first time bedding a rifle

[nevadamatt]

maybe a silly question but, what does bedding a rifle do to improve the accuracy? i have heard and read a bit about it and kits to use. think i will get the accura-glass kit from brownells. unless there is an easier on for a rookie like me.any tips or links on how to do it would be much appreciated. i am doing it on my 700 rem 204 and 270 win i have shot a 3 shot group of 0.249 @ 100 yds with 32 gr v-max will beddind help to make it better?

[acloco]

Bedding helps the action and the stock become one. If the action is removed from the rifle, the bedding, if done correctly, will not allow the point of impact to change after reinstalling (or at least greatly reduce the shift in point of impact).

Bedding also helps to keep the action/stock in sync with each other as temperatures rise from firing rifle and ambient temperature.

[Lee C.]

Nevadamatt, acloco is right on the money on why you should do a bedding job on a gun. There really not that hard to do once you have done one.

One thing a guy told me to try. Is takeing two 3 inch bolts cut the heads off them and put enough tape around then so they stell go through the stock. This will help keep your bolts centerd after you do your bedding on the stock. The guys on the forum here sure helped me to get through my first bedding job. But like i said once you do one it's really not that hard. Let us know how it turns out ok.

[tuck2]

With groups less than 1/4 inch do not try to glass bed it . Your Remington 204 Ruger shooting 32 Gr bullets with that small a group is not common. I have gotten new and used Remington rifles that would shoot about 1 1/2 inch and larger five shot 100 Yd groups. The rifles were given a tune up which at most included glass bedding the action with two inches of the barrel, free floating the rest of the barrel , adjusting the trigger pull down to 2 3/4 pounds, lapping the bolt locking lugs , and recrowing the muzzle. After the tune up they shot 1/2 to 3/4 inch 100 Yd groups. --- Dont fix it, if it is not broken. I get 1/2 inch five shot 100 Yd groups from my Ruger Target Varmint Gray 204 rifle as it came from its box with 39 Gr bullet reloads.

[futuretrades]

With groups less than 1/4 inch do not try to glass bed it

I agree with tuck. Why on earth would you want to play around with a rifle that will group 1/4 in at 100 yards.

I guess to each his own!

[nevadamatt]

thanks for explaning what it will do, i am some what new to all of this so its nice to hear how things work and what they will do. as for the 204 looks like i should leave it alone it shoots good as is. the 270 on the other hand is not quite as good, best 3 shot group is just over 1 1/4 in. i reload 130 gr sst with imr 4350,47.3 gr is the best load i have worked up, i think i will try bedding this on to see if that will help me out. guess i just want every gun to shoot like the 204 or better. thanks again for the advice i realy do appreacate it a bunch!

[glenn asher]

We can do you a LOT better on .270 loads, when you're ready, just give us a holler, and there's a bunch of us who'll give you all kinds of great .270 data I've been shooting them a LONGGGGGGGGGGGG time, and we can always find something that'll work. Right, Rick?

[nevadamatt]

any 270 data would be great i am down to 30 130 gr sst and need to order powper so let me know what i need to get. should i go ahead and bed this gun anyway?

[glenn asher]

130 grain bullets- I use H-4831SC, along with most of the world, I think Somewhere between 57.0 and 60.0, you'll find a sweet spot. Yeehaw! Much better velocity than you're getting now, too.
If that doesn't work, IMR-4350 somewhere between 52.0-55.0 will do the trick, or substitute H-4350, which meters better.

R-22 is the ticket for 140 grain bullets, but I've quit using them, and don't have my notes on it any more, either. Use a LOT of R-22 for 140s, and it'll shoot lights out.

Likewise with the 150s, I just don't use them, but H-4831SC, IMR-4831(NOT the same powder as H-4831) works, and R-22 will work fine, probably as good as it gets.

You can go ahead and bed the .270, I would, but 1.5" groups will kill any deer you're within range of, in any event. Literally, trainloads of deer have been killed with rifles that shoot worse than 1.5". I've sure done my share of that.

[Varmintcaller]

Go ahead and bed the 270, i have bedded several stocks and if i can do it anyone can! Just take your time, and read and UNDERSTAND the directions, I you are going to use AcraGlas, get the Gell, its a lot easier to work with ine my opinion. There are a lot of sites on the web that can help you, one of the best is scorehighgunsmithing.com threy will even send you a free video

good luck

[JD11]

I glass and pillar bedded my Howa 22-250 Varminter Supreme a year or so ago and it made a big difference in my already decent group size. Instead of Brownell's, this time I went with Score High Gunsmithing's pillar and bedding kit at http://www.scorehi.com. I was very impressed with the kit, instructions, etc. Very nice helpful people to deal with regarding questions also.

Oops, I see Varmintcaller and I share the same brain.