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An Experiment in Rimfire Bedding

Josh Smith

⚠️ New Member | No Deposits ☢️
Messages
18
For various reasons I don't want to glass bed my Savage MkII. I'm not sure I'll stick with this stock, and, in my work with Mosins, I find that minimal receiver to stock contact provides the best repeatability. I'm experimenting to see if that'll carry over to rimfire; I think it should.

Self-locking pillars are, from what I can tell, my own invention. They should provide the rigidity of epoxy-secured pillars without the epoxy.

front and rear.webpfront.webpFront, bottom.webp
They're made of two parts, allowing the pillars to clamp to the wood when the action screws are tightened. Length sizing is critical so as to clamp the wood without crushing it.

As critical as securing horizontal movement is securing vertical movement. On centerfire rifles, I do this by shimming the vertical surface of the recoil lug crossbolt to ensure firm contact with the recoil lug.

The Savage MkII has no recoil lug, so I used the rearmost nut which happens to secure the trigger housing to the receiver:

rear shim.webp
This little bit of shim stock provides a nice, tight fit.

This design has been an evolution, applying lessons I've learned from playing with Mosins and M.95s and modifying them a bit for this application. I think this is its final form, but maybe not. We'll see.

Regards,

Josh
 
It seems to work.

I'm still re-learning how to shoot precision, having not done it in something like 15 years. But when I get on the rifle correctly, I do see quite a bit of improvement, even accounting for flyers:

CCI-Mini-Mag-HP-36grn-Lot-J19U13-1.png

Mini-Mag HP, 50yds

CCI-Mini-Mag-40grn-solids-Lot-J19U13-1.png

Mini-Mag Solids, 50yds

13.png

CCI SV, 50yds

10.jpg

CCI SV, 50yds

11.jpg

CCI SV, 50yds

12.jpg

CCI SV, 50yds

Not my best work, but I've also not sent match ammo through it yet.

Regards,

Josh
 
Wonder if I could do something like this with my RPR .17hmr. What kind of tools are you using to create your pillars? sourcing them then cutting to size?
 
Wonder if I could do something like this with my RPR .17hmr. What kind of tools are you using to create your pillars? sourcing them then cutting to size?

I just bought them from the hardware store, chucked 'em into the drill press and cut and filed them to size.
 
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