Barrel Beding

[Hickory]

Has anyone ever bedded a muzzleloading barrel into a stock?
If so, is there any benefit to accuracy?

[pietro]

.

FWIW, every one of my muzzleloading rifles is bedded to the stock - but they're just not glass-bedded, as IMHO there's little advantage to glass-bedding due to all the pieces attached to the barrel (stock, under rib, ramrod & thimbles, etc).


Glass-bedding, of course, can be a Band-Aid to hide poor bedding/inletting.


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[KCSO]

I usually under cut the tang area on a tight curly maple and glass bed that to keep the tang from chipping out under continued recoil. I prefer that to leaving a slight gap for the tang to settle in. As to the rest of the barrel the low vibration rate of a b/p load has shown no benefit from glass bedding.

[hhilljr]

I built a CVA Mountain rifle many years ago, and glass bedded the entire barrel channel. For what its worth, that gun shot extremely well. It may have had nothing to do with the bedding, but it was quite accurate. YMMV!

[johnson1942]

every side lock ive built ive silver soldered the tang to the breech plug. this gives no movement in that area. also ive drilled up through where they meet and tapped the hole. i then drilled a hole through the front of the trigger guard up though the stock in perfect alignment with that hole. a small bolt holds on the trigger guard at the front and up though the hole bolting the back of the barrel tightly in the stock. the tang wood screw is more of a decoration in this way of attaching the tang to the stock but it is used. if the channel is a good one their is no need to bed, if it isnt then bed. i have not used glass to bed a barrel channel. i have mixed paper towels with gorilla glue and pressed into the channel. then thin plastic wrap over that and then the barrel clamped into place. let dry for a couple of days.trim off the excess when the barrel is removed and it will remain a good perfect bedding. you want the barrel to move foreward and backward in the channel but not side to side. if your barrel cant move foreward ever so sightly when warmed up you will get groups that shoot progressively higher or lower but inline but not moveing from side to side. remember where the breech plug and tang sit is very very important. their are a dozen or so factors that make a rifle as accurate as it can possibly be, the above listing ive made is just apart of the process.

[waksupi]

I "bed" my personal guns with paste wax. More for preventing moisture in the channel, and rust on the barrel.

[OverMax]

Just my opinion.
Seldom do I shoot my side lock rifle/s. So__ I think the material costs and effort to do isn't worth my bother. Again,_Just my opinion

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

Yes there is a big advantage to bedding a muzzleloader. Especially the tang and trigger plate ( CVA/Traditions Style trigger)

I'm doing a Traditions St.Louis Hawken build right now and have gone through step by step pictures of the build. I also covered the bedding topic and where its best applied.
http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t10471-traditions-st-louis-hawken-build

[koger]

Have to go with Frontier Muzzleloading on this. I have glass bedded nearly 300 centerfire rifle in the past 25+ years, and close to 60 ML's, including inlines. The guns with 2 piece stocks are a waste of time to bed, etc. but all my custom builds, my Renegades and Hawkens, and my TC Omegas, are all glass bedded. Helped each one tighten groups for these reasons.
1. Factory made stocks, wood or plastic, are assembly line loose for easy fit. A solid bed, for the platform to fire from is always better.
2. All wood stocks swell with moisture, dry with heat. Glass bedding the barrel channel, again, makes a platform for the barrel to fire from. I had on TC Hawken that cut groups by 70%.
Just my expeience, and winning over 150 mathes on a state level, the Ky Bluegrass games, and 31 medals in NMLRA competition, and the best X out of 2300 targets at Alvin Yourk shoot, shows something right is going on!

[moose30273]

I have never bedded a Muzzleloader the full length. Sometimes I will bed the rear of the barrel and breech plug just to reinforce the area.

[country gent]

I beeded a friends renegade after he had used it many years and shot it alot this was a 50 cal rifle. Over the years the wedge had loosened to almost falling out. I tried a new one and it to was on the loose side so I miled one up .002-.003 smaller than the original. Instead of a head it had a hole and was 1 1/2" longer than original. I roughed up the barrel chanels surfaces cut some 1/8" channels with a diegrinder and used a checkering tool to groove where the breech plug mathed with the stock. I used Bisonite as that was what was on the shelf. Coated the barrel and hooked breech / tang and wedge with 2 coats of release agent. Filled grooves and roughened areas with mixed bisonite and set tang hooked breech in with screws slightly loose. and set barrel in with new wedge pin locking it. Removed excess that squished out several times. Once cured I removed barrel and tang cleaned excess from areas it didnt need to be around the nipple pan and edges. It didnt show at all. Original wedge pin took a few light taps from a small mallet to seat. He claimed the rifle shot better than new. I thought about bedding the wedge lug like a recoil lug but decided the back of the hooked breech was enough for that. It can help with a poorly fitted rifle or a worn rifle where wood has compressed or shrunk. On a properly fitted rifle room needs to be made for the epoxy to be there ( one reason for the sanding and 1/8" grooves in the channel and ceckering grooves in the back of the stock). and not sqish out to a to thin coat.

[koger]

I have had several older rifles, that the wood in the barrel channel, had little to no finish, and the wood had dried, shrunk considerable, slight movement with the barrel, bedding helped a lot. Also bedding the tang, keeps it from cracking the stock as wood gets older and dryer.

[M-Tecs]

Yes there is a big advantage to bedding a muzzleloader. Especially the tang and trigger plate ( CVA/Traditions Style trigger)

I'm doing a Traditions St.Louis Hawken build right now and have gone through step by step pictures of the build. I also covered the bedding topic and where its best applied.
http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t10471-traditions-st-louis-hawken-build

Nice job!!!!!!!!!!

[rfd]

i "bed" all ml barrels, full or half stocks, with wicked in water thin CYA after staining the wood and before the final finish is applied (typically linspeed oil with dryers). the CYA is applied in drops followed by whisking/rubbing in with a piece of folded paper towel. this effectively seals out moisture and strengthens the wood. yeah, ain't really "bedding" - a properly channelled barrel don't need no "bedding".

[Good Cheer]

Hickory,
Yep, I bedded a Renegade barrel to the stock.
And I missed getting the release agent, ah, fully on the barrel as I should have.
:violin:

[waksupi]

I beeded a friends renegade after he had used it many years and shot it alot this was a 50 cal rifle. Over the years the wedge had loosened to almost falling out. I tried a new one and it to was on the loose side so I miled one up .002-.003 smaller than the original. Instead of a head it had a hole and was 1 1/2" longer than original. I roughed up the barrel chanels surfaces cut some 1/8" channels with a diegrinder and used a checkering tool to groove where the breech plug mathed with the stock. I used Bisonite as that was what was on the shelf. Coated the barrel and hooked breech / tang and wedge with 2 coats of release agent. Filled grooves and roughened areas with mixed bisonite and set tang hooked breech in with screws slightly loose. and set barrel in with new wedge pin locking it. Removed excess that squished out several times. Once cured I removed barrel and tang cleaned excess from areas it didnt need to be around the nipple pan and edges. It didnt show at all. Original wedge pin took a few light taps from a small mallet to seat. He claimed the rifle shot better than new. I thought about bedding the wedge lug like a recoil lug but decided the back of the hooked breech was enough for that. It can help with a poorly fitted rifle or a worn rifle where wood has compressed or shrunk. On a properly fitted rifle room needs to be made for the epoxy to be there ( one reason for the sanding and 1/8" grooves in the channel and ceckering grooves in the back of the stock). and not sqish out to a to thin coat.

When I come across a loose wedge, I put a little bend in it. Works fine.

[Nobade]

AFAIK, most of the North/South skirmishers bed their muskets. I bedded my Miroku '61 and it made a considerable difference, went from about 4 inch groups at 50 yds to one ragged hole. I know I sell quite a bit of brown epoxy to Muzzleloader Builder's Supply, so somebody out there is using the stuff.

-Nobade

[Good Cheer]

When I come across a loose wedge, I put a little bend in it. Works fine.

Yep, the magic cure is an old railroad spike and a board to set the wedge on.

[johnson1942]

waksupi you are a man of wisdom and few words. thanks

[oldracer]

here are some more thoughts.......the Pedersoli Gibbs has a patent breech and is hooked into the tang by aa huge hook. It uses one wedge to hold the barrel tight to an area of wood around where the wedge goes through. That design has won a lot of world long range championships so there must be something here? I built a copy with the same size fittings and a single wedge with a "bend" in it to seat it tight to the wood around it. They shoot exactly the same?