To bed or not to bed a manners stock.

[G37some]

For those who have shot manners stocks unbedded and then went and bedded the stock at a later time did you see any improvement? Im looking at purchasing an eh1 stock for my tikka without the mini chassis and have been told that the stock does not need pillars to be installed or to be beded, to basically bolt it in and go. Ive only ever hsd aluminum chassis on my guns so just wanted to see what everyones experiences were.

 

[hereinaz]

IMO, Shoot it first. I haven't shot Manners, but my AG Composite stocks and McMillan have shot very well without bedding. Manners is arguably among the best. If you seat it and torque it correctly, it should not be an issue without pillars or bedding. Bedding is really necessary with poorly machined and poorly made actions and stocks. Tikka and Manners isn't either of those. And, a bad bedding job can easily make it worse.

That said, I have friends that shoot much more and much better than I do, and they call me a heretic and it pains them that I haven't bedded my rifles.

 

[G37some]

IMO, Shoot it first. I haven't shot Manners, but my AG Composite stocks and McMillan have shot very well without bedding. Manners is arguably among the best. If you seat it and torque it correctly, it should not be an issue without pillars or bedding. Bedding is really necessary with poorly machined and poorly made actions and stocks. Tikka and Manners isn't either of those. And, a bad bedding job can easily make it worse.

That said, I have friends that shoot much more and much better than I do, and they call me a heretic and it pains them that I haven't bedded my rifles.

Dont both the ag and mcmillans atleast come with factory installed pillars? I would probably feel better about not bedding it if it atlesst came with factory pillars. Its going to be a walk around hunting gun so it deffinately wont get treated gently.

 

[hereinaz]

Ahh, yes, no pillars can cause problems over time. Made me curious about what Manners says, so I have to retract my bolt and go theory. Looks like Manners expects stocks without mini chassis to be bedded with pillars.

Do I need to pillar bed my stock?

If you choose a stock without a mini chassis, you […]

mannersstocks.com

I'd bet that it would shoot fine out of the box, but over time sounds like Manners knows it will crush under the torque of action screws.

 

[archp625]

You will have to bed a non chassis EH1, especially the one for a Tikka. They do not come with pillars installed. At the minimum you will have to pillar bed it. But while you are at it you might as well bed the whole action.