Bedding bases

[Al Nyhus]

This is a simple thing you can do to insure maximum contact between the bases and receiver and make sure the bases are aligned longitudinally. Normally, I use the excellent Base Align, designed by the late Dan Hackett. But for this, I'll do it old school since few have this tool.

I rummaged through my asst. of Davidson/Kelbly bases and came up with two that had the correct hole spacing:

Today's victim was this hapless Savage :

I rough up the base bottoms with a Dremel..a file or sand paper also works. Then, use a needle file to make sure the screws aren't too tight in their holes:

Some mold release wax goes on the sides of the bases:

And the receiver and in the screw holes:

Some light oil in the screw recesses:

And on the screws:

Get the rings ready, make sure the rings will slide easily on the bases first:

Mix the Pro Bed, JB Weld...whatever you wish to use:

Insert the screws and butter up the bases:

Snug the screws lightly, leaving some side-to-side wiggle room. Then gently slide the rings on and lay the lapping bar in the rings:

Remove the ooze with a popsicle stick dipped in vinegar. Then wait:

 

[alinwa]

I do one thing different....

I degrease EVERYTHING! epoxy in the holes, in the threads, EVERYWHERE and do my best to stick them boogers DOWN forevermore


cuz




otherwise






they move,





someday

 

[Al Nyhus]

otherwise

they move,

someday

Lots of ways to do stuff that works. I started doing them this way in the mid '90's....pre-Base Align tool. None have moved or loosened.

Good shootin'. -Al

 

[Al Nyhus]

After curing, pop the bases off the action. If you've got it right, here's what they should look like...100% contact between the underside of the bases and the receiver. Now, trim off the edges, lightly chamfer and clean out the screw holes.

 

[alinwa]

hey, Hackett useta' hawk some cool rings......I've never had a chance to try them..... still available?

 

[alinwa]

Lots of ways to do stuff that works. ..........

Not that I've found

3 1/2lb Schmidt and Bender on a 7lb 338 McCallum.... HARD to make it not move

Terminator? Even on a weenie 338WSM??? HARD to get 'er not to move on a smooth 1.350 action.

I just bought 10 sets of these, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P9MXC8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 my next experiment in this regard.

 

[Al Nyhus]

Straight and solid. -Al

 

[mwezell]

Not that I've found

3 1/2lb Schmidt and Bender on a 7lb 338 McCallum.... HARD to make it not move

Terminator? Even on a weenie 338WSM??? HARD to get 'er not to move on a smooth 1.350 action.

I just bought 10 sets of these, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P9MXC8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 my next experiment in this regard.

Never seen those. Is that really 5 screws per base?
When I was making a copy of Charlie Hoods scope checkers, I had people that literally got mad that I wouldn't make it in a picatinny version. My whole thought process was that if I do that, it's a lot more likely that someone mounted two 36 oz scopes plus the 14 oz checker on a 416 Quasimag than if I only offered it only in the Davidson rail version. I spoke with both Charlie and Jim Borden and they both agreed that it was quite possible for recoil to snap off four 6-48 screws and $5+thousand dollars worth of scopes bang off of a newly painted rifle before hitting the concrete. There's a ton more inertia there than people think about being possible.

I don't worry much about it anymore. The older I get, the smaller my guns get.

 

[alinwa]

Never seen those. Is that really 5 screws per base?


I don't worry much about it anymore. The older I get, the smaller my guns get.

It really don't matter what WE shoot boss

My goal, my thing, my drive, my passion is to show other folks, preferably YOUNGER folks, R E A L accuracy and that takes accuracy measures. Especially to make The Big Thunder shoot Quarter Under for some moneyed hunting guy.... the phrase "more money than brains" will never leave my lips. I KNOW where money comes from, sacrifice. And I love to make folks happy who've sacrificed enough to be able to afford cool stuff.




Yup, that's 5 screws per base. I use 8-40's

I really wish Jim would pull his head out and follow Stiller and the Kelbly's with pinned on bases. Each time I go to hit 'send' on an order I stop and reconsider........

This is absolutely NOT from guessing, it's from personal experience.

 

[mwezell]

I really wish Jim would pull his head out and follow Stiller and the Kelbly's with pinned on bases. Each time I go to hit 'send' on an order I stop and reconsider........

This is absolutely NOT from guessing, it's from personal experience.

I understand but it's an easy enough thing to do yourself. Not that you shouldnt be able to get them from Jim but I'm just saying, i wouldn't let that stop me from buying it.

 

[alinwa]

I understand but it's an easy enough thing to do yourself. Not that you shouldnt be able to get them from Jim but I'm just saying, i wouldn't let that stop me from buying it.

I have two issues....

#1- I'm not comfortable drilling holes in someone's action and passing it to a client. For liability reasons. I might just be a hacker, but I'm a SAFE hacker and I don't like to open that pertickler can of mulligan. Life is short and I like to sleep at night.

#2- I've a Bridgeport, an old worn out Bridgeport. I've drilled and reamed some holes for myself and lightly peened (swole, not peened on the actions) mild steel pins in, even hand-fitted some hard pins made from Brownell's spring stock, but I'm just not really set up to make the kind of hardened steel pin-fits Stiller's and Kelbly's have. So I recommend these actions for purchase, and always keep a few on hand for myself.

I'm using the 5-screw bases only on my own stuff. Just trying the concept out out at this point, running all 5 screws vertical. I have reason to mount a Genesis onto a round action. It scares me. I currently have the Genesis on a TAC338 platform and it like to rip the fool thing off THAT! That is one tall heavy counterweight to smack with the tonnage I'm pushing.

Again though.... it's not the "ripping off" that scares me.

Bases move IME. Even on PPC's... I realize a lot of folks on here don't like me listening to Harold Vaughn because "he aint never won no benchrest matches!" but my experiments have backed up his findings.

 

[Al Nyhus]

Basic physics calculations show us that on average, a scope 'weighs' about 7 times it's normal weight during the inertia moment. The inertia moment lasts only a few milliseconds. Once the gun begins it rearward movement, the effective 'weight' of the scope is near normal .

A loaded up 10.5 lb. 6PPC is tougher on scope mounting than a 13.5 lb 30BR.

Good shootin'. -Al

 

[Al Nyhus]

hey, Hackett useta' hawk some cool rings......I've never had a chance to try them..... still available?

Those were the Nimbus rings. They haven't been available for some time. -Al

 

[Boyd Allen]

If the base is not integral, you can either pin it to the action, or glue it, or both. Having disposed of that movement, rings can be pinned to bases. Back when Stiller's Viper was new, the rings he furnished had a single base clamping screw and until he redesigned them to have two, there were problems with them moving. The fix was to loosen them on the base, bleed some super glue into the joint, and retighten. Evidently, the hard anodizing makes the base slipperier.

On a related matter, shock to the scope, two of the three external adjustable/frozen scope setups use a band of some sort of synthetic or natural rubber between the scope tube and the ring, in the front ring....so why couldn't this be done in both rings with conventional internal adjustments? Just some more out of the box stuff.

 

[Al Nyhus]

On a related matter, shock to the scope, two of the three external adjustable/frozen scope setups use a band of some sort of synthetic or natural rubber between the scope tube and the ring, in the front ring....so why couldn't this be done in both rings with conventional internal adjustments? Just some more out of the box stuff.

Boyd, I did something along those lines with this one I built. It's a short 700 chambered for what I call the 300 WMM (Whitetail Whack Master) based on the 300 WSM case. With a NightForce NSX 5.5-22X50 on top, it came in at 7 lbs, 12 oz. I used the Talley one piece rings, redid the receiver for 8-40 screws, bedded the bases and lapped/bedded the scope tube. On a tip from several old school hunters that hunt Alaska with boomers, I used some rubber cement between the scope tube and the rings when mounting the scope. Nothing has ever moved.

I made some 150's up for it using 3% antimony cores and it's killer accurate @ 3,400 fps. It will run close to 3,600 but the groups get really big...close to 1/2" at 100.

 

[alinwa]

If the base is not integral, you can either pin it to the action, or glue it, or both. Having disposed of that movement, rings can be pinned to bases. Back when Stiller's Viper was new, the rings he furnished had a single base clamping screw and until he redesigned them to have two, there were problems with them moving. The fix was to loosen them on the base, bleed some super glue into the joint, and retighten. Evidently, the hard anodizing makes the base slipperier.

On a related matter, shock to the scope, two of the three external adjustable/frozen scope setups use a band of some sort of synthetic or natural rubber between the scope tube and the ring, in the front ring....so why couldn't this be done in both rings with conventional internal adjustments? Just some more out of the box stuff.

I ended up with an extra set of 40MM scope rings. They're stoopid expensive and I'm not in a good position to want to send them back.... I've machined a set of delrin inserts to bring them down to something useful and would like to try a "rubber" insert just for one end, probably the rear. But I don't know nuttin' about rubbers...If anyone knows of a "type" or brand or durometer or whatever and could share I'd be appreciative. I want the scope to have compensatory lateral movement in the order of thousandths of an inch to avoid the bending characteristic of differential expansion coefficient between the action and the scope.


Charlie??? You out there?? What'd you use on yours?


edited to add..... BTW, I'm REALLY looking for a cast-in-place rubber. I have several mold making casting rubbers that I'm gonna' try but I have no-zero-nada knowledge here....

 

[Mram10]

Why not epoxy them to the action? Do many people remove the bases often?

 

[alinwa]

Why not epoxy them to the action? Do many people remove the bases often?

I do epoxy them. And I remove them often. But it's a needless pita.

 

[mwezell]

It really don't matter what WE shoot boss

My goal, my thing, my drive, my passion is to show other folks, preferably YOUNGER folks, R E A L accuracy and that takes accuracy measures. Especially to make The Big Thunder shoot Quarter Under for some moneyed hunting guy.... the phrase "more money than brains" will never leave my lips. I KNOW where money comes from, sacrifice. And I love to make folks happy who've sacrificed enough to be able to afford cool stuff.




Yup, that's 5 screws per base. I use 8-40's

I really wish Jim would pull his head out and follow Stiller and the Kelbly's with pinned on bases. Each time I go to hit 'send' on an order I stop and reconsider........

This is absolutely NOT from guessing, it's from personal experience.

I'd call Jim. I have a BRMXD and a rail here, machined for dowel pins. FWIW

 

[Al Nyhus]

Well, I finished up my 'Project SaLvage'.

This was a N.I.B. 12FV that I bought from Cabelas. Here's what the bolt face looked like when I opened the box. I assume Savage's test firing must be with fairly stout loads and/or the Q.C. might be a bit lacking. Full disclosure...I never looked at the bolt when I opened the box in the store. Something like this isn't new to anyone in BR circles, though.

I worked on the factory trigger and it's a consistent 12 oz, now. Smoothed up the cocking notch in the bolt and added a bolt lift kit. Both those and some firing pin tuning eased the bolt lift enough so I could deep six the double ugly Kenworth-ish bolt handle and put an earlier factory version on. The bedding and pillars are in the 'Pillars' titled section.

The chamber is nice and snug with a .256 neck and a short enough throat that even the Nosler 40gr. BTips touch the lands with .100 of bullet shank in the neck. Will head to the range as soon as possible with BIB 52's, 48's, Berger 52's, and even some (slap my mouth) Sierra 52's and 53's. Gotta' start with H380 in a 22-250 but will try N135, Benchmark, 4895, WW748 and AA2520 on the first go.

No BR rig, but still a fun 'back-to-my-roots' project. If it shoots! -Al