Glass bedding .22 rifles ?

[Jack Stanley]

Does anyone have a tutorial with lots of pictures for glass bedding Marlin bolt action .22 rifles ? The rifle I have in mind is clip fed not a tube magazine and I'd like to tighten up the accuracy potential just a little if possible .

I was able to tighen up a different rifle that was loose in the stock and it helped quite a bit . This Marlin isn't loose , it just needs a little help ....... somewhere .

Jack

[starmac]

Any chance you are talking about a marlin model 25n. If so there is some good details on tightening them up on rimfire central, maybe the other marlins too.

[Bret4207]

It's going to be the same as any other rifle- make sure you have enough room for the bedding to have a place to go, tape/release agent on everywhere you don't want it or that will stick it, get to work. It's not going to be much different than a magazine bolt gun.

[phaessler]

I did 3 Marlin 25's , and after the first one I learned a valuable lesson. The action screw on my 25N has a reduced shank, I was able to get the action out but the screw is captured. Obvious now that I look back at it, but it wont happen again.

Pete

[Jack Stanley]

Rifle in question is a model 880 held in place by a single screw just forward of the action . I'd like to learn if this rifle needs pressure points or any other things that make them work real well .

I've never done a "complete" bedding job , always just minor repair and snug things up work .

Thanks , Jack

[phaessler]

880's are the fancy bolt action models, same screw design, be sure to dam it off or build up the diameter to prevent its capture in the stock, I was taught long ago to use window glazing, and modeling clay.

If you think it "might help", try shimming the action and/or barrel with businees card paper before you go thru the trouble of bedding it, same thing some work better with floated barrels, releive the channel a smidge and see if it help, you can always add a pressure pad on the forearm after you find if it works or not.

I agree to check with www.rimfirecentral.com , and www.marlinowners.com. There is alot of information, that may save you some aggrivation.

Pete

[Bret4207]

People have added rear action screws to all sorts of rifles if you feel that would help.

[Forrest r]

A rear action screw would definitely help, it’s pretty much a must have when you’re trying to wring every last bit of accuracy out of a rifle.

A good way to tell if bedding would help/aid in any accuracy gains with your rifle is to put a small piece of rubber up front in your bbl channel ½” from the forend of your stock. The rubber can be from an old inner tube, wide rubber band, bottle openers, ECT. A piece of rubber 1/4” wide and 1/8” thick and long enough to cover the bottom half of your bbl that fits in the stock will work. Just put the piece of rubber in a snug the action screw and shoot some groups. Tighten the action screw a little more & shoot more groups. The rubber will act like a 2nd hold down point for the barreled action (2nd screw). You will find that if you keep tightening/testing groups with the action screw you will find the sweet spot of that rifle.

Test the rifle/torque without a piece of rubber & then with a piece of rubber. That will show you how much improvement, if any, you can expect from bedding that rifle.

[303Guy]

Now that's been mentioned, I added a rear action screw to my Remington 512 and bedded it down under the chamber and at the rear. I don't know how much difference it might have made but it did seem the right thing to do. It is pretty accurate now but I also removed the end bit of worn barrel and re-crowned it - by hand. I simply squared it off using a file then de-burred with emery paper. It was the muzzle wear causing accuracy problems.

[starmac]

An extra screw is one of the things explained how to do on the model 25, over on rimfire central.
It supposedly helps a lot.

[Shiloh]

I'm doing a 10/22 now. Pillar bedding takedown screw area, floating an bedding the barrel, and bedding the receiver area. Different rifle, same technique and principle.

Shiloh

[Jack Stanley]

I spent a little time at rimfirecentral.com last night looking for posts about bedding . Some of the posts were helpfull in showing where to place the compound , other posts suggested that the type of compound was important as well . My thanks to the fellas that suggested the web sight .

So far I've shot eight different types of ammo within a couple of those brands I tried different lot numbers as well . Now that I have ammunition it works "OK" with I'll look at the sights again , I've tried an old Bushnell .22 scope on it and a modern Leupold . The old .22 scope had a reticle that is really to big for precision work and the Leupold was meant for centerfire work so parallax may be part of the problem .

I found a Nikon .22 scope on close out for thirty dollars less than regular price so I ordered that to try . I suspect I'll need to order some Devcon steel putty from Brownells since all I have now is Accraglass .

Should I need to get into the bedding I think that trying shims of paper or rubber band at the forend tip may be the place to start . It looks like the rest of the rifle is solid in the stock and is not rocking at least . Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like doing the least amount of modification would be the best place to start .

Jack

[phaessler]

Well exhausting all the options first might be easier than bedding as a last resort, I agree there. If you get an action bedded tight enough the screws only hold it together, and the recoil on a .22lr would have minmal effect on it.
Lots plays into it:
Trigger pull? smoothness?
Sights? sight mounts?
Muzzle crown? (saw it stated above)
Bedding? I have used Auto Body Filler for a quick and dirty experiment, with good results too
Headspace? once you find ammo that works, sort by rim thickness to see the effect.
Bump the bullets? search "Paco Kelly ACU-RZR" some science behind that it looks like.
I have been long accused of looking for the proverbial "Hair on the egg" and "Guilding the lily", or trying "To make a silk purse out of a sows ear", But I admit I have fun doing it.
Please keep us posted on your findings, might shedsome light on other projects.

Pete

[Jack Stanley]

The trigger pull is smooth enough for me though I got to admit that it would be better without so much creep . Muzzle looks good but I wonder what it might do if it had a rebated target crown . I ordered Warne mounts to go with the new scope though the mounts on the rifle look to be secure .

Lots of stuff to try and I'll be reviewing this post a lot untill I get this rifle working better . Thanks to all of you guys that offer suggestions .

Jack

[303Guy]

My old 512 had a funnel muzzle. Must have been cleaned from the muzzle. Funny that, I never clean it now. Anyway, as I've said before, that was the source of my rifles problems.

[Jack Stanley]

OK , so I can call this one for the most part a D'oh !moment . A fella suggested that I clean the barrel REAL GOOD . Well I'd cleaned it I thought but apparently not enough to suit the bullets I was sending down the bore .

After a lot of brushing and leaving the barrel wet with Kroil , after patching with JB and hoppes . Groups are about a half inch better with the same ammo as before . I'll keep the bore wet with Hoppes when storing overnight between range sessions for a while . Perhaps JB a couple of more times might still help , I think this bore is one you could have called "neglected" .

This isn't to say the trigger doesn't need a little help , I think it does . The bedding might even be bettered by shims and epoxy too , I'll just have to see how this goes . At least now I can be pretty happy with the rifle even if it doesn't get a lot better .

Jack

[phaessler]

"A clean gun is a happy gun" sticks in my head from a shooting friend of mine from many years ago. I think and am guilty of it too, that .22lr's go "unloved" in the cleaning department, and sometimes neglected.
Proof positive right there that cleanliness does matter. Good findings, and picked up some accuracy on the cheap.

Pete

[Jack Stanley]

I was fooling with shims on the range the other day . Cut a piece of cardboard from the end flap of a old cartridge box and moved it around and shot lots of groups . I think I found a spot where it likes to have the shim at , so in an effort to keep the metal in that spot I mixed a little accraglass and went after it .

What I've done so far is to stabilize behind the hold down screw back to the front part of the action itself . All this with the shim in the spot the rifle liked and the screw snugged down the same . Things should be hard enough to shoot tomorrow and if it doesn't rain I'll try and get out with it .

I'll need to see if I'm going to have to glue the shim down of if I can move it about some and glass where it is at right now .

Jack

[izzyjoe]

some .22 are sensitive to bedding, some not. i think that you'll get you'r most improvement from the trigger. marlin rimfires have horrible triggers, but they can be made better. i've heard that micro groove rimfire barrel ain't that great, they may not be target rifles but they work for me!

[ilcop22]

I did it on my Ruger 10/22. Easy to do, just make sure to use enough tape and release agent.