![]() ![]() Though there are a couple things you have to do differently with them or with other barrels that have a regular breech plug and are pinned into the stock. This procedure not only brought the accuracy back to my TC Hawken, but it actually improved the accuracy a bit over when it was brand new.īTW, glass bedding is allowed and done on many of the WBTS period original and reproduction Rifle Muskets fired in NSSA competition. OH, DO NOT forget to Mold Release the Wedge Key along with the barrel and tang and Tang Screw.Ĭlean up of the glass bedding that squooshed out from the bedding surface was cleaned up using Q Tips dipped in acetone. I also thought about using Ram 225 Mold Release because it gives a tighter fit to the bedding, but decided to use Brownells Accra Release because though it would not be quite as tight of a glass job fit, it might also save problems getting the barrel out of the stock. Accraglas was also easier to dye at that time to match the color of the stock. I thought about using a “tougher” glass bedding compound, but decided to use Brownells Accraglas because there is a little “give” to Accraglas and that could save other problems initially getting the barrel out of the stock after the Accraglas cured. Then it dawned on me that I would only use a thin coat of glass bedding on the vertical sides of the barrel channel inlet close to the wedge key and more glass along all five surfaces in the rest of the stock channel everywhere else. I had decided to glass bed the tang and most of the barrel into the stock, but was not sure at first how to keep excess glass away from the wedge key area. Then I had to figure out how the glass bedding would close up the gaps. Now there was some unsightly gap on each side of the barrel and the top of the stock. Once I found the shim stock thickness that made the wedge key force the barrel down with a few pounds of pressure, I was almost ready to go. Then I tried tapping the wedge key in to see how much pressure would be required to tap it completely through the stock with the difference thicknesses of shim stock. I experimented with different thicknesses of steel and brass shim stock that I laid just on the flat inletted surface at the bottom of the stock channel and close to the barrel key for the wedge. Then I roughed up the areas of the stock channel where I wanted the glass bedding to go. What that did was allow the tapered wedge key to enter the barrel lug now sitting higher in the barrel channel and then pull the barrel down into the bedding as the wedge key was driven in place. This also meant I had to very slightly taper the wedge key at the front and from top to bottom on the top side of the wedge key. This meant the wedge key would pull the barrel down tight into the stock bedding. What I wanted to do was ensure there had to be some little pressure for the wedge key to pull the barrel down into the bedding. ![]() Now I understand that might be confusing to some folks. When we glass bedded service rifles, we also ensured there was tension on the very front of the stock. They would inlet the action and barrel so the very front of the stock put about 4-6 pounds of pressure upwards on the barrel. Since this was the first time I ever glassed a ML, I decided to take some pointers from how the experts used to inlet a Springfield 03 action and barrel into the stock, even though they did not use glass bedding. There even was a little up and down movement of the barrel in the stock, when the wedge key was in place. 1972 shot great for some years, the stock must have been a little soft and compressed to the point it loosened up the groups. This so the glass bedding doesn't flow into that area and lock the tang/barrel permanently into the stock. Also, one has to fill any open space with modeling clay around any open space at the rear of the tang where the hook comes through. Excellent point about temporarily gluing the barrel locked into the tang.
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