Bedding a 1874 Sharps forend

[mdavis78102]

So, why would you bed the forend on an 1874 Sharps?

[doc1876]

you would not. the forearm is snug against the breach frame, and tight to the barrel, so it is a moot point. the only way to achieve what you want is to have the barrel hanging free with no forearm. The only other way is to leave space from the forearm to the breach, and we know that looks bad, and will still not achieve what you want, a it is screwed tight to the barrel.
If you do hang the barrel freely, now you have a 8 lb+ barrel hanging, and now you have to support it, so you will have to find the harmonic balance for your cross sticks, which is a good idea anyway...... imho

[Naphtali]

Shiloh in Big Timber offers custom foreend bedding as an option. I have selected that option on my mythical 1863 Shiloh Sharps Sporting Rifle that has been in the "presently being built" batch for 14 months. I opted for it to preclude foreend warpage from moving bullets' points of impact. How the custom bedding is done I won't know until the miracle of its burth.

Hope this helps.

[country gent]

Bedding is one of the best "sealants" against moisture for wood there is. It also strengthens the wood alieviating warping and shifting pressure points. The fore arm to reciever joint is ussually a paper width away from each other to also alieviate this issue. On other single shots forends some fit a oring between the forearm and barrel around the screws. Some just snug the screws others may actually experiment with tourqeing the screws to various inch pounds to see what the rifle likes. As stated above finding the right harmonics point on the barrel does make a big diffrence when shooting from sticks. Another trick is to learn to pull back on the wrist of the stock with as little down force as possible. I have a strip of tape marking the position for cross sticks on my barrels. Getting as consitent as possible with hold pressure points and such makes a big diffrence.

[doc1876]

I stand corrected, For some reason "Floating" is what my brain registered.
thanks for the other members for setting this right.

[country gent]

At one time years agothe military marksmanship team armorers epoxy finished M14 stocks in a unique process. First was 8 -10 hours in a vacum pot at 180* temp to remove all moisture from the clean wood. Then they were put into a pressure pot filled with epoxy and pressurized to 200 psi and a specific temperature for 8 hours. This process pulled the exoxy into the stock almost 1/4" deep ( around the action inlet it was through the entire section) these stocks were exceptionally strong and stable didnt warp or split. The process added right around 3 pounds to the stock also. After the action was bedded into place they were very stable rifles. Bedding /epoxies arnt always for fitting or floating but have also been used for the strength, sealing they provide. They make a very hard surface and depending on how polished sanded can be a nice matte subdued finish or a bright shiny finish. The military ones didnt look alot diffrent from the oil finished ones.