Canted action

T

tylerw02

Guest
I was reading on another forum a gentleman had just purchased a rifle that had been bedded into a McMillan stock. It was slightly canted such that the trigger was 5* one direction and outside the trigger guard. My assumption was that the action screw holes were drilled out of square. Any other ideas? Will that affect his accuracy much? I've had HS stocks that were slightly canted and it never seemed like an issue.
 
Not if the gun shoots..

I have a Remington action bedded into a Mcmillan stock, it is about .100 off center at the tip of the trigger..(still inside the trigger guard)..
It has won more VFS matches than the other rifles at our club during the 2007 season..It holds our club record for VFS and another match for score all 100/200 yds combined...:)
I have not experienced any handicap, but it could affect bullet impact and come-ups when trying to shoot longer distances 300-1000 yds..
 
If the action is bedded without stress in the stock, and the trigger isn't touching the stock or trigger guard anywhere it wouldn't seem like it would cause any problems with accuracy. That being said, a guy who beds a rifle so crooked that the trigger is sticking out past the trigger guard probably didn't pay too close attention to stuff that matters aside from aesthetics.

I talked to a guy maybe 20 years ago who'd gotten his rifle back from a "gunsmith" who told him to not remove the stock because it would screw up the bedding job or something like that. I'd never heard of not removing the stock from a bolt action hunting rifle for fear of screwing up the bedding. The guy was curious too and tried to (or did) remove the guard screws, and found that the stock and metal wouldn't come apart. I'm sure the guy who did the work had glued the works together and didn't want to admit he'd screwed up.
 
There's a big difference between a Gunsmith and a Blacksmith. Sometimes you can't tell which one you are dealing with until it's too late!
 
Sometimes it ain't your fault......

I once rebedded a boutique target rifle action for a guy three times because it was flogging once side of the bedding. Sitting with the action in my hands running the action screws in & out wondering how I could do any better, I suddenly noticed that the screw holes had been tapped at ten degrees off the veritical line of the trigger cage.

He didn't act on my recommendation to have a machine shop fill the holes & then retap the holes square, but sold the rifle off to some poor sucker instead.
 
tylerw02 said:
... Any other ideas? ...
Click to expand...

Another possibility is that the inletting for the trigger guard may be canting the trigger guard off to one side. Take the guard screws loose and see if the trigger guard can be pushed over to center the trigger in the trigger guard. If it can, you might need to bed the bottom of the the trigger guard to the stock to correct the misalignment. The bow of the trigger guard should still be centered with respect to the pistol grip. If it isn't then there may be misalignment somewhere else.

It doesn't take much to mess up a good bedding job. Someone removing the action from the stock after the rifle is assembled with a stress free bedding job can scrape off bedding compound when its put back together. If that loose bedding compound winds up between the action and the bedding, the stress free bedding job, just wound up with stress between the action and the stock. If someone wants to check their bedding to see how good it is, do it with a dial indicator between the barrel and forend. If the needles moves no more than .002" when the guard screws are loosened one at a time, you should have a good bedding job. I'd try to keep removal of the barreled action from the stock to a minimum and just as a have to thing.
 
Normally the action screws and the trigger position align to one another...

I would remove the stock and with the metal in a vice, check how square the trigger is with the screws in the action. If they are square to each other your rifle needs to be inletted and bedded properly.
 
Thanks for the responses....I've linked this thread to the guy on the other forum. Hopefully he can figure it out.
 
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