Boyds Gunstocks now Available for the Savage B.MAG

[rsh4364]

Im confident they will get it figured out,I have 3 other Boyds stocks,2 on Axis/Edge and 1 on my .17Hmr.They all fit great.Also told them not to rush me a stock unless they are sure all is good.

[Jeremy B]

They did a change on the front page of their website, it could be the end of returns for minor fitting issues

[rsh4364]

Did anyone with a thumbhole try a shorter rear action screw? Or come up with any fixes? Mine on its way back.

[Matt99]

I talked with Wilson at boyds today. He said that he now has two actions and that there definitely has been a change in the dimensions. His first action fits great in the original milling of the stock, but the newest action doesn't fit at all. It has the same issues as we are having. I haven't, however, seen any posts about someone's thumbhole fitting great out of the box?

He also asked for my serial number and confirmed that he is tracking the fitment issues by this. Of course, mine is in the group that was changed.

I'll say it again. It's not Boyds that screwed the pooch on this. Savage has realized that things are way off from where they should and is obviously attempting to fix them. I'm just not sure that the BMag platform should be continued at this point. They could reintroduce a new rifle with corrections to the BMag under a new name and save their reputation. Soapbox now put away!

[rona]

If they did that would Savage treat us right or would we get the shrug the shoulder routine? It also creates extra work for Boyds who has a good reputation. If they are having a lot of returns it isn't doing them any good either.

[JG26_Irish]

OK - my Boyds B-mag stock arrived late yesterday via UPS. Considering that I placed the order on the 9th of Feb, I thought that was good service and their system to notify us of shipping data and tracking number was very helpful. I had read all the wailing and grinding of teeth about various fitment issues especially with the thumbhole version but I liked it best and ordered the light weight thumbhole stock in forest green camo. It came down to how bad did I want to be rid of the sorry looking black plastic POS that Savage put on the B-mag. I want to thank all for posting your issues and experiences with your stocks as it helped me to know where to look for various fitment issues and to correct them as needed as I put the gun together, rather than bolt it up and expect it to fit. I guess since I knew what to expect, I was not surprised or all that dismayed to find that the safety did not function at first.

I slowly and carefully used a dremel and a small sanding drum to open up the area on both sides just behind the bolt when it is closed. There are two push pins in the safety mechanism and they move forward and back as the safety is operated. Both stick out slightly from the action and both sides of the rear most pin (the silver one) were rubbing in the wood of the stock. I was careful to only remove wood down to the area where the pins are and not below. That kept the action fit tight and more or less straight. I found that the safety would move forward but since it is harder to exert as much force in the rearward direction it was harder to move that way. I did end up trimming a tiny amount of metal from the pin to keep if from protruding from the action. This in no way compromises the safety function. I used dry marker to color the pin and then operated the safety from on to off to mark the spots in the wood in need of work. This was a slow, methodical process and took about 1.5 hrs total to fix. While fitting the safety, I also noticed that the bbl was further to the left of the barrel channel when tight and I used a larger sanding drum and dremel to open this up by about 1/2mm (not much). I am grateful to you guys for telling us to salvage the bushings from the factory stock. There were no directions in the Boyds box (my only complaint) so your experiences saved me time and frustration.

Finally, the mag fit sucked. Boyds could have done a better job on this. The area near the top front of the well could be opened up some to allow the mag to rock in and out. It is tight and makes mag removal harder. I have chosen to not mess with that for now until I get time to test fire. The mag well cut out failed to remove enough wood at the top on both sides right where the bottom of the receiver fits. This leaves the mag against the wood as opposed to the receiver causing the mag to fail to snap into place. This is aggravated by the plastic piece that the mag snaps into seems to be pushed slightly to the rear by the fit in the stock. It is attached to the front mounting screw location. Had it been a bit more precise or had the magwell included a nice nylon or plastic insert for precision this might not have been such a pain to fix. Still, 20 min of careful work with a small fine dremel wood router bit and finishing with an emory board (like the missus uses to fill her nails) and the top of the mag well was good. Take extreme care to not remove too much or to mar the upper surface of the stock. It is easy to do both. Leave the pocket knife out of this process. ever so slight dressing of the mag catch with the same emory board and she was snapping into place just like before.

I love the look and the detailed design and finish of the thumbhole stock. It is a huge improvement on the original and makes the cheap little rifle look like it cost twice what I have in it. Considering the minor nature of the fitment work that I had to do, I am pleased with Boyd's product and I would buy another or recommend it to my friends. I do wish that the instructions with the stock pointed out these issues and provided detailed suggestions about how to correct them. I included one pic for viewing.

Irish


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v303/JG26_Irish/BoydsTHgreenc.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JG26_Irish/media/BoydsTHgreenc.jpg.html)

[rsh4364]

Thanks for the info,guess I got spoiled my other 3 Boyds dropped right on perfect.But if I tied to do what you did I would probably have a junk stock. Looks great

[JG26_Irish]

Well, I finally had time to test fire my B-mag with the new stock recently. Safety function perfectly. Mag snapped into place easily but was hard to remove without first opening the action to push it out from the top. Accuracy was mostly outstanding when the bbl was cool. Shot three <1/2" groups with both 25g and 20g ammo. Shot six 3" pieces of clay birds from 240yds in fairly windy conditions. Sometimes took 2 or 3 shots but it is that good.

However, there is still a problem to fix. After 6 or 8 shots or so, the bbl would warm up and then it would randomly throw a shot that would be as much as 2" low. WTF??? It did this repeatedly with both 25g and 20g ammo. That is unacceptable. I know what GSPERAZ did to fix his and that is my backup plan but since my gun shot good before and still shoots good when cold, I suspect that the bbl is randomly hitting the stock sometimes on recoil spoiling the harmonics and the shot. I say this because when I lay the bbl on a sandbag and shoot, it will move the POI 4". Gonna open up the bbl channel with a pipe and sandpaper by about 1-2mm and retry it.

Irish

[Jeremy B]

Likely an issue with the barrel, it doesn't take much pressure from my thumb to make it move away from my stock

[JG26_Irish]

I got mine opened up and re-assembled but no time to test fire until another day. I used a 3/4" wood dowel and 180 grit sandpaper. I probably could have gotten by with a 5/8" dowel but this turned out nice with about 1/16" space evenly on both sides and underneath. When I test fire, I plan to try both free floating and with a rubber band or o-ring around the bbl placing an elastic bumper between the bbl and forestock. This would place continuous contact and slight up pressure on the bbl near the front of the stock. It will be interesting which provides the best accuracy. The swap has been a bit of work, but I am still totally happy with the new look and function of the stock. Sooooo much better than the tupperware stock I had.

Irish

[Crockett]

I am going to shoot mine at 100 yds tomorrow and see what I got. It should be pretty good considering what I got out of it last time at 50yds. If anyone wants the plasticrap stock that came with mine for a project stock let me know!

[Lonewulf]

savage should start a buy back program for the synthentic stocks , I luv all my savages except this stock
2 boxes of 17 wsm ammo for the stock and a ups pick up tag

[gsperaz]

Count me in !

[JG26_Irish]

I got the chance to test fire my B-mag with Boyds stock a few days ago (Sunday). With the bbl fully free floated, I was getting the first two shots printing tightly and then the next would be 2" low. Then the next would be high, etc. I have shotguns that shoot tighter patterns. This was new for my gun and similar to the type of accuracy problems reported by others with the B-mag. I cut a 1/2" long by 1/8" wide piece of an empty shotgun hull and bent it double to form a plastic spring and wedged this into the space between the forestock and bbl. The put slight upward pressure on the bbl. Result was POI was raised about 2" but the groups tightened up once more.

I went home and today took it apart and placed a rubber pad made of adhesive rubber molding tape (3 layers about 1/8" thick) into the forward portion of the barrel channel of the stock about 1" from the front. This puts a good bit of upward pressure onto the bbl. Will have to return to the range before I will know if this is the fix. One observation from when I had the action out of the stock. The bottom and left side of the bbl showed signs of rubbing on the stock near the front of the bbl channel. This is showing signs of extreme bbl flex during recoil. This is more flex than I was expecting. It will be interesting to see if my latest fix is an improvement or not.

Irish

[gsperaz]

Irish, I had to experiment with different thicknesses of rubber pads before I hit it right. I'm glad to see yet another B-magger using a rubber pad to support the barrel a getting good results. The barrel flex extreme for sure, I also found the flex to be different for the 20gr and the 25gr ammo. I'm working that fix as we speak.

[rsh4364]

Has anyone heard from Boyds after sending stock back?

[danjurista]

I sent a classic back for the magazine not fitting , They refunded my money - shipping. My b mag was J102294 made on August 23 2013. I don't know what going on with the b-mags and the talk of there being different versions. I wish we could find out more information about it! Boyds didn't tell me very much? don't know what they are doing with this. I guess I'll have to wait awhile till this gets sorted out before I order another stock!

[rsh4364]

Thanks for the reply,I opted for a replacement stock and told them no rush I just really want a stock that works.They have only had it for a few weeks,I was just curious.

[rona]

I didn't send a stock back but ordered Jan 14th and have had 2 calls saying they had problems and someone would be contacting me. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry.

[rsh4364]

Weather not good for shooting here yet anyways,so I can wait a bit.