If you don't you are making a big mistake. Every time you pull the trigger about 60,000 PSI of force inside the barrel is trying to tear it all apart. When everything settles back together an instant later, it had better settle back in the same spot or no matter what you do, no matter how steady your hold or how concentric your bullets, the next shot will not be pointed to the same place as the last. When the trigger is pulled again and again and again the entire process should take place in a manner as identical to the first shot as possible. And it should do the same next year! The barrel should vibrate the same, the action flex the same and the resting point of it all be the same again and again; season after season. rain, snow or shine.

Bet you appreciate your stock just a little bit more now!

If you have a 1/2" tack-driver now, these recomendations sure can't hurt and will lend a measure of confidence and satisfaction that only becoming intimate with your rifle can provide. If you have a 1+" shooter you may find you really have a sub-moa shooter there. And if you are all over the paper this may very well be the cure!

Understanding Inlets
Inletting is a term applied to woodworking that refers to the cut-out that lets something to fit into it. Just as water flows into an inlet in the land, so should a piece of metal, in this case a rifle's barrelled action, fit into the wood or synthetic material being used as a handle with which to operate it. There's no better way to get this fit than with glass bedding.

The goal in any bedding job is simple - get a fit that puts absolutely no stress on the action when tightened into the stock. One-hundred percent even support. There's a discussion by Jon R. Sundra (yes, he's the guy that designed the JRS Classic Stock) right here (.pdf) about the best way to bed a barrel so I'll leave that between you and he. He also discusses the choice between walnut, laminated and various synthetic stock materials, free floating the barrel and other valuable bedding techniques so it's  worth a read.

Fitting & Floating Your Barrel - Featherweight to Heavy is No Bull
(Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.)

As a rule of thumb, one can always remove wood but it's more difficult, and unsightly, to replace. (No kidding, huh?) With this in mind we can understand why so many aftermarket stocks are produced in the narrower barrel contours.Should one purchase a stock with a bull barrel channel, or even a so-called varmint or magnum inlet, an unsightly gap would be visible for the users of anything lighter in weight that would be difficult to replace.

If you have a heavier barrel than your stock is inletted for, a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a dowel, pipe or anything approximately the same diameter as your barrel makes quick work of this easiest-to-adjust section. Simply sand the channel evenly in a back-and-forth motion until it fits! Dropping in your metal along the way will reveal if you should apply more pressure on one particular side or the bottom. The actions are identical, a 700 long is a 700 long no matter what barrel they screw on it, so no other work is required to get a good fit.

This is also the best way to free float your barrel. Simply keep sliding a dollar bill between the stock and the barrel, sanding until it slides freely. Pay special to that annoying bump near the forend, if any. Wiping in some TruOil or Minwax Poly Clear (or equivalent) once the sanding is complete, will re-seal it against the elements. Re-sealing would be mandatory on a solid wood stock, recommended on a laminate and unnecessary on a synthetic.

Sendaros, some magnums, heavy varmint tapers and some of the thick target barrels we are seeing will definitely require a wider-than-sporter channel.You are either going to open up the barrel channel as above or wait a month of sundays until your special order arrives if you want a laminate (although I do stock them when I can get them, as you can see some are available in the store.)

If you really want a no-brainer I have really nice synthetics that will work right out of the box also and are usually in stock. Forget about cheap injection molded synthetics if you want a tack driver, you need a hand-laid fiberglass / Kevlar unit for proper action support, plus injection molded "tupperware" stocks really stink for bedding jobs. Don't waste your time on them.

Pillars of Strength
A pillar bedding job  (pillar bedding instructions), does its work by eliminating the compression that exists between the action and the floorplate. In other words, the aluminum pillars give the receiver something more solid to sit on, therefore results in less movement between the stock and the action when fired. It, combined with a complete AcraGlas bedding job is the best possible platform to bolt any barrelled action to regardless of the materials the stock was constructed from.

The best pillars we have found are the Brownells' 9/16" Aluminum Pillar Bedding Sleeves. These have a 'V' at the receiver end for a better grip in round-bottom receivers like the Rem 700 and Savage 10/110 (this end is squared off when bedding a flat-bottom like the Win 70 or Weatherbys), grooves milled in the sides to hold bedding compound and create a mechanical lock in addition to a chemical bond when installed.

Nothing further is required, you should see improvement immediately. Simply wait a few days for the gel to harden and shoot. But since most of the folks reading this are perfectionists, we'll now take it to the next level with an AcraGlas job ...

Preparing for 'Glass
As mentioned, the finest bedding possible is with fiberglass epoxy, and my favorite is Brownells AcraGlas Gel (AG Gel instructions). I prefer the gel over the standard stuff for most applications because its thicker and does not run. The plain old AcraGlas (AG instructions), although outstanding when set up, is about the consistancy of motor oil and had a tendancy to drip out the bottom and make a mess. The gel version solves this, and the GlasBed kits (GB instructions) take even more of the mess out of mixing and eliminate measuring. Just knead the plastic bag, cut off the corner and frost your cake. Not enough material in the GlasBed kits, however, to do the full-length job (see pic below). For that you'll need a Gel kit.

Once the pillars are installed, the area surrounding the recoil lug should be prepared for bedding. This is quickly accomplished with a Dremel using a drum sander to do the roughing up and a routing bit for the other cuts, but a piece of sandpaper (included in the GlasBed kit) and a drill or chisel, even a sharp knife, will work just fine. There are several goals here, and it doesn't matter if you are bedding a laminate or fiberglass stock:

1. Removal of any finish or high spots which may interfere with bond or uniformity;
2. Create a rough surface to increase surface area for the chemical bond;
3. Create recessed areas to work the epoxy into for a mechanical lock;
4. Strengthen high-impact areas especially behind the recoil lug.

Finishing the Job
As you can see, when done correctly the glass hardens perfectly molded to your rifle. Nothing could possibly fit your rifle better. If you remove your action after the first go and see voids, no worries, simply mix up a little more, fill those spots and clamp everything back together. It will harden like they were never there.

If you laid a bit too much and it squishes out of the stock when you tighten the bolts, simply wait about 4-5 hours and trim it flush with a razor knife. It can be sanded once hardened also. As long as you remember to use the release agent (read the directions) you really cannot screw it up.

The photo to the left shows a full length job that resulted in significant improvement even on this aluminum blocked stock. It just don't get any better than that. If it doesn't shoot now, sell it and get a new one.

We can go on and on with creative adjustments we've applied over the years. Engineering them is a part of the enjoyment, not to mention pride of ownership of our truly self-customized rifle. If you object to doing them all I can say is keep the tupperware!

- Stocky

(The instruction links above are .pdf files of the actual instructions that come in the respective boxes. All Accurizing Supplies mentioned are available in Stocky's Store. We offer a pillar installation service that ships either drop-in or with surfaces prepared for bedding as illustrated above.)