Glass bedding

[maynard17]

Gonna try my hand at glass bedding a 55 rifle. Bought an Agraglas Gel kit from Brownells(highly recommend by a friend who said he used it succussfully). Any tips y'all can send along other than what's contained in the instructions and other tips I've gotten(like use plenty of release agent and keep plenty of rags on hand!) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

Acuglass is great stuff and one of the few things we buy that really lives up to its reputation. It does exactly what it is suposed to do and does it better than you expected. Therefore it often sneeks up on you and bites you in the butt!

You actually didn't expect it to work that well and now you have a solid mass of wood and metal, fused for eternity!

The pitiful little bottle of release agent is not adiquite. Use petrolium jelly when you run low. There are more places for the stuff to hide and lock a barrel in than you ever dreamed. Get plenty of modeling clay from Toys or US. Fill up all the voids.

I just finished a series of glue up repairs on a half stock due to bad pre treatment before applying the glass. Extremely bad judgment on my part. This is not time to make something streach a bit farther or get stingy. Slop the release agent on there! Block everthing with clay!

Good Luck

:front:

 

[rich pierce]

I've used it, had no problems, and won't use it again- just don't see the advantage and it offends some folks sensibilities about period correctness. So there's no discernable benefit to me.

 

[Birddog6]

The best advice I can give you it to keep in mind that everything you bed with it must be V shaped, or at least keep that thought in mind. File off every lil eough spot, have no ledges, etc. If it is V shaped it will come out..

When bedding a barrel, I prefer to bed the barrel first before I do Anything to the barrel other than have it inlet to the stock. Make sure you fill all recesses with modeling clay or paste wax especially at the breechplug where it threads in, as it will lock in there also. Get it inletted fully & know you have it right, bed the barrel, then the next morning I put mine in the deep freezer for about 45 min, then take it out & start tapping it with a rubber mallet. When it comes loose, I barely relief scrape or sand all the bedding as I want to seal it with True-Oil and make sure it is all sealed up inside. Then I install the dovetails for the underlugs & etc. & inlet them into the bedded stock.

If it is a light caliber swamped barrel it is important that you don't clamp it too tight as you could bow the barrel. In that situation I bed 4 places about 1" wide each on the barrel channel (breech & 3 more places spaced evenly down the barrel channel) as it will easily bed there with not much pressure, then release it & then bed the rest of it & have your clamps at the dried bedded places. This way you know you have the barrel pulled where it needs to be & not overstressed or bowed.

I have used Accruglas & Micro-Bed, and prefer the Micro-Bed as the color is already what I want usually.

:results:

 

[Stumpkiller]

The best advice I can give you it to keep in mind that everything you bed with it must be V shaped, or at least keep that thought in mind. File off every lil eough spot, have no ledges, etc. If it is V shaped it will come out..

And anything with a hole, like barrel lugs, the ramrod channel, etc. you need to plug.

I have done a couple bolt-actions. Use plenty of modeling clay to plug the openings you want to be openings after and paste wax anything you want removable (cheap release agent).

 

[Birddog6]

And speaking of such, that is exactly why I bed them before I do anything to the barrel.

One time I built a rifle & after I got the barrel all the way in & pinned & the tang drilled, lock in & drilled & etc. After getting the rifle in the white the customer decided he wanted the barrel bedded. So I took the barrel underlugs off & filled the dovetails with clay & bedded the barrel, but I failed to plug up the hole for the lockbolt (from sideplate thru tang base to lock) As the bedding was drying it hit me I had forgot to plug this hole. So I took a Q'tip & cleaned out the bedding in the hole thru the stock. I let the bedding dry & I messed with that barrel for over an hour & couldn't get the breech to budge. Finally I was convinced it still must be locked there & I took a drill bit a few thousands larger in size than the hole & drilled out the hole & that released the barrel.

It is amazing how just a lil nich or edge or whatever will lock one in as that stuff is really strong ! If you bed one with the underlugs on it with holes in them or slots & don't plug them, you most likely won't be getting the barrel out.

:results:

 

[Bear Rider]

I've used it, had no problems, and won't use it again- just don't see the advantage and it offends some folks sensibilities about period correctness. So there's no discernable benefit to me.

The advantage is this. It seals the inlet parts of the stock against whatever solvents the crazy owner may use. Much better than any sort of finish. :m2c:

I remember seeing a Dixie poor boy where the barrel had shifted about 1/8 inch to the rear because the owner used a lot of WD-40 around the lock, which weakened the wood in that area to the point where the recoil drove the barrel back.