Glass Bedding - is it really worth the trouble?

WyoYote

WyoYote

New member
I'm considering a do-it-yourself glass bedding job on a rifle I have. I've done some research on the web (and did a 'search' here)...I've heard and read both pro's and con's...some say it's a must, others say that you really don't gain much (if any) accuracy, 10% at best.

Without starting a hate-fest here, I'd like the opinions of guys here who have actually experienced glass bedding a rifle. Was it worth it?
 
I bedded a rem 700 in 270,that absolutly needed it, and it benefitted. Bed all my other rifles in order to eliminate the potential problems. So in other words, I don't know of any down side to bedding your rifle.

Maintain
 
I glass bedded my 10/22 and it went from around 1" groups to 1/2" at 50 yards. My action had a lot of slop in the stock and the 10/22 uses a single takedown screw, so it is a "must" once the barrels floated.
Whether or not it will improve your accuracy will depend on how well the action fits the stock now. It's possible it won't gain you anything at all.
You didn't provide enough details to answer your question intelligently. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Yes, especially if hunting in areas of extreme tempreature changes or humidity. Will also give you better shot to shot consistancy over a wider range of conditions all eles being equal.
 
Really depends on the gun and barrel contour. Sometimes skinny tubes need a little pressure in the forend. I've bedded all my rifles and most of my friends rifles and all ended up shooting better. Free floating on light contour barrels will work well if you bed about 2+" of the barrel channel and shoot in groups of three instead of five. Just My $.02 so don't flame me guys.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif RR
 
I bedded a 30.06 Winchester model 670 that had been my dad's gun. I had shot it several times and had never gotten much better than 1.5" @ 100 yds. After the bedding job and some work on the trigger I was getting better than 1" groups at 100 yds with the same ammo. 180 gr. Rem. core-locs. Can't say how much was bedding and how much was trigger but combination helped immensely IMO.
 
I like to shoot a new rifle to establish a base line and then bed it just to have something to compare it to. I bed all my own rifles and have only once had a decrease in accuracy. That was with the first rifle I had ever bedded, a savage, I ended up figuring out that I didn't leave enough clearance under the rear tang. Once I floated the tang it shot better than it did pre-bedding.

I've been using "grey" Marine-tex for bedding on the last half-dozen rifles I've done and it seems to be working very well so far.
 
bigwheeler said it best. Bedding (or anything else for that matter) will cure an inaccurate rifle, but it will make it more consistent.

Two of the local LE's had me bed their personal rifles recently. Both of these gents are GOOD shooters, but they still experienced the occasional flyer or two regardless if they were using FGM or handloads. The three rifles were Rem P's, stainless, HS stocks, etc, etc. After bedding, there are no more flyers.
 
I recently bedded my 1st rifle. I put a bell and carlson stock on my 300 winmag. With the new stock my groups opened up to around 3 inches at 100 yards with vertical spread.. I bedded it with a 20$ kit from cabelas and now it shoots right at 1 moa.
 
I recently bedded a 788 REm in 223 that when it had dried out from going from a coastal rain forest to the Interior of Alaska. had become a 5" group rifle @ 100 yards that consistently made 2 different groups in the same clip load .... I scratched up the lug area .rear of the chamber and front of the action area and the rear tang .... Hosed the wood off with brake cleaner ... The only epoxy that I had on hand was Aluminox so I cut off a chunk ,needed it up and smeared it on the stock @ the rear tang and recoil lug slot ,chamber and front of the action area .... took wheel bearing grease and smeared it on the action wheree the bedding would be .................. Pushed the action into the bedding , cleaned out the bolt holes ,started the action screws put clamps on front and back , tightened up the action screws and let it sit for a day.......... Next day took it to the range ,afterf sighting it in again it shot a 1 5/32"x1" 4 shot group @ 200 yards .... Same scope ,loads ,rest ,ect.as the 5" group .... The bedding also eliminated the 2 group syndrome ..........................
 
I have never seen a downside to glass bedding - none of the rifles I have glassed (in the hundreds) have ever shot worse or had any other negative effect.


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Quote:
I have never seen a downside to glass bedding - none of the rifles I have glassed (in the hundreds) have ever shot worse or had any other negative effect.
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+1
By bedding, you're providing a more stable platform for the barrel and action to rest upon within the stock. That's good!
Also, I've never encountered a rifle that did not shoot better with the barrel free floating. If the barrel requires forward pressure on it in order to shoot well, something is seriously wrong with that rifle that needs fixing.
 
Quote:
Quote:
I have never seen a downside to glass bedding - none of the rifles I have glassed (in the hundreds) have ever shot worse or had any other negative effect.
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+1
By bedding, you're providing a more stable platform for the barrel and action to rest upon within the stock. That's good!
Also, I've never encountered a rifle that did not shoot better with the barrel free floating. If the barrel requires forward pressure on it in order to shoot well, something is seriously wrong with that rifle that needs fixing.


+1. The whole reason for bedding is stability. +1 on the free-floating the barrel as well. One of the most important steps to obtaining accuracy are these 2 steps.
 
O.K. heres another ?
I have a interarms 30-06 bolt with a sporter barrel, it used to shoot grea. Then I made the mistake of leanding it out to a friend. never shot good again. my ? is should I try to bed the barrel to make it shoot better. I did put pressure point on the end of the barrel and it did help but i want it to shoot like it did b-4 my OLD friend got his mitts on it. also this gun has no recoil lug on it, so would it help to bed the action and barrel.
Cracker
 
Quote:
O.K. heres another ?
I have a interarms 30-06 bolt with a sporter barrel, it used to shoot grea. Then I made the mistake of leanding it out to a friend. never shot good again. my ? is should I try to bed the barrel to make it shoot better. I did put pressure point on the end of the barrel and it did help but i want it to shoot like it did b-4 my OLD friend got his mitts on it. also this gun has no recoil lug on it, so would it help to bed the action and barrel.
Cracker



If your Interarms 30-06 is a commercial Mauser action is does have a recoil lug and yes bedding usually will improve the action, but their might be some other causes for your accuracy problem such as:

Check the muzzle, a ding in the crown can destroy accuracy. Recrowning is not expensive and can return a rifles accuracy dramatically.

Have the barrel checked, a friend loaned his 06 to a buddy and when he got it back the barrel was bent. Hard to see just looking at it, but it destroyed the accuracy.

The only place where glass bedding is somewhat counter productive is with the new injection molded plastic stocks. Because of the chemical makeup getting epoxy materials to stick to them can be a problem. Add to that the flexibility of those stocks and it can even be more of a problem.
 
Quote:
Quote:
O.K. heres another ?
I have a interarms 30-06 bolt with a sporter barrel, it used to shoot grea. Then I made the mistake of leanding it out to a friend. never shot good again. my ? is should I try to bed the barrel to make it shoot better. I did put pressure point on the end of the barrel and it did help but i want it to shoot like it did b-4 my OLD friend got his mitts on it. also this gun has no recoil lug on it, so would it help to bed the action and barrel.
Cracker





Check the muzzle, a ding in the crown can destroy accuracy.







BINGO
 
Bedding can really help a rifle that shoots poorly, I have used it from time to time when I have restocked or built a rifle up from a barreled action. I find the free floating the barrel and bedding the action is as effective if not more so than just doing the barrel channel. Glass bedding compound is also a great repair for a crack in a wood stock.
 
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