What Does a Rear Lug Receiver Do?
First off, I like lug guns, but they aren’t for everyone. Chances are that most shooters will never need a lug on their receivers. Match grade rifles without lugs often shoot just as well as those with them.
What does the lug do you ask…? Well, simply put, it does three things depending on how it is set up in the rifle. Putting a lug on a rifle that is not glass bedded doesn’t do a thing (except maybe get in the way). The lug in a glass bedded rifle adds area to the bedding. This is the approach that Springfield Armory has taken with their Super Match rifle. The benefit is longevity. It adds life to the bedding. That in itself is a good thing since bedding can be expensive. More about that later.
The second advantage is the bedded lug further restricts movement of the receiver in the stock under recoil. This stabilizing effect can slightly improve accuracy, but only a few of the best shooters will ever notice the difference.
Third, and this is major, it allows a pillar and bedding screw to be installed. The pillar is just a sleeve that improves the consistency of the torque you put on the screw. The screw imparts uniform pressure between the bedding and the receiver when torqued to a specified number of inch pounds. The screw used is a ¼”-28 TPI Allen head cap screw. It is torqued to 65 inch pounds.
One of the interesting side benefits is this allows the trigger group to be bedded without the usual clamping pressure applied to the receiver. All that’s needed is for the trigger group to be secure and not move around. This intern takes stress off the receiver which can cause malfunctions or be detrimental to accuracy. Using a screw in the lug also allows the action to be removed and replaced in the stock without requiring several settling shots to get it to shoot consistently. This can be rather important if the action must be removed in the middle of a rifle match.
I mentioned expense and this is the down side. A lugged receiver costs about $190 more than a non-lugged receiver. Bedding the lug, pillar and screw adds about another $75 over the $200 plus cost of a good glass bedding job.
These benefits are relatively small and often don’t justify the expense for a shooter who is fairly new to the game. Those with Master Class shooting skills probably wouldn’t do without it.
By Ted Brown
Shooters Den
Related Commentaries:
M25 Rear Lug Receiver
LRB Arms M25 Receiver
Double Lug M1A Receiver
What does the lug do you ask…? Well, simply put, it does three things depending on how it is set up in the rifle. Putting a lug on a rifle that is not glass bedded doesn’t do a thing (except maybe get in the way). The lug in a glass bedded rifle adds area to the bedding. This is the approach that Springfield Armory has taken with their Super Match rifle. The benefit is longevity. It adds life to the bedding. That in itself is a good thing since bedding can be expensive. More about that later.
The second advantage is the bedded lug further restricts movement of the receiver in the stock under recoil. This stabilizing effect can slightly improve accuracy, but only a few of the best shooters will ever notice the difference.
Third, and this is major, it allows a pillar and bedding screw to be installed. The pillar is just a sleeve that improves the consistency of the torque you put on the screw. The screw imparts uniform pressure between the bedding and the receiver when torqued to a specified number of inch pounds. The screw used is a ¼”-28 TPI Allen head cap screw. It is torqued to 65 inch pounds.
One of the interesting side benefits is this allows the trigger group to be bedded without the usual clamping pressure applied to the receiver. All that’s needed is for the trigger group to be secure and not move around. This intern takes stress off the receiver which can cause malfunctions or be detrimental to accuracy. Using a screw in the lug also allows the action to be removed and replaced in the stock without requiring several settling shots to get it to shoot consistently. This can be rather important if the action must be removed in the middle of a rifle match.
I mentioned expense and this is the down side. A lugged receiver costs about $190 more than a non-lugged receiver. Bedding the lug, pillar and screw adds about another $75 over the $200 plus cost of a good glass bedding job.
These benefits are relatively small and often don’t justify the expense for a shooter who is fairly new to the game. Those with Master Class shooting skills probably wouldn’t do without it.
By Ted Brown
Shooters Den
Related Commentaries:
M25 Rear Lug Receiver
LRB Arms M25 Receiver
Double Lug M1A Receiver
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