Have you bedded your 22?

[Ohioan]

I've been tinkering with my 22. Wellllll..... that's an understatement. More like tearing it completely apart and doing as much as I can to increase accuracy. Started with a Savage MKII heavy barrel. Boyd's pro varminter stock. Upgraded to thicker mag plate. Pillars added. Skim bedded the stock. Shimmed the trigger to take out the play.
Has anyone gone this far on a rifle of this level? What were your results? I'm talking about a stock barreled action not a Schilen rebarrel or an Annie.

 

[Deathrowdave]

Yes I have . One of my favorite .22s is a 40x set into a M40 style stock . I bedded it as I swapped it onto the action. I have never shot it before bedding so I have no comparisons or before and after bedding . It is a sweet heart now to say the least . I have a Weaver T16 mounted with a dot . It will touch 10 rounds continuously. Shoots way better the the shooter .

 

[accurate obsession]

I will step out on a limb here and say that bedding is probably the first and most common mod done to an OEM rimfire rifle when the owner is of a mind to squeeze out all the potential accuracy. Be careful though, accuracy mods are like tater chips one needs another, needs another, needs another. Then it gets so bad you wind up with another rifle all together, a full blown custom build that costs like your center fire builds.I know I'm not alone here.

 

[47guy]

I will step out on a limb here and say that bedding is probably the first and most common mod done to an OEM rimfire rifle when the owner is of a mind to squeeze out all the potential accuracy. Be careful though, accuracy mods are like tater chips one needs another, needs another, needs another. Then it gets so bad you wind up with another rifle all together, a full blown custom build that costs like your center fire builds.I know I'm not alone here.

^^^this right here...if you plan to shoot comps or on a mission for the most/best accuracy possible your better off buying a custom right from the start...it will save you a ton of money and frustration...trust me i know first hand from center fire and rim fire LOL.

 

[Hookturnr]

^^^this right here...if you plan to shoot comps or on a mission for the most/best accuracy possible your better off buying a custom right from the start...it will save you a ton of money and frustration...trust me i know first hand from center fire and rim fire LOL.

I beg to differ with this on the price point anyways... I've got a CZ455 Varmint that I have done the trigger mods, threaded, Pillared and bedded into a Boyds Tacticool and added new m4 bottom metal, extended mag release and bolt handles and I'm still well under the price tag of a custom with a gun that shoots consistently in the .3's and better at times. It's more than accurate enough for PeeWee PRS...sorry....PRC and I don't have custom rifle money into it. Not that I'm not getting into that ballpark at the moment but it's not there yet...unless you consider the Vortex PST parked on top, but that's another story altogether



The biggest thing is to start out with a barrel that slugs well. If you're barrel doesn't slug well...or if you haven't gotten it to shoot into the .5's then you're likely looking at a new barrel. If that's the case, you might be better off with another platform

 

[accurate obsession]

The biggest thing is to start out with a barrel that slugs well. If you're barrel doesn't slug well...or if you haven't gotten it to shoot into the .5's then you're likely looking at a new barrel. If that's the case, you might be better off with another platform

That really is the crux of the whole system. Rimfire is sooo finicky and super dependent on that barrel being just so. I have a CZ 455 done very much like above and performs similarly, but it was not even close to that out of the box. Based on my limited experience slugging barrels the OEM barrel felt good, a little tightness at the muzzle but when patching it (cleaning) it felt rough in the leade area. So i resorted to lapping with some JB compound about 70/30 between the throat and the rest of the bore. That was after shooting hundreds of rounds and many brands of ammo. At that point I was at a "cure it or kill it" point cause the next step would be a custom barrel as all the other mods had been done.

 

[NighthawkCG]

I started with the MKII FVSR and did about the same. Dropped it in a pro varmint stock, pillared and bedded. Did not do any trigger work, but am considering it.

The MKIIs are sensitive to the torque on the action screws - you can play around with that and get a difference in accuracy. I have 2 friends that bought the same rifle and left them stock for the most part and we also find that they don't really love to perform in cold temps - after about an hour and a half of sitting in the cold, all three of them don't shot like they do when warm. That could be ammo selection too.

With CCI SV I can get about .5" at 50 yds on a good day if I do my part.

Haven't really taken the time to shoot good match stuff through it.

 

[jbell]

I depends on what your starting out with. If you have a poorly inlet stock with pressure points here and gaps there, then yes bedding can help greatly (if done properly). but on the other hand if the stock fits the action well then you may not see much improvement. Also to note if your starting out with an inherently inaccurate barreled action (bad chamber, loose bore, bad rifling, damaged non concentric crown, etc.) then no matter how perfect the bedding is there will not be any accuracy gains.

Meaning it is all relative, if bedding is the largest short coming of the rifle then yes it can help. But if your barrel is falling off I don't think you will see much gain. You can always test your current system for excessive stress in the inlet before you attempt to bed it.

 

[RTH1800]

My accuracy focused rim fires have been and are Rem 37's, Rem 40X's and Winchester 52's. The better ones have shot under MOA at 100 yards. At times 5 shot groups are under 3/8 MOA. I have never bedded one and none have custom barrels or any mods to speak of. I don't compete but do like to make a great group or a longish shot on a squirrel, crow or turtle. Not sure how much better a custom rifle will do. I do have some Vudoo Tactical barreled actions coming in so I might find out.

 

[NOMAD]

It’s another yes or no mystery. Can bedding the gun hurt no. Is it always needed no. Does it make some shooters feel better sure.

Todays fiberglass stocks are cut to near perfection. These stocks also don’t flex, swell and contract like older stocks or sticks made of plastic or rubber. Barrel and action tolerances the same. The ability to use chassis and mini chassis that remove the need to bed are also out there.

You wont truly know or form your opinion unless you test for yourself and then thru trial and error you will make a decision.

If your rifle is shooting .2 and .3 groups bedding the gun is not going to get you anything else. Human error and wind reading error is 5x that at these distances.

Like much in in the long range world there is a lot of I just have this or that in order to shoot better myths out there.

Bedding is is a definite way to improve a rifle that doesn’t shoot. But once again it isn’t the fix all. If your rifle barrel and action sucks and is t accurate bedding isn’t going to save the day.

 

[...]

I've been tinkering with my 22. Wellllll..... that's an understatement. More like tearing it completely apart and doing as much as I can to increase accuracy. Started with a Savage MKII heavy barrel. Boyd's pro varminter stock. Upgraded to thicker mag plate. Pillars added. Skim bedded the stock. Shimmed the trigger to take out the play.
Has anyone gone this far on a rifle of this level? What were your results? I'm talking about a stock barreled action not a Schilen rebarrel or an Annie.

a savage mk2 was my primary match rifle in NCAA for a few years.....

stock barrel stock action....made a custom single shot adapter.....richards microfit stock....glass and pillar bed.....lapped the barrel.....

mine was shooting just over 1 MOA at 100yds.......not great for long range work....but more than good enough for indoor 3P

 

[mrbig]

I have a 1957 vintage Brno Model #4 that came from the factory with steel pillars but has not been bedded,,with the reciever sights it will shoot in the .3`s at 50 yards and under an inch at 100 yards,,with a 20X Lyman scope it willshoot in the low .2`s at 50 and in the .6-.7`s at 100 yards,,and that is five five shot group 25 shot aggs not just a group pulled out now and then,,it has at times shot in the .1s at 50 and under .5 at 100 but I like to use 25 shot aggs to describe how a rifle shoots,,

I do have a lilja barreled 455 that I bedded but the question was about factory barreled rifles

 

[RAVAGE88]

I depends on what your starting out with. If you have a poorly inlet stock with pressure points here and gaps there, then yes bedding can help greatly (if done properly). but on the other hand if the stock fits the action well then you may not see much improvement. Also to note if your starting out with an inherently inaccurate barreled action (bad chamber, loose bore, bad rifling, damaged non concentric crown, etc.) then no matter how perfect the bedding is there will not be any accuracy gains.

Meaning it is all relative, if bedding is the largest short coming of the rifle then yes it can help. But if your barrel is falling off I don't think you will see much gain. You can always test your current system for excessive stress in the inlet before you attempt to bed it.

^^^^This.

MB

 

[BigJimFish]

I bedded my Kimber 82 at the time I overhauled it's stock to add adjustability to it. I shoot the rifle much better now when doing 3-posiiton due to the better ergonomics of the adjustable peices but I have not seen a better ceiling, so to speak, to that performance when I fire from a solid bench. Any changes in the rifles accuracy from the bedding have been too small to show up relative to other factors.

I think that my message would probably be that bedding is one of many things that effect the accuracy potential of a rifle. It is a contributing factor to stiffness in the action and therefore the thicker and more robust the action is to start with (the kimber 82 action is very thick indeed) the less effect bedding will have. You would also expect to notice more effect when going from a stock with uneven and poorly fitted contact with the action than one that fits pretty well. The MKII is a rather thin action so presumably bedding might be noticeable.

Accuracy, or more technically precision, is a many factored thing. There are big factors like barrel, crown, and ammo (even particular lot of ammo) and smaller factors like bedding or even action. I would caution you as to just how much time and investment you add to any rifle if your ultimately trying to make it another rifle. Most of the time aftermarket additions to a rifle add little to their resale value even when they add good performance. I expect that you will see some, but not all that much performance from a bedding job on a MK II. I also expect that if you are trying to get a mark II to be an MOA rifle you would spend far more than if you bought an MOA rifle day 1. I once had a MK II and I was not one of the luckier MK II owners in terms of accuracy. My thought is that the road you seem to be going down in terms of your accuracy standards is not one that will have a MK II at the end of it and you would probably be wiser switching cars now. If you want to get there little by little you might try starting off with something less costly but more rigid and that has good upgrade potential like a CZ. If you are looking to start closer to the end point but on a budget you might try looking at older Annies as many of them are lights out shooters and arn't too costly.

 

[Ohioan]

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in. The rifle started out life in a more off-hand style stock, The Mako if you are wondering. It is a pre-e receiver. I got some very good results with that stock but it was uncomfortable for the game I was playing with it which was primarily off a bench. I bought what I think was one of the first pro varminter stocks when they were the tacticool. The wood around the front action screw was VERY thin and the rear of the screw hole was removed for the mag well.

I was younger, obviously. I knew some of what made an accurate rifle. The rifle shot ok after I restocked it. I chocked it up to lack of practice, a new feel, and then about a year later a new lot of ammo. I just happened to check the action screws at the end of the season and the front was barely finger tight. I pulled the action and then I remembered that it was messed up. I figured the winter would be a good time to tear the thing down. I was just going to do the bottom metal but one thing led to another.....
One of you mention about investment of time and money. Time, it doesn't bother me. I love projects like this. Money, the pillars a friend made for me for free, the bottom metal I made myself and cold blued it, the pillars and bedding are set in JB Weld. I know I am going to catch flack but that's another reason I didn't just get a CZ.

I will report on results when I finally get time. 2 kids under 4 and a job where a 40 hour week is a light week doesn't leave much time for range trips.

 

[Topstrap]

I've experimented going the opposite direction with one of my better shooting long-range rimfires. It shoots just as good now as it did in it's original stock. I've thought about having a bounty for beating it at my matches. Win 52-C that shoots incredible, no bedding, action just hangs off the back of a 2x4, poweraide bottle for a cheek rest. Call it Ugly Beddy.