Target action w. 3 mounting bolts ?

[Shooter0302]

Looking at stocks for a build using a Savage target action. It has to be either a left handed thumb hole or have a vertical pistol grip like the Choate Varmint or Sniper stocks.
So to my title, how important is it to use the center mounting bolt ??

[rjtfroggy]

To answer your question- it's not

[RC20]

Curious what the reason for it is?

firm up the action more?

[J.Baker]

Curious what the reason for it is?

Marketing B.S. so they can jack the price up $75.

Bob Greenleaf (retired Savage engineer, long time benchrest shooter and frequent contributor to the now defunct Precision Shooting magazine) did some extensive testing with the 3-screw actions when they were first introduced and deemed the third screw to be completely pointless.