Steel-Coat Bedding Enhancement: A Step Beyond Pillar Bedding

Many modern-day gun stocks are made of carbon fiber or other synthetic material. Some of these have integral aluminum bedding blocks for improved action bedding and stiffness. A few benchrest shooters even go so far as to glue the action into the stock, forming a virtual one-piece unit. This begs the question: Cana conventional walnut target stock be bedded to parallel the accuracy of these newer synthetic stocks? The answer is yes, if the bedding is properly applied.

There are many good target stocks made by such manufacturers as Remington, Winchester, Ruger, Sako, Savage, and others. With carefully applied bedding, these wood stocks can come very close to performing equally to their synthetic counterparts. Over many years, my testing has borne this out.

In this article, I’ll detail what I’ve done to improve the accuracy of the Remington Model 40X wood target stock, although this method of stock Right top: A pair of High-Score Pillars have been installed in the walnut stock on this Remington Model 40X target rifle. Right bottom: The completed steel-coat bedding-enhancement job is shown here on the same rifle stock.

The bottom of the receiver now fits this bed with microscopic precision, resulting in improved accuracy. bedding can be applied to most other wood target stocks as well. Remington Arms has offered the Model 40X target/benchrest rifle equipped with a walnut stock for more than a half century. This is a heavy stock, bedded at the receiver ring and with the rear action tang bearing directly on the wood.

Although they’re preceisely inletted, these rifles come out of the box without any bedding material interfacing the metal and the wood. As received, the Model 40X target rifles perform admirably with test targets accompanying each rifle. Under normal conditions, these rifles can continue to deliver fine accuracy for years, but the metal-towood stresses will often affect accuracy, leaving the shooter at a loss for the cause.

In working with more than three dozen Model 40X rifles, I have been able to improve, restore or maintain the original accuracy performance of all those I’ve worked with. This has included conventional glass bedding, pillar bedding, and a unique combination of pillar bedding and what I call "steel-coat bedding enhancement." I’ve covered pillar bedding in previous articles, so in this one I concentrate on my steel-coat beddingenhancement method. I’ll begin here with a stock that has

been properly bedded using a reliable pillar-bedding system or one of the better stock-bedding compounds like Brownells Steel-Bed or the like. What I call the "steel coat" is then applied over the existing bedding at the receiver ring and rear tang surfaces, or in some cases in areas where other major bedding surfaces exist. With the Remington Model 40X’s two-point bedding system, it involves only the receiver ring and rear tang.

The steel coat I use is made of common .002-inch shim stock, which can be easily formed to fit the curved surface of the stock area to be covered. I cut it with scissors and make the screw hole in the center guard with a high-speed burr in a Dremel tool. This is then bonded in place with J-B Industro Weld, which is a non-shrinking epoxy formulation with an extremely high tensile strength. To make the patterns, I use tracing paper marked with a fine-point marking pen.

The outlines are transferred to the shim stock and carefully cut to size. Be sure to mark the screw hole as well. The pieces of shim stock are easily formed to fit the stock curves by rolling them on around rod of slightly smaller diameter than the bedding surface.

Then, after the pieces are cut Below left and Once the part is coated with adhesive, the screw hole must be aligned perfectly to avoid displacement of the shim as the action is lowered into the bed. and formed, I abrade the underside of each with 220-grit paper while holding them on a curved surface similar in size to the receiver ring. At this time, I also roughen the surface of the stock at the rear tang support and the receiver ring.

Removing a couple thousandths of stock material at the sides of the receiverring area provides some space for the steel coat and the bonding material. In doing this, I’m careful to avoid removing so much material that the radial dimensions are changed. The next step is to try the parts a final time to ensure that they fit perfectly and the curves are properly shaped.

Then I apply a thin coat of release agent to the action receiver ring and the tang, and clean the mating surfaces and the steel shims with lacquer thinner or acetone. Once a small amount of J-B Cold Weld has been mixed, everything is set to go back together. It takes only a thin coat of the epoxy to do the job. Excess epoxy will be forced out as the action is drawn down with the two action screws.

The stock should be placed horizontally in a padded vise so the action can be lowered squarely into the stock without the steel-coat parts shifting. The guard screws are then torqued down to just short of normal tightness. The J-B epoxy will cure to steel-like hardness in roughly eight hours. I leave the unused portion of the epoxy on my bench, and when it gets firm to the touch, I remove the action from the stock.

Any excess material can easily be removed at this time; but, beware, it becomes harder to remove as it cures fully. Then I place the action back into the stock and moderately tighten the guard screws. The rifle will be ready to use in 10 to 15 hours. It’s a good idea to keep the rifle in a warm place until the epoxy fully cures. Combined with pillar bedding, my "steel-coat bedding enhancement" forms what I feel is the best receiver support possible on a wood stock.

A virtually air-tight action-bearing surface is formed in this way over nearly four square inches of surface. Accuracy is bound to be improved. ■