Pillar bedding in a Boyd's stock

[Machoking]

Howdy, I recently purchased a Boyd's stock, along with all of the stock Savage parts to put my wife's XP rifle in a laminate stock. I also purchased the pillars specifically designed for Savage's from Stocky's. Has anyone had any sort of experience with these pillars?

[jpdown]

Based on my experience, be careful using a drill bit to open up the holes in a laminated wood stock. If the bit grabs, it will split and break out chunks of laminate wood. I've had better luck using a dremel tool with a small sanding drum or router. I've never used the Stocky pillars, but I've installed various aftermarket pillars in a number of Boyd's stocks over the last 10 years. Wrap two layers of painter tape around the stock screws to center in pillars and attach the pillars to the action. I usually bed the bottom half of the pillars in the stock floating the barrel and tang. Then come back and do the final bedding of the recoil lug and action. Before doing the final bedding, check to make sure the bolt head is going to push feed a cartridge from the magazine. I've made the mistake of pillar bedding an action only to find the magazine lips were too low and the bolt head would not pick up a round from the magazine.

[Mozella]

Howdy, I recently purchased a Boyd's stock, along with all of the stock Savage parts to put my wife's XP rifle in a laminate stock. I also purchased the pillars specifically designed for Savage's from Stocky's. Has anyone had any sort of experience with these pillars?
Pillars should be specific to the stock, not the action. You want them to be the proper length to span the distance from the bottom metal to the action, and that length depends on the dimensions of the stock. No matter how accurately a stock is mass produced, there exists a possibility for the correct pillar length to be slightly different depending on the machine used for inletting, the operator, etc. That's why making custom pillars to fit YOUR stock seems like a good idea, to me at least. Plus it's easy.

Go to your local hardware store and pick up a 1/8" brass pipe nipple 3" long, or maybe two shorter ones depending on what they have on hand. Cut it slightly longer than required and true it up on a drill press with a good file if you don't have a lathe (I don't). Then carefully measure the required length and trim the pillar to EXACTLY the right size. Make sure both ends are true. Scuff the outside and perhaps put in a few nicks to give the epoxy bedding compound something to grab.

Pillars like this are inexpensive, easy to make, and best of all you can make them exactly the correct length for your particular stock.

[rjtfroggy]

Personally I have used Lamp Rod found at HP or hardware store, cut to length and epoxy in works the same way as all the others.

[V3Tactical]

I recently finished a project: pillar mounting and bedding a Boyds stock to an Axis Heavy Barrel .308. I think jpdown (posted above) gave a good point of advise about carefully drilling the Boyds stock for the pillars. Use a good bit and drill press if possible or the laminate wood could crack and take small chunks out. I can cover it in a little more detail:

I chose the Savage Axis Heavy Barrel in .308, and chose a Boyds Varmint Thumbhole. Started out drilling the front and rear mounting holes to fit the pillars. Both pillars are DIA .375 OD, DIA .25 ID. The front pillar started out at .5 inches long and cut down to .42 inches to fit this particular stock. The rear pillar was 1 inch long cut down to .95 inches long. The length can vary from stock to stock, so it is a good idea to custom cut your pillars.

Front Pillar
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-front-pillar_zpsgv4jew5o.jpg

Rear Pillar:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-rear-pillar_zpsywbeuqrq.jpg

The front pillar is stainless steel, but the rear I experimented with bronze. The bronze was easier to trim down, and is working great so far.

After inserting the pillars, I bedded the stock.

Front Bedded

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-front-pillar-bedded_zpssknxib84.jpg

Rear Bedded

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-rear-pillar-bedded_zpsquubbzux.jpg

You can see where the laminate was chipping off during the drilling procedure. I went ahead and mounted the pillar, then used epoxy to seal and reinforce the gap in the laminate wood.

This is where I did something a little different. When I was applying torque to the front mounting clip (plastic piece), it was cracking apart. The plastic trigger guard cracked apart also. I had already replaced the trigger guard with a metal trigger guard and decided to get rid of the plastic in the front. I replaced with an aluminum front mounting clip. First I 3D printed the part to verify fit and function, then CNC milled the front clip out of 6061 aluminum. If you notice, I did not include the insert piece (a part of the plastic piece) so the aluminum piece is optimized for pillar mounting.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-front-mount-clip_zpsbipmumsu.jpg

The aluminum piece fits in the same mounting provision and allows you to apply proper torque to the front mounting screw. Now it is all metal to metal, so you can torque it down for a solid fit.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-pillar-clip_zpsdzzridpe.jpg


It also allows normal function of the magazine to clip on.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/install-completed_zpsgnd76ump.jpg

It turned out pretty solid. So, if you want to pillar mount the stock, be sure to take your time drilling out the mounting holes on the stock, custom cut your pillars, and get rid of the plastic if possible. Be sure to double check the depth of the mounting screws or you won't be able to cycle the bolt. If there is interference, try using a thin washer to give more clearance.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/Axis-Range_zps3lgpc9nb.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa223/solargear/Savage%20Axis/target_zpsp7u0u2xv.jpg