15/16" .54 barrels

[Loyalist Dave]

Yes TG is correct, bedding of a modern rifle reciever into a stock often accompanies "free floating" the actual barrel, and is done because the barrel is in a receiver, as opposed to the muzzleloader that is chamber and barrel all-in-one.

However, bedding (or rather partial bedding) can be done on black powder rifle and smooth barrels (I have done it) but not for accuracy or barrel whip. I have had to do it on Pedersoli stocks when the ham fisted lathe operator at the factory removed too much wood, and the barrel was rocking backwards against the tang and lock screws instead of the wood in the stock. I also have done it on a semi-custom gun that had the same problem.

I don't think that swamping was done to stop barrel whip. I think it was done to reduce weight, and later (like the 20th Century) folks discovered that it reduced some of the whip, and assumed it was intentional. :grin:


LD

 

[Walks with fire]

Some production half stock rifles need to be bedded in my opinion because they have a little too much play or clearance in some areas. Most of the TC stocks I see are not very well inlet; sure they fit but not nice and snug. Whether it improves accuracy or not is answered by the question of whether it moves around at all under recoil. Why not remove all doubt of a sloppy barrel channel or hooked breech area.

 

[tg]

I do not think that any recoil movenent is going to matter as Dave mentioned we are looking at two completely different deign situations, the barrel will move during recoil whether the stock moves exactly with it is not an issue, with a ML the barrel just hangs from the stock, the relation ship is different than with a centerfire setup.I have bedded a few barrels due to poor fit so as to keep fir needles out and found no noticable accuracy difference afterwards off a rest, the same has been told to me by a couple of longtime ML gun builder friends who bed barrels only because some customers think it has to be done,aside from at the breech, which just adds some strength there.

 

[Zonie]

shortbow
I don't recommend coning the mouth of the pin holes.

The more wood in there to support the pin, the better.

As Paul said, putting a very small chamfer or corner break on both ends of the pins should keep any wood from breaking out and the chamfers will help the pin find it's way in the dark as it tries to find the underlug hole and the pin hole in the far side of the stock when it is reinserted.

Speaking of pins in the underlugs, folks should realize that during the building process those barrel pins are installed and removed many times before the gun is finished.

As long as the punch or drift that is used to remove them is smaller than the pin diameter the wood should not be damaged when they are removed.

Also, as a suggestion, if your removing the barrel pins, rather than trying to drive the pin completely out of the hole from one side, tap the pin until it is sticking out about 1/8".
Then use some good pliers to grab the protruding end and pull it the rest of the way out.