Sitka Gear Optifade Cover

I've been living under a rock, caliber/rifle inquiry

My tikka shot like crap, wouldn't hold zero... yadda yadda yadda

It was all bedding issues. New higher quality aftermarket stock and it's a great shooter. Zero hassle and just a couple hundred for a B&C
You can always epoxy bed it instead of getting a new stick unless a new stock is something you wanted anyway.
 
The B&C stock shows up tomorrow. The Magpul magazine showed up today. The trigger isn't due for another 1-3 weeks, unfortunately.

The gun was disassembled, cleaned (even though it was cleaned after the last range trip), reassembled, blue thread locker, made sure the scope rings/bases were tight and equal. I did notice both rings had uneven gaps. The crown looks good, inside of the barrel is shining like new, bolt moves smooth as butter. And laser bore sighted.

Probably won't get to the range until this weekend or next due to prior commitments. Before I start butchering the new stock to fit the Magpul stuff, I'm going to see what it'll group.
You might want to lap those rings if they have uneven gaps. A torqued scope tube will mess with groups for sure.
 
Carbon fiber or aluminum arrow shaft and epoxy bed that into the foreend, couple pieces of steel break tubing for spacers in the stock, you can pillar bed the action.

Pillar blocks are cheap at MidwayUSA. You can get either devcon or a argaglass from here or brownells.

A fiberglass boat repair kit is excellent for bedding a stock too.
 
You might want to lap those rings if they have uneven gaps. A torqued scope tube will mess with groups for sure.
Funny story, I got a scope lap/lapping tool? from Amazon yesterday...for the wrong size.

It was more/less me tightening one side and then tightening the other side. I did the cylinder head/crisscross pattern this time.
 
Is epoxy bedding difficult on a synthetic stock? Epoxy bed = rich man's JB weld bedding?
JB weld is an epoxy.

On an injection molded plastic stock I would use a Dremel type tool to rough up and gouge a lot of the area where the action is going to sit. That will give some mechanical adhesion since the epoxy doesn’t stick as well to those types of plastics as it does to epoxy resin, vinyl ester resin, polyester resin, or wood. A lot of guys do that to any stock before epoxy bedding, but skim bedding is fine with most modern aftermarket stocks. I just wouldn’t skim bed an injection molded plastic stock. Depending on the plastic stock, you may need to do more than bed the action area to have a usable stock. Like stiffening the fore end, or all kinds of other things.

I say “epoxy bedding” instead of the term I heard growing up “glass bedding” because I never saw anyone put fiberglass into the epoxy. I sometimes use vinyl ester resin. Polyester resin is just too darn fast unless it’s cold. Any epoxy will work. The main thing is use something thick enough that it stays in place until it cures. If you’re going to use some sort of hardening resin for other projects, large batches of epoxy or vinyl ester resin are cheaper than JB Weld by far. I use milled or chopped glass or Kevlar to thicken if needed. For a one off project JB Weld is about the cheapest thing you can use. It works great too. It’s just not cheap if you’re going to use more epoxy later, whether that’s to bed five stocks, or some other project.
 
Last edited:
JB weld is an epoxy.

On an injection molded plastic stock I would use a Dremel type tool to rough up and gouge a lot of the area where the action is going to sit. That will give some mechanical adhesion since the epoxy doesn’t stick as well to those types of plastics as it does to epoxy resin, vinyl ester resin, polyester resin, or wood. A lot of guys do that to any stock before epoxy bedding, but skim bedding is fine with most modern aftermarket stocks. I just wouldn’t skim bed an injection molded plastic stock.

I say “epoxy bedding” instead of the term I heard growing up “glass bedding” because I never saw anyone put fiberglass into the epoxy. I sometimes use vinyl water resin. Polyester resin is just too darn fast unless it’s cold.
Acraglass has a glass filler powder just for that reason.
 
You don’t need extra strength to bed an action.
Some like it, some don’t. It adds rigidity and stops flexing as well.

If you don’t want to add it don’t. I don’t care. It’s just an option. But not all “glass” is in the form of glass Matt either.
 
Some like it, some don’t. It adds rigidity and stops flexing as well.

If you don’t want to add it don’t. I don’t care. It’s just an option. But not all “glass” is in the form of glass Matt either.
I never said anything about glass mat. I said I never saw any of the guys who called it “glass bedding” using any glass. And that meant any form of glass. I also said “growing up” I never saw guys I knew who were calling it glass bedding using any glass. I didn’t say that no one anywhere did it.

A little chopped or milled glass in a thin layer of epoxy isn’t going to meaningfully stiffen the area under the action that you’re bedding, and stiffness isn’t why bedding an action properly is important. Believe me the action is far stiffer than any bedding material you’re going to add.

Stiffening the fore end on a stock with a flexible fore end that could end up putting pressure on the barrel is an entirely different story.

Again, I say epoxy bedding because putting glass in it is neither common nor necessary.

I add chopped or milled glass or Kevlar any time that I bed with vinyl ester resin because vinyl ester resin is very runny. Thickening it helps keep it in place. It’s a tad more work than using JB Weld, but I actually like it better too. It doesn’t soften with heat as readily as epoxies, and it has a harder surface than JB.

If you want stiffness(which is not an important part of bedding an action) vinyl ester resin and polyester resin are far stiffer than epoxy resins.
 
Last edited:
I was going to bed myself but Tikka stocks kinda suck, and I was a little leery of diy ing it.
My dad bought a Tikka 7mag a year and a half ago. I took it right away to mount a scope, lap rings, bed stock, break in, etc. I did the break in first, and it shot so well with any ammo I decided not to bed the stock. I worked up some handloads for it, and it was under 3/4 moa and I wasn't going to mess with it.

Bedding is a pretty simple project, just make sure to get some oil on the parts you don't want to be bedded permanently! Midway has a couple good videos on youtube to reference if needed!
 
I never said anything about glass mat. I said I never saw any of the guys who called it “glass bedding” using any glass. And that meant any form of glass. I also said “growing up” I never saw guys I knew who were calling it glass bedding using any glass. I didn’t say that no one anywhere did it.

A little chopped or milled glass in a thin layer of epoxy isn’t going to meaningfully stiffen the area under the action that you’re bedding, and stiffness isn’t why bedding an action properly is important. Believe me the action is far stiffer than any bedding material you’re going to add.

Stiffening the fore end on a stock with a flexible fore end that could end up putting pressure on the barrel is an entirely different story.

Again, I say epoxy bedding because putting glass in it is neither common nor necessary.

I add chopped or milled glass or Kevlar any time that I bed with vinyl ester resin because vinyl ester resin is very runny. Thickening it helps keep it in place. It’s a tad more work than using JB Weld, but I actually like it better too. It doesn’t soften with heat as readily as epoxies, and it has a harder surface than JB.
Potatoe , patato…
 
One thing I have a lot of is JB weld and Seafoam, the "duct tape and WD-40" gen 2.
Paste wax works as a release agent too.

Use modeling clay to fill ANY PLACE that can create a mechanical lock. I find it easier to just remove the trigger and safety assemblies and fill holes with clay.

Mechanical lock is bad.

As with anything…. A good bedding job is all about the prep work.

You may want to consider your first bedding job in that cheap plastic factory stock before you work on that Bell & Carlson. Consider it a cheap teaching aid.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
113,440
Messages
2,021,419
Members
36,174
Latest member
adblack996
Back
Top