binding, is this the way to go? And, last but not least, is the release agent in the kit easy to use or should I also buy some spray mold release? Sorry for the long post, but hopefully you guys can steer me straight before I dive into this. Thanks!
Patrick

[gunnut69]

Glass bedding is not rocket science and each of us develope their own procedures.  I always bed the rifle before installing the pillars.  Bedding a rifle can alter the way it shoots, installing pillars should have not effect of the way the rifle shoots but is intended to halt compression of the wood between the action and the bottom metal. This has the effect of stopping changes that may occur over time. So if your rifles is bedded and shoots just great then installing pillars can lengthen the time before that changes... In any case I use more Acgraglassjel than any other product.  The releaase agent I dislike intensely, instead use a simple coating of wax.  Easy to apply and creates nice tight tolerances(a thin coat). In these rifles with their slip fit barrels I've found that bedding a few inches of barrel to be the minimum and infact have found bedding the entire barrel can benefit the shooting of some barrels.  Bed the tang well and the small areas on the sides that provide some prevention of movement to the rear.  I use masking tape to provide clearance on the front and sides where needed.  The black plastic tape I used one time MELTED from a reaction with the bedding..  Masking tape won't melt and the glue bond is easy to overcome during removal.  The wax for a release agent is applied with a short brislted brush.  This makes a thin even coat with total coverage fairly easy and quick to obtain.  Remember to coat all surfaces, even where you don't thinkg the bedding will go.  If it does it is a powerful glue.  Any area that bedding could get into and that would create a mechanical lock should be filled with modeling clay and be sure to wax over the clay and the adjacent metal surfaces after the clays installed.  This will cut down on the bedding infiltrating cracks that could caause problems later. A little tip, when applying the bedding compound to the areas where it is to go, apply a tack coat to the areas it is to stick to, then apply the rest of the material to fill the hollowed out area to the middle of the cuts. Thus as the action is lowered into its recess the bedding compound will be squeezed from the middle to the edges and up the sides. This will limit air being trapped by the compound. The bubbles created by trapped air may require filling and are at the least iratating..  Remember, better to be too cautious than to be sorry, the clay and the wax are eaasy to remove...the bedding is not!

[7mm MAGNUM]

gunnut69,.... here's a weblink that should give you an idea of the steps you need to perform for either glass or pilliar bedding along with floating your barrel.

Hope this helps you out!  :grin:


http://riflestocks.tripod.com/

[Nobade]

You can go here:
www.probed2000.com
and download instructions for using his pillar bedding and epoxy as a .pdf file. Very helpful!

[gunnut69]

7mm MAGNUM-
I've done a few hundred bedding jobs but for the most part agree with the gentleman at the link provided.  I usually use a small round gouge to remove a little wood in the inletting where the glass is to go. Providing a bit more room for glass where there is likely to be a lot of stress as in behind the recoil lug.  The free floating approach is very stable but oft times the best accuracy is found with a bit of forearm pressure.  The bedding in a rifle also acts as a vibration dampener.  That's why a fully bedded barrel can work.  Most of the british and european rifles were bedded full contact.  The stock absorbs the barrel vibration much as the stabilizer on a bow does.  This improves consistancy from shot to shot.  On mausers the flat behind the recoil lug, the recoil lug and the first few inches of the barrel should be bedded.  I try and tie these areas into a single unit by pouring them all at once.  If the caliber is of heavy recoil the flanks of the action and even the magazine box can add recoil surface but it's a lot of trouble unless the recoil control is needed.  All mausers came pillar bedded from mauserwerke.  There was a steel ferrule between the tang of the action and the bottom metal, surrounding the rear action screw.  The front screw is linked metal to metal (action to bottom metal) already..  I would strongly advise you to keep vinegar away from a finely blued rifle.  The acid in the vinegar will cause nearly immediate rusting.. Instead the metal can be cleaned with acetone which doesn't on it's own corrode steel. It does however totally degrease the metal and unless cared for the action can rust quickly..  As for pillar bedding as an accuracy technique I disagree.  Pillar bedding is the introduction of incompressable pillars or tubes around the action screws.  Usually these are metal but they may be made of any material that will not compress to an appreciable degree over time.  It should have no effect on the bedding of the tang, action, recoil lug, and barrel reinforce.  Thus it will not change the way the action or barrel vibrates when fired thus not causing any changes to the rifles accuracy.  What pillars do is to stop the inexorible compression of the wood between the action and the bottom metal, that occurs from the constant pressure of the action screws.  The most consistant rifle I own is an old custom 300 WinMag built on an American Enfield action.  It's been glass bedded and the barrel is full length bedded.  This was done using 'Herters' bedding compound, so should give you some idea of the time frame, even though it may have been in the shop a while before it's use.  It almost never requires sight adjustments unless the telescope is removed or the loaded changed.. Even then the changes are slight. Action screw torque is another mistery.  If all is correctly bedded the screw tension should have minimal effect of the way the rifle performs.  If there is tension in the barrel or if the action is not bedded solid and even, the screw tension may indeed make a difference.  The Ruger rifles(both the 10/22 and the 77/22) about which the initial question was asked are unusual in that they have a slip fit barrel mounting system.  Not a press fit or an interference fit but a slip fit and a loose one at that sometimes.  I haven't tried but would bet they would respond to a barrel bedding technique.  That's where the barreled action is held into the stock by bonding the barrel, full length, to the barrel channel..  This allows the action to for the most part float.  Some stability has to be provided to create a repeatable trigger action and dampen harmonics but the integrity of the barreled action/stock is maintained by the barrel's bonding with the barrel channel.