sks question

This is from another poster in a different forum. Hope it helps you out.

" In any places you don't want to create a mechanical lock (or just don't want bedding compound to flow) fill the area with plumbers putty. In any area you don't want it to "glue" (i.e. your entire action) then polish it with kiwi neutral shoe polish. You wont see the polish, buff it up as nice as you can..but it will prevent the bedding from sticking. I use Devcon 11010 It's more like a putty than a lot of these watery compounds.

As far as making the action tight guess you could bed behind the rear tang, that will tighten up any rearward slop where people had previously used cut up tin can and stuff as a gap filler.

That's the only real benefit I can see to bedding it. I have a D so I'm not sure what there is on the regular SKS but I'm assuming the cross bolt in the stock is what's keeping the action from sliding forward? You could bed that area too to keep any forward movement from happening too I guess but that's where I draw the line.

Richard Franklin has a great DVD out on "stress free" pillar bedding. The idea is to remove about 1/8" of wood all the way around the action and replace it with a custom fit bedding compound so that the wood's expansion/contraction doesn't cause stress on the action and holds it exactly in the same spot every time. The barrel is then free floated. You could drill and install a barrel tensioner, or use more bedding compound to put upward pressure on the barrel (you really have to adjust this bit by bit to see if you get any gains) but the SKS already has a bunch of downward pressure from the stock at the front. Not to mention you're dealing with 7.62x39 which is only accurate on a point target out to 300 yards anyway.

You know if you change from a T-shirt to a sweater, change your shooting gear, hold your breath when shooting, move to a new position, etc. all of those things change your "zero" i.e. your point-of-aim to impact destination. I know, I was a Marine Corps Marksmanship Instructor.

So...bed the rear and the front just to get rid of any slop you have with the action in the stock but besides that you're going to put in a TON of work and get NOTHING back from it."