[AZRickD]

Oh, my.

I've gone and done it. :evil:

I've prepped the Choate Plaster Disaster stock and goobered on the release agent from the AcraGel's kit.

I just got done goobering on a conservative amount of the black, sticky stuff and now I await the morning when I will see if I have permanently mounted my rifle action (sans trigger and mag spring) to the stock.

Tic-toc. Tic-toc. Eight hours until a take a rubber mallet to it. I hope it comes loose.

I won't be getting much sleep tonite. :uhoh:

Rick --

[dakotasin]

she'll pop out.

i would advise you do not disturb the bedding until it has had at least 12 hours to cure - and 24 would be better.

if you put a 'conservative' amount of 'stuff' down, you might find that you didn't get enough of it down in the area in front of the recoil lug... if this is the case, do not panic... you might be surprised at how well it will shoot in spite of the deficiency.

hope it turns out for you!

[dakotasin]

forgot to add that if the barrelled action does not want to come out, put a post up to that effect... there are a couple of things you can do to coax them apart before you take drastic measures...

when it comes time to seperate them, i have found that holding the stock in place, and gripping the end of the barrel and a slow, steady, hard pull works best.

[Khornet]

if you have enough freezer space, you can put the job in there for a few hours and it should pop out. But I've never had an Acraglas gel job I couldn't tap out.

[AZRickD]

Bwahahaha.

I woke up this morning with great trepidation. I was tempted to jump from bed and go out to the kitchen table and pop the stock in my birthday suit but I bravely turned on the shower and did my normal routine.

I got a webbing strap and rubber mallet from the garage and affixed the strap through those cool, yet unnecessary camo slots in the stock's forearm and used that to pull down on the stock with my foot as I gave a few pounds of up force on the barrell with a few, gentle whack-whacks...

Yes, I remembered to removed the actions screws (I was concerned that I might forget, believe it or not).

The two components came out with a wiggle or three with a "schlorp" sound as if the epoxy was still wet (I'm guessing it was the release agent releasing).

The front and rear pillars look like they took a fine mold but will require some Dremeling where the epoxy oozed somewhat.

As Dakotasin surmised, and I wondered as well, I could have used a bit more epoxy on the recoil lug for my satisfaction. The back and the bottom of the recoil lug is nicely bedded, but the sides are a little (a lot) uneven. I may go and fill the voids with some AcraGlas (non-gel) which I have left over from a previous project, but my guess is that the back of the recoil lug is the key area.

Funny thing. Before I began this project, I was told by more than one person that the Choate "Ultimate Sniper" stock was designed so that it would not need glass bedding. I was dubious. So, as a test a few nights ago, I put some Play-Doh on the pillars and the recoil surface and mounted the action.

When I took the action out, I found that I had perhaps a sixteeth of an inch or more of Play Doh on the recoil surface. Clearly bad. Also, the pillars of the Choate stock are in a V configuration so that the action tube rests in that V and so "does not need to be bedded to form a positive" connection. In reality, with such a set up, the pillar contacts the action with a single line on the left and a single line on the right. Not good enough for me.

So, the deed is done.

After I get home from work I'll let the beast cure in my Phoenix garage (easily 100 degrees in there today). Others use a light bulb for heat. Silly boys.

The epoxy is still "soft" enough for me to so some work on it with a knife and Dremel tool.

While I allow it to fully cure for a few days, I'll have to make some more hand loads. After that, I'll mount the Ken Farrel 20MOA scope base and my IOR Valdada 2.5-10x42 scope.

Much work ahead.

Rick