Pillars........

[Bodydub]

I just got my boyds stock in yesterday. I'm sure it's been done before, but I want to add longer pillars for better contact and the bed them in. I took out the old pillars form the stock's stock,lol. But the front pillar isn't long enough and is about maybe 1/4" short. Does anyone know of any pillars that would work for this project with a little drilling of the boyd's stock if necessary??????

[Bodydub]

Well, looks like lamp rods. But what size????

[Jamie]

I picked up some lamp rod the other day to do this same thing this week end. I picked up a package of 2 pieces that are 3" long but can remember the diameter and threw the packaging away.
Maybe 3/8"

[sixonetonoffun]

The are some great how too's buried in the forum. Best results seem to come (after drilling out the factory pillars) from drilling a slightly larger hole then your pillars. Say 1/2" for 3/8" rod. Bolting your pillars to the action and performing bedding and pillars in one process. Not forgetting to pull the recoil lug and also bedding it with the action. Preventing it from sitting to low and allowing recoil to jump the lug. (Learned this the hard way). Results can be as bad as a split stock.

Good drill bits such as forstener can minimize risk of splitting or chipping the stock when drilling. As others have said the first one is nerve wracking. Use a ton of release agent and maybe a little clay and should pop out with a firm whack when cured.

[short round]

Google Ernie The Gunsmith, he has aluminum pillar rod in 3/8'' & 1/2''. Plus great info on bedding.

[devildogandboy]

lamp rod from Home Depot or Lowes comes in 2 pack about 12" long i think. it's 3/8" O.D.

Bruce

[Newsshooter]

I did something like this for my Leopard stock on the 17hmr. http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151960

You can find other brass fittings in the plumbing dept that work as well. I used a drill press and file to clean it up and get the size just right.

[DrThunder88]

Lamp rod is threaded with an untapered pipe thread, so it'll be roughly the same outer diameter as 1/8" schedule 40 pipe (0.405" OD) but smaller because it's threaded. I just use a length of unthreaded brass pipe because it's easy to cut with one of those hand-powered pipe cutters and, oddly, cheaper than steel or aluminum.

[22BVGord]

Just started working on my .243 in a Boyd's Prairie Hunter after reading as many threads as I could find. I did buy some JB Weld, but really haven't got the nerve to bed the pillars quite yet. I used a lamp rod and a dremel with a cutting blade to do the chopping and it worked out fine. Luckily there was no original pillar for the back action screw - just the hole. Initially, I had dremmeled out some wood inside the stock as the fitting was not very good at all - the action sat much to high in the stock as it came out of the box.. For me, this was hit and miss because it was all guesswork about where and how much to take off. I couldn't get it sitting right in the stock so that the safety tang would not bind and the barrel would float. So pillars seemed to be the next step.

I put a number of winds of black tape around the barrel at the front of the stock - wanted to make sure the barrel would be floating.

Front pillar. I left the original front pillar (eschution?) in. The top was down about a 1/2" from the top of the stock barrel and the hole was big enough for the lamp rod to slide in. I cut a length of rod that sits on top of the front pillar and comes up to even with the stock barrel where it contacts the action. So the front pillar is in two parts. Didn't touch the recoil lug embedded in the Boyd's stock and the action seems to be fitting into it o.k.. Not sure if the rod has to reach higher. If the action bolt is tightened to much, then the barrel touches the wood stock. If the rod is to high, the action does not sit right at the back nor in the recoil lug. The original action bolt seems to work o.k. for length for now.

Back Pillar. There was no pillar that had to be removed - just a hole. To enlarge the hole to fit the lamp rod, I started with a small drill bit and went through increasing sizes of bits until the hole was large enough for the rod. Luckily only a very little bit of wood chipped off on the top end so the hole ended up clean. I cut a length of rod to fit from the bottom of the trigger guard up through the stock and about 1/2" above the barrel stock. Tried 3 or 4 lengths to see what seemed to be a good fit. The problem seemed to be to get action sitting so that the tang safety would function well and get the action seated so it looked proper. Sitting to low, the safety would bind. Sitting to high just did not look right.

The rear action bolt was to short and I had picked up a longer 6 Metric bolt from a hardware store (same thread as action). I tightened it down very firmly to the point where the trigger housing moved up (spring loaded) and everything was tightened up. If the bolt is to long, it will go right up through the hole in the action and block the bolt. When tension is loose, the tang safety would function but ride high. If tightened to much, the safety would jam on the stock and bind. Not at all sure about the trigger housing that has the "spring action" and why this is even necessary. This must create a problem if stock bedding is going to be done.

The rifle seems ready for test firing to see how it shoots. Still not happy with the barrel float. It is just barely touching the stock at the very front end but otherwise it is floating. May have to dowel/sandpaper on the stock a bit. The tension on the front action bolt is firm but nowhere near the recommended (by Boyd's) 35 in. lbs. To do this would have the barrel firmly resting on the wood stock. Once I know everything fits properly and it shoots well, I will bed the pillars with JB Weld. Not sure I know enough to try to do a stock bedding. The spring trigger housing strikes me as bothersome in terms of where to put the bedding.

A work in progress, but it may be helpful to someone thinking about doing the same thing. Any thoughts or comments, + or -, about what I have done so far will be appreciated. There is still time to make changes.

[Bodydub]

Thank you 22BV for that write up as it was very informative to me........I picked up some lamp rod today from Home Depot 1/8 size, but the factory action bolt heads are just a smedge bigger that the hole. I'm afraid the bolt head will sink in the rod if I attempt to torque to specified settings. So I have two more questions.
1. Should I use the 1/8 lamp rod I have or go bigger or smaller?
2. What size bolt fits my 270 action?

[DrThunder88]

It's fine. Wrap your action screws (or studs) with a bit of tape so they're centered in the pillar.

Oops, I misunderstood. The action screw at the back is supported by the trigger guard, so no need to worry about it. The front action screw is more tricky, but different people have different solutions. I used a steel spacer I picked up at a hardware store and counterbored. It got epoxied in place when the pillars did. A flat washer could have done the same job.

Still, the action screws are 1/4-28.

[sixonetonoffun]

I think the current stocks are all using plastic. With the steel I think the short extension works ok. Not sure it would have the desired effect mating to the plastic one.

The 3/8's od rod will have good fit for the 1/4-28 screws. If you full pillar through the plastic magwell a longer screw will be needed.

If you aren't comfortable doing the pillars consider just skim bedding the action to get a supported fit.

[Bodydub]

So go with 3/8 instead of 1/8 threaded?



newsshooter,
I read your how to from the link your provided. I noticed you said the brass was easy to work/cut with due to it being soft. So with that being said. Is it possible for the brass to compress or warp from the torque on the action bolts?

[DrThunder88]

Potentially. The yield strength of brass is about 29,000 psi.

[Newsshooter]

So go with 3/8 instead of 1/8 threaded?



newsshooter,
I read your how to from the link your provided. I noticed you said the brass was easy to work/cut with due to it being soft. So with that being said. Is it possible for the brass to compress or warp from the torque on the action bolts?

Well it is easier to cut, file, shape over steel. That being said the torque spec for my 6.5 Creedmoor is 65 inch lbs, divide that by 12 and you get 5.416 lbs. Don't think that is enough to cause a problem. I'm sure it is stronger than an XX75 arrow shaft. I think it is as thick as lamp rod and already has a larger platform so you don't need a washer on top. I made sure the inner diameter had enough clearance for the bolt and counter sunk the head of the pillar using a forstner bit. Epoxied it in place, since the bolt is compressing the pillar and not the wood I think it will be fine.

[Newsshooter]

Potentially. The yield strength of brass is about 29,000 psi.

How is 5.4 lbs torque enough to compress or warp a substance with a yield strength of 29,000 psi?

[DrThunder88]

Well, 5.4 lbs (in-lbs, I assume) on a 0.25in steel screw generates an axial clamping force of 108lbs. So, I suppose if the contact patch between the round receiver and the flat pillar is about 0.003 square inches, it would generate sufficient pressure to exceed the yield strength.

[sixonetonoffun]

Still holds well. But will admit so does my 500/375 only skim bedded. It was notorious for recoiling loose before bedding the recoil lug and action in its previous life as a 7RM. No pillars yet.

[Newsshooter]

Well, 5.4 lbs (in-lbs, I assume) on a 0.25in steel screw generates an axial clamping force of 108lbs. So, I suppose if the contact patch between the round receiver and the flat pillar is about 0.003 square inches, it would generate sufficient pressure to exceed the yield strength.

65 in-lbs or 5.4 lbs, what is the equation for determining that it would exceed yield strength? Also if the action were bedded how would that affect it since the contact patch would be much larger? I'm also guessing that if the pillar deformed at all the contact patch would get larger, at what point would the increase in contact patch reduce the pressure enough so that it wouldn't exceed the yield strength of a brass pillar?

[22BVGord]

While checking out my rifle after doing pillars/putting into a Boyd's stock and doing dry firing, I found that when I tightened down the action screws firmly (not anywhere near 35 "/lbs), cycled the bolt, and then pressed down hard on the safety tang - the firing pin fired. Not good. The action seems to be seated well, and the trigger functions as it should and the tang safety is working fine for off/on switches, yet there is something very wrong. When tightened very firmly, the tang safety locks up and won't move either way.

Anyone else running into this, and if so - what seemed to be a fix?