Explain to the customer what you will be doing to her rifle during the bedding process.
If I were to explain to the customer what steps I would need to take to correctly bed their rifle, I would probably begin with the preparation it takes before applying the bedding compound. I would let them know that things like tape and putty would be used in order to prevent seepage that can be difficult to remove later on. I may need to explain what a pillar is and why I may need to use them during the bedding process. Talking to the individual and discussing the actual bedding process and the type of stock being used may determine what compound I will be using to get the best results and this will also tell me if I need to add things like chopped up fiberglass for buildup or reinforcement in certain areas. Finally, I would discuss the cleanup stage and the areas of the firearm I may need to check for the correct finish and bedding.
Will you free-float the entire barrel? Why or why not? Remember that the lapped barrel is performing well on the mock-bedding.
The most common way most people do this today is to bed the action and free float the barrel. To get the best results you need pressure that remains constant and consistent as possible. This can be hard to achieve with a wood stock as it can be susceptible to things like moisture and humidity. If the barrel I lapped is performing well on the mock bedding without any bedding done for the barrel, then it may be time to do a more permanent bed and consider free floating the barrel in general. Free floating the barrel ensures the barrel has no contact with the stock and this allows the barrel to whip naturally after a shot is taken. You just wouldn’t want to free float the barrel if the rifle is using a plastic stock with no bedding because the amount of movement that can occur after a shot will result in extremely poor accuracy.
The customer asks why you cannot just leave the rifle bedded as you did for the test-fire. Explain the difference between mock bedding and final bedding.
The reason for the mock bedding was to see if this temporary solution would fix the problem of poor accuracy. If done correctly and this yields better results, then it was clear that this was a major component in the rifle’s inability to hit at distance and finishing the job with a more permanent bedding would be necessary. Mock bedding will loosen over time and will need to be done multiple times over the rifle’s life span but if allowed to final bed the rifle with the correct solution then it should fire accurately for a long time with little to no upkeep.
Resources
Foster, Nathan. The Practical Guide to Bolt Action Rifle Accurizing and Maintenance. Terminal Ballistics Research, 2014.
Sundra, Jon R. “How Does Barrel Bedding Affect Accuracy?” Gun Digest, 7 Aug. 2019, https://gundigest.com/rifles/barrel-bedding-affect-accuracy.
What Is Rifle Bedding?, https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/What+is+rifle+bedding.html.
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