m1917 Eddystone Bedding: Muzle Pressure?

[ed skeels]

I am sure you know that bedding (Devcon/MarineTex etc), rear shims, are a no no on CMP "Game's" rifles.
As issued they say in the rule book.
But one probably could be creative. Sorta like NASCAR.
Hope it hammers!
Get it done in time for Creedmoor East.

Ed

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[RC20]

I think the it is a violation per match rules to put specific shims etc to achieve barrel pressure.

I have read its not enforced in a lot of cases but that is my understanding of the rule itself.

Anything suable that achieves that will likely be overlooked but anything overt may be tagged.

I don't know what penalty is other than out of that match.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I think the it is a violation per match rules to put specific shims etc to achieve barrel pressure.

So what is one supposed to do? Bend the barrel?

Seriously, if a certain pressure range was specified in manufacture, then it would sometimes have been necessary for an armorer or arsenal to make corrections to a rifle that had gone out of spec. By restoring the bedding. How else?

Whatever an armorer would have been permitted to do in the past to keep the rifle in spec cannot be construed as improper alteration of the weapon, except, perhaps, by someone living on a cloud well away from the reality of weapons maintenance and refurbishment.

Here is a more realistic ruling from the world of muzzleloaders (MLAIC):

Rifles such as the P1853 and P1858 (3-band and 2-band) Enfield Rifle muskets (as they were termed at the time) were bedded, in the sense that the stock was carefully shaved in the barrel channel to provide a good fit. No doubt the same was done for other types of rifle. If the barrel loosened or the stock warped, the rifle was not thrown away as unserviceable, but judicious scraping and/or insertion of veneer shims was used to restore the bedding. After a century and a half it may be assumed that, as a result of wood shrinkage and warping, many, probably the majority of rifles no longer have the same good fit as when they left the arsenal. So it is considered OK to restore the bedding, using materials that would have been available to an armorer of the time. That means wood, cork or paper shims, animal or casein glue, but no plastics or epoxies. The general aim is to keep to the spirit of the original.

The same ought to apply to the competition you mentioned. Doing what an armorer of the time would have done to keep the rifle within spec, and using the same materials that he would have had available is proper maintenance, not cheating!