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Forum Index > Rifles general discussion > Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II

Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II

18 Oct 2014
@ 11:37 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

I'm trying to do a full length glass bedding job on my Ruger m77 Mark II in .280 Ackley Imp.

I need some help with the trigger area of the stock. Hopefully I'll get some photos up to show you guys what I've got. Any help much appreciated!!

[img]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii202/sneekeedanno/123_zpsfc1429ea.jpg

Replies

18 Oct 2014
@ 11:37 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
[url]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii202/sneekeedanno/123_zpsfc1429ea.jpg[b]
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:39 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:41 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:41 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
[b]
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:42 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
[b]
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:46 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
[b]
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:50 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
So, my concern is the trigger area and middle action bolt. Have I dammed it properly? I'd like to have some bedding support in that area. Or, should I just clay over it and get only the sides of the action. My biggest concern is that the bedding is going to gum up the trigger area. I think I've filled the voids enough in the action in that area but I'm still not sure if it should be done differently..

Thanks!!
Dan[b]
18 Oct 2014
@ 11:52 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
My second area of concern is the rear tang pillar area. For some reason the stock is void on the aft portion of the pillar. You can see I placed a small painters tape dam backed by putty in hopes to fill that area and keep the bedding from running into the trigger area. Any thoughts on this?

Dan[b]
19 Oct 2014
@ 04:29 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Hi Dan, lets go over each area respectively.

Front of action:
Once you have the action screw holes lined up- useing the barrel channel plasticine dam for alignment, blank off both the hole in the stock and the hole in the recoil lug. The barrel channel dam will be your guide.

Middle:
Again, blank off both the hole in the stock and the hole in the action unless you really wish to use this as a guide. You need stiff compound for this area and the tang of the Ruger. There are two ways we can do this (discussed at bottom).

Tang:
Stiff compound useful. Also, you can paint compound onto the tang. I do not generally use any dams in the trigger well as I like this area to be free draining. Use a headless screw for the tang as per normal.

To stiffen compound:
Take a tablespoon of the mixed compound and heat with a heat gun / hot water bottle etc. Set other compound aside in cool area.

The heated compound will become quite runny but if cooled back down again, it will become quite stiff and can then be applied. At this point, the remaining bulk of the compound should be warmed and applied to other areas.

Method 2 (easy):
Apply chopped carbon fiber. Or chopped fiber glass, or degreased and chopped hair of loved one (if sentimental), or degreased and chopped animal hair of animal. Again, take a table spoon of compound and cut fibers to about 1/4" long (6mm) max, then mix with compound until a stiff matrix is achieved.

Final thoughts: The M77 is not the best for full length bedding. The action shape and rough texture can cause it to become severely trapped. It can be better to perform a front and rear bedding job with a "blob" of compound in the middle.

Here we see the basic prep. I will fit three temporary foam dams. TYhere is only one showing at present in the barrel channel.



Blob in the middle:



Front of the action and two temp foam dams. I pull the dams from the sides, just as the metal work makes contact:





Below is a FL bedding job on a Ruger Creedmore target rifle. The tang detail is somewhat different due to the trigger design. I do not recommend full length bedding any M77 rifle- very challenging. Please see the needle file in photo. This area (file placed over area) needs filing after bedding to enable the bolt stop to operate. If you do FL bed, make sure you sue plenty of graphite as a secondary release agent on the action. When it comes time to break the job open, place rifle in a deep freezer for at least 15 minutes.




19 Oct 2014
@ 04:32 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
I forgot to mention- your prep looks very neat and tidy. Really good to see nice prep like this.
19 Oct 2014
@ 05:14 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
One other thing Dan, the tape at the tang should work OK as long as it does not fold back. Trial fits will determine this.
19 Oct 2014
@ 05:30 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
And still more:

In the rehashed and labelled photo below, we can see a drain hole, used when front / rear (and blob in the middle) bedding. This helps prevent compound locking the entire action in place as can happen with a full length bed, though most trouble is to be had in the trigger well or at the tang if it has a reverse taper (disc grinder to the rescue). The drain hole simply prevents too much compound heading in this direction.

One little tip is to use a raised lip of plasticine to prevent ongoing seepage. That said, the parts do form a vacuum.

19 Oct 2014
@ 07:41 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Thank you Nathan for your response. I've learned so much from your videos, posts and articles. I wish I'd read your reply prior to starting the project this afternoon! I had a bugger of a time with that lug bolt and should have just blocked it off with clay from both ends. If it seizes up that will surely be the culprit. The tape dam was backed by clay in the rear tang area and it fit well and wasn't moved when pre-fit. However I used Acuraglas gel and getting it to "settle" where I wanted was a pain. I will defiantly use something more runny next time.

I used the graphite liberally on the modeling clay in the trigger area. I then painted it with the Acuraglass release agent and for good measure, coated it with Kiwi wax. Hopefully she will come loose.

I'll keep you posted on the progress tomorrow when I pull it apart!

Thanks again!

Dan
19 Oct 2014
@ 09:51 pm (GMT)

Dan Keene

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Nathan you are a saint! All the help you have given this guy and he is using another brand of bedding compound and not bought any of your books! Some people have no shame at all!
20 Oct 2014
@ 01:51 am (GMT)

thomas kitchen

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
dan keene think anyone that has been helped by nathan would agree he's the saint of rifles. you got to think of it as pre customer service might not be a customer now but in future he might be. thats one of the reason i come see you guys at reloaders and bring my mates everytime they need something, in this day and age with fancy franchises and more emphasis put on marketing then the quality of products. its nice to have helpful people that really look out for customers/people
20 Oct 2014
@ 03:58 am (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
It is certainly an odd situation from my own perspective. I know that a lot of people use our instructions with other compounds. The normal practice would be to withhold advice however what you say has merit Thomas. But I must admit at times, of late, it can feel somewhat demanding - so many people to help. Thank you so much for your words of support Dan.

For Dan Mayland - I am often hesitant to put other release agents over latex as latex can very often be weak and can also create air bubbling under certain temperature conditions. That being said, performance is optimal when latex is applied to a bead blasted surface so fingers crossed all will be well.

21 Oct 2014
@ 05:53 am (GMT)

Marty

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
How did the action break out Dan, well l hope!

And yes Nathan is extremely generous with his time, as well as his hard earned knowledge for all.

Professional advice just a few clicks away, so a note to all readers please support him as he supports you![b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:00 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Nathan truly is a SAINT!!!
BIG thanks to Nathan and all his assistance. he has definitely earned a customer for life!

My next builds will contain his compounds!

Unfortunately I was in a bit of a time crunch and had already begun the project. Being in the USA didn't afford me enough time to get his product here.

I wasn't even aware that Match Grade Bedding was Nathan's bedding compound until after I moved over and joined the forums!

Now for the project!!!

No difficulties popping the action free of the stock. Placed it in the freezer last night for about 20 minutes while I scarfed down some chow and popped it out with little effort on the bench using a towel.

I had no issues with compound locking up the action. It did seep into a few areas that I didn't want it but with a small/sharp wood chisel it cleaned out nicely.

Overall, I'm happy with my first bedding job. I wish I hadn't chose a Ruger to do this on but it was definitely a learning experience. I wouldn't have even done it one this gun except for the fact that it was the very first gun that my father ever gifted me as a young boy and I wanted to make it as accurate as possible with a new stock for hunting purposes.

I will post pics in a bit!

Thanks again Nathan!

Dan

[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:20 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Nathan was right (of course), the shoe polish on top of the latex caused the finish to have small inconsistencies. I definitely wont do that again although the action did break free easily and I don't suspect that the finish will affect the accuracy of the gun.

I've since cleaned up all the edges and removed all of the modeling clay and tape that can bee seen in the pictures.

The best part is that the action fits like a glove and is easily "dropped" into the stock without any pinch or stress. I'm confident that the gun will shoot nicely.

A little history on the gun before posting some pics :-)

My dad purchased this gun for me in the early 90's. It came with a beautiful laminated stock. I harvested a real nice mule deer with it the next season. The rifle sat in my gun cabinet through college until after college when I took it on an elk hunt and missed not one but two really nice bulls. (one was as the time, the largest elk I'd ever had a chance at. I missed him at an even 300 yards. I'd killed many elk up to that point, never missed and my longest kill was at 470 yards!) I took the gun to the range and could barely get 6 inch groups at 100 yards. I purchased a new, very expensive to me Leupold scope, switched to nosler custom ammo and killed a cow elk the very next day at 375 yards . The gun still would not shoot groups of less than 2 inches at 100 yards! The gun then sat in my gun cabinet for 17 years until recently when I decided to begin this project. I'm hoping to take it on a 10 day elk hunt here in Montana in one week if all goes well!!

Cheers!

Dan
[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:21 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:21 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:31 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Obviously the finish does not have that smooth glass or mirror like finish like the photos of Nathans build. But hey, it's my first one!! I surely wont use Acuraglass gel again either ....grrrr
[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:32 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Here's a photo of the very first animal ever harvested with this gun! I was 16 then and I'm 35 and 75lbs lighter now!

[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 10:35 pm (GMT)

Dan Mayland

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
The same deer, photo take with a camera phone in 2007

[b]
21 Oct 2014
@ 11:09 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Help Bedding a Ruger M77 Mark II
Hi Dan, well you did well for your first attempt. The good prep showed through regardless of the finish.

You may have a way to go yet. Much is covered in my third book. I think you could get on top of it all inside a week if you have time to read the book, then take a day to implement the jobs. Still, that may be too little time for you if you want to get shooting soon.

Anyway, all the best.
 

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