Thread: rifle bedding kit

Originally Posted by Sideshow

No I would respectfully disagree. If you have sealed the rest of the barrel channel then you won't get any water ingress and then you wont get any swelling.
Also if you go 4 times thicker then you are just going to get more debris getting in. Plus its going to add more weight as well as increase head lift/clerance as your barrel/action moves up away form the stock.
If you feel that you can live with lifting it that much sure go ahead. But I really don't see any bonuses in doing this.
Cheers S

I'm referring to the barrel channel only. You also have barrel vibration or whip as one consideration. I've yet to come across a wooden stocked rifle used for hunting that doesn't have some shrinkage or swelling however slight regardless of how well it may be sealed. The usual damp environment will guarantee you'll have a problem sooner or later. Four banknotes in thicknesses is bugger all barrel clearance and won't collect any debris worth worrying about.

I've bedded dozens of rifles over the last forty odd years. Do as you please of course. Just saying I've learn't the folly of following the dollar bill clearance mantra a long time ago.

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Shrinkage and material hardness vs outside temperature are two considerations, others are maximum sustained temperature exposure and chemical resistance. Compression strength is the other consideration (hot glue is poo).

Marine-tex and Devcon are about the same for chemical resistance when cured, JB weld is a little less so. Loctite two pack is pretty bloody good in this regard, but pricey.

Marine-tex is only rated to sustained temperature exposure of 120degC, which on suppressed rifles I wouldn't be surprised to see this limit getting a test or two especially a varmint gun. Who's touched a barrel and burned themselves haha?

Temperature stability once cured (thermal expansion and contraction) is another issue, quite often with a gun that's stuck together a trip into the freezer pops the bits apart. Marine-tex doesn't quote a value here but it's not expected to move between huge extremes of temp (being used near water is the key from the name?). Devcon and Loctite have figures for this, neither are good slightly better than aluminium and in the region of steel. Long-term dimensional stability at a fixed temperature is a nice figure to quote but in actual useage 3% shrinkage is way less than timber over time and likely similar to fibreglass used in stocks depending on the actual material used. Almost certainly better than plastic stocks - yuk.

Chemical resistance is another factor, but the epoxy is likely better than wood and in any event the bore chemicals and solvents shouldn't be allowed near the action screws etc...

On the subject of release agent - shoe polish? FFS...

LPS-3 wax spray preservative, about $28 a can and that will do basically all your firearms work for the next ten years including rust prevention. A light spray will prevent any epoxy I've seen from sticking, won't affect the cure, is food approved and smells nice to use. And will save you about 30 minutes in applying the release agent and will have a better job done at the end of it.

Evidently the key is carnauba wax...it is more resistant to the heat generated by the chemical reaction in the epoxy curing process...big volumes can get silly hot. Fast setting epoxies generate more heat than slow seating, but they can get silly as well with an external heat source. I have messed it up big time trying to rush the cure process and had smoke rising.

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Having used both, and had a fail on a test of Loctite 2-pack onto bare aluminium with shoe polish as release agent for no valid reason I could see I just cannot recommend it. Maybe it is Loctite's formula but for some reason some expoxies stick through shoe polish. I was using neutral colour Kiwi too, the wax-only version...

I've had trouble with Kiwi black and Kiwi Dubbin Neutral; the latter being different to Kiwi Neutral. Kiwi Tan is supposed to be okay but I haven't tried it. I use an old furniture wax that is at least 30 years old now.

For mold release wax and when bedding rifles I used Mcguirers ( check the spelling of that ) was, it is a carnuba wax. Never had an issue with it.

Exothermic........

Originally Posted by 10-Ring

I've had trouble with Kiwi black and Kiwi Dubbin Neutral; the latter being different to Kiwi Neutral. Kiwi Tan is supposed to be okay but I haven't tried it. I use an old furniture wax that is at least 30 years old now.

Yip same here, i use "Briwax" clear, furniture polish to, worked a treat on my model 7, going to do my sendero shortly and will use it.

Bringing up an old thread has anyone tried using silicon spray or grease or just oil?

Originally Posted by blip

Bringing up an old thread has anyone tried using silicon spray or grease or just oil?

I used neutral shoe polish when I bedded the 103 over lockdown. Worked well enough. Just be really careful about checking for any angles that will cause a mechanical lock. For a while I thought I'd permanently glued them together.

Originally Posted by blip

Bringing up an old thread has anyone tried using silicon spray or grease or just oil?

Gladwrap is absolutely failsafe and works very well for basic chamber beds. It works very well if using auto bog that goes off quick. I would not use anything as a release agent that can react with the bedding compound.