To bed, or not to bed? That is the question!

[shootingisfun]

Hello folks, I have a few bedding questions. Does one really need to skim bed an action into a McMillan stock? I put my barreled action in the stock without bedding and the rifle shoots like a house on fire (for a 308 Winchester).

Also, I've heard about some people bedding the first inch of the barrel on heavy/bull barrel rifles. Does this help take some of the stress off of the action? How much would it affect accuracy? As always, thanks in advance for the replies!

 

[Dennis Sorensen]

I like to glass bed the action without any stress... let the epoxy cure with no screw or clamp tension...and I know the bedding is fine then... and like the barrel floated... It will also work with an inch or so of the barrel bedded but it is not required to support the action... the threads are capable of doing that.

If the action is bedded with the barrel in the middle of the channel, it will stay that way forever with a good stock... sometimes although the metal fits in the stock and shoots good, the barrel is not centered in the channel... it's a "look" thing with me...