I did indeed paint the bedding. There also just isn't much area that can be bedded, so there's not a lot of contact.

I backed the torque down from 25 in-lb to 20 in-lb. The rear screw in particular continues to tighten after contact is made between the action and the stock. Something is moving. I'd never bothered with a torque wrench before bedding the action, but I know I was using much less. As soon as it felt snug, I quit.

I should investigate to see what it is that compressing and either try to fix it or just reduce the torque value. I should also try un-torquing and retorquing the action bolts to the same 20 in-lb and see if the zero continues to move. Or maybe I'll just never take it out of the stock again...

Any other ideas, Bert?