[david.30-06]

Hello,

i am new to the board. I am from Germany and recently bought a XL7 in .30-06 with synthetic stock. Mounted my Zeiss on it and went to the range. The rifle was not shooting that well. Maybe 1 1/2 to 2" at 100m.

I recognized that the barrel was only touching the left of the two pressure pads, so i decided to free float the barrel. Also it seemed that the left side of the stock is touching the barrel while the ride side had space.

Also i reinforced the factory trigger guard with a aluminium pillar because i could not tighten the rear action screw properly and the trigger guard started cracking. Epoxied the pillar into the triggerguard an now this seems to be sturdy.


My question is if your guns free floated shot better? I couldnt make to the range yet.

Did some of you guys glas bedded the recoil lug. If so are there some pics? I mean it is pillar bedded but when i unscrew the action screws the lug has some back and forth movement.

Thank you so far

Regards David

 

[sansone]

there is a lot of talk here regarding bedding the action.. YES my gun needed stock work to shoot right

 

[david.30-06]

As i look at the internals of the composite stock there is no room for bedding an inch of the barrel. So i maybe just bedding the recoil lug. But really i coulndt find detailed information on that with the forum search.

I learned that only the back of the lug should have contact to the bedding. Despite that, will Acraglas Gel stick to the stock if the stock is roughed up with a dremel?

sansone, what exactly did you do to your stock?

 

[mt_sourdough]

Hey David, let me first say "Welcome to Marlin Owners".

I am dealing with stock issues like you are. I bought a Boyd's Laminate stock as an immediate solution. After buying a replacement stock, I now have the original stock to work with. I just dremmeled the heck out of my original stock last night. Now, I am not the expert here, but I did make some observations. 1) the pillar bedding in my original stock seems to NOT fit flush with the areas around it. The plastic was higher than the top of the pillar. This means to me, that the pillar was not fitting up against the rifle's action when bolts are secured into place. Maybe somebody here can tell me I am wrong, but the way the pillar beds are sitting in the stock make them ineffective. It seems to me that the action should make solid contact with the pillar for the pillars to work as they are intended. 2) This was the same on the rear guard screw as well. 3) There are not many areas where the action contacts the stock. Though the area for bedding the lug area is small (2"), glass bedding should still give the desired results. 4) Because the action was originally contacting plastic and not the steel pillars, trimming the plastic down to allow the action to contact firmly with pillars will slightly change the way the rifle sits in the stock and therefor, might require more modifications.

Because my original stock is a replacement, If I mess up, it wont be a great loss and I can chalk it up as a learning experience. I eventually plan to glass bed both stocks and then shoot the rifle in both for comparison.

 

[david.30-06]

The receiver of my gun seems to make contact with the steel pillars as the bottom of the receiver shows to "spots" from contact with the pillars. Both, front and rear.

I am not sure if i glass bed the recoil lug yet because of the lack of space. I am going to fire the gun first next week. Think it will be better.

A friend of mine had even more problems. So we made some spacers out of a plastic card that the pressure pads could not make any contact to the barrel. The groups shrunk dramatically.

 

[Sub95]

My .308 had the same problem of the left side stock touching the barrel, so i free floated it, and now shoots way under 1" groups @ 100 yards. i only free floated it.

Before it would shoot all over the place, specially when the barrel got warm.

 

[GJinNY]

I guess I am thankful that my 25-06 shoots well with no adjustments. 100 yds

 

[sansone]

david- my stock was applying unequal pressure at the muzzle end (factory pressure points) AND one side of the barrel was hard against the stock (about 4" forward of receiver)..
the fix was to sand the one side touching brrl, and carefully sand (1) pressure point under muzzle.
I dragged an ignition feeler gauge under each pressure point until the resistance felt equal.
I know, not rocket science but the groups shrunk down to 1moa..

personally I really like the rifle, the safety doesn't bother me at all, and the accuracy is better than the much more expensive M77 made by you know who.

 

[jwilson48]

on the bedding your recoil lug, yes use a dremel and rough up the area. you will actually need to remove quite a bit of the stock where the recoil lug sits, some along the rear tang, and anywhere else you plan on applying bedding. if you are going to use acraglass get the gel. much better than regular acragrlass. if you do not remove enough material in certain areas, the bedding material will be thin and more brittle. after bedding shoot and see how good it shoots. then i would remove pressure points and shoot again. if it shot better before removing pressure points, you can use your acraglass to rebuild a pressure pad for the end of the barrel. all you do is put barrel in a vice, hang 5 to 7lb weight off of end of stock. after it cures the glass bed will apply 5 to 7 lbs pressure on the barrel.

 

[david.30-06]

Hello,

went to the range today.

I bought a box of RUAG Cineshot ammo. It is about 15€ a box here in Germany. The XL7 shot very good. 3 and four shot groups 1/2" size. I am satisfied.

Don´t know for what reason marlin made those perssure pads? Free floating the barrel is highly recomended. Especally if the stock is touching the barrel at one side more than the other.

 

[stsimons]

mt_sourdough I had the same problem with the pillars and ended up with a Boyds too. I tried bedding the factory stock but it was a lost cause... it was my first bedding job and I could not get the compound to effectively stick to the plastic. The boyds has been great.