Shimming does work and is reliable, I prefer a bedded stock myself. There is a link above in the tips a tricks section, it shows the process for bedding a garand stock but essentially the same.

 

The link no longer works but here is a M1A bedding video.

 

Shim it with credit cards. Best use I have found for them and they work great!

 

Ha. No kidding. Been telling my wife that for years. I'd have better success making my mini match bullet holes than convincing her to believe that.

 

I used JB weld to bed a 184 receiver into a gray laminated stock. It seems to work well. I have also bedded a synthetic Mini stock with the credit card pieces along the legs of a 580 series and they work very well.

kwg

 

I used JB weld to bed a 184 receiver into a gray laminated stock. It seems to work well. I have also bedded a synthetic Mini stock with the credit card pieces along the legs of a 580 series and they work very well.

kwg

This is good information being you've tried both yourself with success. I'm semi purist in that I don't mind modifying something while at the same time when possible, i like the option to go back to original condition if chosen to down the road.

Without going through much trouble, would you happen to have any pictures of where exactly you shimmed on your rifle or know of a place i can access an image of this?

 

tri70, thank you for supplying those links. I’ll definitely be checking these out. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

 

I shimmed my 187 series Ranch with stainless steel. For lateral play in the receiver, this works really well and is durable. Check out my post in this link (#15)...
https://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ruger-mini-14-mini-30/134153-whats-next.html

 

Thanks. I was wondering how far towards the muzzle end the shimming went. The image was very helpful.

 

I used two inserts of galvanized sheet metal (for heating ducts) instead of credit cards to shim my 582 SS Ranch. I also bedded the receiver lugs.

 

If you want to bed it, checkout this video.

 

Hello, gundoc hope all is well. Thank you for posting the bedding video. Years ago I bought everything to bed my Mini when I went to do it you're video was gone.

 

I used some sheet steel, walnut blocks and jb weld to shim my m1a stock to fit my mini30. I retapped the holes in the reenforcement steel to accept the bigger m1a two hole screws instead of the smaller ruger slotted screws. BTW, the screw holes in the ruger reenforcement lined up with the holes in the stock just about perfectly. The bbl/action is a whole lot tighter than it was in the original wood.

 

Hey Baltimoreed, can you post a picture of the front end of that Mini with the M1A stock.

 

Sure. One of my better builds.

 

Thanks. That's an awesome looking rifle.

 

You're welcome. Some Mini owners will shim other areas around the receiver, but in my opinion the barrel and receiver are held in place at the lugs and the bottom of the gas block. You can still bed the receiver after shimming it as I and others have. Some owners have also installed pins to keep the receiver in place. It is your choice.

 

An interesting thread. I've thought about glass bedding my 30 but I'd like to swap the stock for a grey laminate first. And to find another for the .44 Deerfield, which is quite a bit more difficult and another project altogether, even though they've been a kind of a "matching pair" in my safe.

Nevertheless, does anyone have an idea about something that has been hovering around Mini accurizing topics for a while, ie. drilling the front handguard section longitudinally and inserting steel rods to improve torsional rigidity? I believe it originated here some 14 years ago and being slightly elaborate as well as requiring a degree of precision, it doesn't seem to have caught on like it may should have.

Now that the basics like hand lapping the barrel, deburring and re-torquing the gas block etc. have been done some time ago and the rifle is reasonably accurate, I might want to take it a couple of steps further just to experiment what's possible without swapping any functional parts.

At a proverbial ~$0 mod budget it has been pretty good so far.

 

Gundoc, good to see your new post.