Anyone put pillars in a Boyd's Featherweight?

[Nub Hippie]

My only concern is with the rear pillar. My pillar is 7/16" so I want to bore the hole out with a 1/2" end mill however I'm worried about hitting the rear crossbolt. Has anyone bored out their rear action hole to 1/2"? If I were to hit a crossbolt what would happen?

[sharpshooter]

Make your pillar 3/8", and just plunge the hole with a 3/8 endmill. Open the hole up slightly for room for glue.

[Nub Hippie]

That will give me a wall thickness of .0625", will that be enough to withstand ~60 in/lb of torque without compressing an aluminum pillar? I may have some brass stock somewhere but I am not sure.

[SageRat Shooter]

Nub,

If sharp shooter is giving you his advice, just take it as biblical... He is the best source for info and working on Savage rifles... I suggest just going down to your local Home Depot or Lowe's and just find yourself a 3/8" steel spacer that is .5" long and another that is 1" long.

That's what I used for my pillars in my Boyd's Pro Varmint. the only thing I had to do was ruff up the outside of the spacer on both, and I had to cut off a tad bit of length from the 1" spacer (for the rear pillar).

You may have to "notch" your rear pillar too, but don't do that until after the pillar has set fully. If you do it before, the pillar gets turned.

[Nub Hippie]

I trust Sharpshooters advice but he didn't know the inside diameter of the pillar or the material hence the follow up question. The steel spacers at my local hardware that are 1/8" OD are only 1/4" ID, I already looked. Doesn't seem like 1/4" would give sufficient clearance for an action screw, seems like it would be a tight fit, but I could be wrong.

[celltech]

It would be an almost perfect fit with just a few thou wiggle room. You could always take a 1/4" bit and hog it out a tad. But I am cheap and use threaded lamp rod...still feels strong as hell.

[SageRat Shooter]

Roger that... It's got to be a minimum of 3/8" OD for it to work (from my experience) it's darn near perfect to be honest. maybe take a look online and order them in... The easier you can make that job on yourself, the better off you'll be... Less things to perhaps mess up.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-3-8-in-x-1-2-in-Plain-Steel-Standard-SAE-Flat-Washer/3012478

Here's what I used for the front pillar, and used the 1" long for the rear.

There's got to be someone who carries something like that....?

[Nub Hippie]

I can make pretty much anything I want on the lathe and I have an aluminum mag catch with a pillar machined right onto it to act as the front pillar. Thank you SageRat.

[sharpshooter]

I make rear pillars for Axis from 3/8 hydraulic tubing. It's .280" i.d. Aluminum will still work with no worries.

[Nub Hippie]

Thank you

[Nub Hippie]

Went to the shop this weekend and drilled out the stock, finally came to the conclusion that I could go to 1/2" after trying a couple smaller sizes and then checking pin clearance. I did end up grazing the crosspin with the edge of the cutting head but not enough to be of consequence. I checked it for trigger assembly clearance already and it does not require notching.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wgQV5VzM69nDntSVA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2BL1axijQ7bfpsoJ6

[Nub Hippie]

I epoxied my pillars in place today and now tonight I realize that when my action screw is fed up through the trigger guard before the pillar it comes through the pillar on a slight angle and touches my pillar at the top. Yet the same screw pressed flush against the pillar only shows perfect alignment and even clearance all the way around the screw. I installed the pillar with it connected right to the action and centered in the pillar with wraps of tape around the screw and the hole for the pillar was well over sized. I really cannot imagine what could be wrong, any thoughts?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Vqpud5sCccUqqtAU6

Ok figured it out, there was a bit of epoxy making the trigger guard not set flush.