Cleaning Armorers
Brownells Rifle Bedding Compounds
If you already have a good trigger and don’t want to splash out on a quality stock, your next step should be a good glass bedding job – ideally with a free floating barrel and bedding pillars. Glass bedding will also have the added advantage of making the rifle more dependable and weather resistant. Bedding compound will stop oil and cleaning fluids attacking your precious woodwork and will actually increase the strength of your stock as it is much stronger than any wood. Brownells offer three rifle bedding products of their own, Acraglas, Acraglas Gel and Steel Bed. You can use more than one product on one rifle or blend in other materials to alter their properties.
Acraglas was Brownells’ first glass bedding product on the market and has become and industry standard. Ease of bedding is ensured by Acraglas’ low initial curing speed which gives you enough time to finish your bedding work. You don’t even have to be very accurate with your inletting as Acraglas will fill in any gaps, actually reinforcing your stock due to its immense strength. Acraglas shrinks by less than 0.1% whilst curing ensuring a skin tight fit. Minor blemishes and machining marks in the metal are faithfully reproduced in the bedding. A release agent prevents the Acraglas from bonding with the metal. Brownells release agent is now available in a non flammable form which is safe to ship by air anywhere in the US or overseas, meaning it can get to you quickly. Acraglas’ shelf life of greater than five years ensures you can keep some around for when it’s needed. Acraglas is translucent and amber in color, but other colors are offered to suit different color stocks and cammo jobs. Plain Acraglas is often best with light walnut and other woods like cherry. Brownells bedding products do not crumble, fragment or sugar out as many cheaper ‘plastic’ compounds used in bedding do.
Brownells were not content to rest on their laurels with Acraglas – customers wanted some changes. Firstly, they wanted a product that was more like butter in its consistency and behaviour. Secondly, a slightly longer setting time would allow even more time for fine tuning of the bedding. Finally, they wanted to be able to incorporate atomized or powdered metals for more strength, particicularly around recoil lugs, cross-bolts and other high stress areas. Brownells supply aluminium, steel and stainless steel powders for this purpose. Aluminium still allows the bedding to be worked with woodworking tools whilst steel and stainless steel require metalworking tools. Stainless steel is good for applications where rust could become a problem. Brownells met these needs with Acraglas Gel, but made two more improvements. Firstly by introducing a 1:1 resin and hardner ratio which makes it much easier to mix up small quantities of bedding compound. Nylon derivatives were introduced to increase ‘thin strength’, shock resistance and ability to withstand environmental extremes. For this reason there is no point in adding glass floc to the mix. Acraglas Gel adds a little flexibility as atomized metal is used as reinforcement for high impact areas.
Some shooters, however, wanted the strongest bedding solution for weapons requiring the greatest accuracy or subjected to extreme rigors of use. This also applied to rifles used for static varminting, match target shooting and bench rest disciplines. Brownells decided to opt for stainless steel powder as the reinforcement of choice for its strength and resistant to rust. Two and a half times as much stainless steel was used as some competitors put in their products. There is actually slightly more steel by weight than epoxy in this new compound, which they christened STEEL BED. The best test available was to simply give the product to gunsmiths, riflemakers and armorers all over the country to put to no holds barred use. At no time did any STEEL BED installation fail. Brownells warrant this product 100%. STEEL BED, however is hard to dye. You can get an acceptable dark brown for darker woods and a great black, but it is really best to paint a synthetic stock with the bedding job done to ensure a color match. With walnut and lighter woods it is possible to to use STEEL BED in heavily stressed areas with Acraglas or Acraglas Gel where bedding is visible in the action and barrel channel and around the floorplate and triggerguard.
All of these products, if used correctly will increase the accuracy and consistency of your rifle – often dramatically. Easy to follow instructions are included and mixing is greatly aided in the products using 1:1 mixing. You will soon find lots of additional uses for these products which will stick almost anything to anything. Brownells receive lots of letters from customers who have put their bedding products to unconventional uses and one even used Acraglas to successfully fix a set of false teeth. Brownells offer these products in packages that suit everyone from someone accurizing one rifle to custom stock makers and rifle manufactuers.
AGI 112 Remington 1100 1187 Shotgun Armorer’s Course
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