Anybody bed rear pillar area on Savages?

I have just finished putting together a model 11 receiver, Shilen Match .308 bull barrel, trued recoil lug and nut and dropped the whole thing in a Stocky's Bobby Hart Long Range Target stock that came with pillars glued in place. Everything screwed together as expected. The pillars appeared to be in the right places and straight. I bedded the recoil lug without any tape, it's a little tight getting it in and out, but I can live with that. The rear pillar doesn't actually contact the action as the "L" bracket that holds the blind magazine box in place takes up the space where the pillar would contact the action. I screwed on the stock. Mounted the EGW scope base and mounted my trusty Weaver 6x20 Grand Slam with fine crosshairs. So I have finished the break in (which was a little more intensive than anticipated being a hand lapped barrel). The problem is the rifle shoots poorly. I have been shooting SMK 155 Palmas seated about .015 off the lands. I got one group of 6 of 10 rounds in .75" at 200 yards. Other than that group, I have pretty much shot 1.5" to 2" 5 shot groups at 200. This is barely MOA, much less the 1/2 minute groups I think the rig should be able to shoot. I tried torqueing the receiver bolts down to different torques, no real change. I floated the rear tang as per most suggestions. I think the trigger area around the rear pillar is loose. Is there any way to bed the area around the trigger? I was thinking about removing the blade and sear from the trigger housing, then taping everything else up good and tight and put clay in the trigger gaurd hole and just bedding the area then cleaning up the area with a dremel. Any advice or experiences along these lines would be greatly appreciated. I know this thing can shoot better than this. I think I just need to tighten up the receiver to stock connection

Seems too soon to tell what the problem might be. Have you developed accurate loads for that same barrel before? If not, I am sure you have more work to do before you can judge it.

I am not familiar with the stock, but the whole action may need bedding. Maybe not if it is synthetic. It is my understanding that the lug should not have any contact with bedding on the bottom, sides or front. If it were mine, I would clear all the material around it except for the rear of the lug.

Having said that, I'd start by clearing the lug as I said, then do more load testing. After that, consider bedding the rear, but I doubt it needs it if it is synthetic.

What twist is the barrel? I only ask because I have a supply of Federal GMM 168gr SMKs and my 1-10 barrel won't stabilize them and I have to move to a heavier bullet.

Yes, I have bedded around the rear pillar on a Savage rifle, it was however a wood stock.
I will also agree with "foxx", it would be best if you bedded the whole action.

Very interested in this thread as my new #12BVSS 308 also has the internal mag that uses that clip, so the action doesn't actually contact the pillar. (I think it's a lousy design)
I have no idea how it could be bedded.
That said, I built a wood stock from Richard's Microfit for my .223 last winter, also with a Shilen match 1" barrel. I bedded the front fairly easily, and as mentioned, I removed any material from in front, below, and beside the lug. It's a nice snug fit. I also bedded the rear. It's a very small area to work with, but if you can get the goop on it, it works. I had installed the pillars myself, and left them ever so slightly high. The bedding compound spread right up to the top edge perfectly. The rifle shoots very well.

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Originally Posted by PAPERKILLER

Is there any way to bed the area around the trigger?

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You don't need to bed around the trigger, only to the rear of the pillar including the top of it if need be. If the action doesn't contact it now won't if you don't smear some goop on top of it. The rest of the action back past the pillar is only a convenient place to hang a trigger. :p

Bill

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillPa

You don't need to bed around the trigger, only to the rear of the pillar including the top of it if need be. If the action doesn't contact it now won't if you don't smear some goop on top of it. The rest of the action back past the pillar is only a convenient place to hang a trigger. :p

Bill

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+1
As for the L-clip, just glue it in place in the slot. It then becomes basically an extension of the pillar. Then just bed around and over it. You should have bedding material right up to where the action contacts the clip. I agree it's not the best design. But doing it this way worked well for me.

Thanks for all the ideas. Texas Solo hit the nail on the head. The "L" clip is in a horrible place if you want to bed around the rear pillar. I either have to eliminate the clip, in which case the magazine may not stay in place; or I have to just bed right over the thing and consider the clip and magazine box part of the stock from now on.
I have started running some ladder tests at 300 yards, but the pattern started from the low charge to high charge (three rounds each .03 grains apart), changed from 1" groups to 4" groups before I even got near my max charge loads. I found a node from 39.5 to 41.7 of IMR 3031 which produces a nice easy load of about 2700-2750 fps for 155 smk's. So I have been shooting rounds in that area to finish breaking in the barrel and get a feel for the rifle and fire form some brass. I reworked the trigger with a 1 1/2# spring and it relatively crisp. I suppose it should move up to 100 yards for developing loads as Eric has written extensively about. I just really like shooting at 200 yards because it magnifies any problems. It's also frustrating me as I was expecting some nice tight 1" groups, but that isn't happening consistantly.

Thanks Barrel Nut, I think that is what I will do. Drill a hole in the L clip and put a screw in it. Then just bed right over the whole mess. It's the only way I can see of making firm contact at the rear pillar location. It's a very poor design.

I would think you could bed everything but the clip. Maybe bed it all, but first remove the clip and mag, put putty in its place. Once the material sets, clean out out the putty and maybe clean it up a bit with a dremmel. Kind of a pain, but it would work.

I have cut the ears off the clip and left just enough of the "L" to hang on the stock
No clip on top of the pillar now just on the stock in front of the pillar
Bed over the pillar and up to the cut off clip
you will still be able to remove clip if needed
Hope this helps
Jack

With my Hart stock I am not using the mag and I made my own pillars out of aluminum and did not use the factory ones. I will try to post a pic of my bedding job on Saturday. I happen to have the rifle torn down to put a 260ai barrel on it. I shot it with a 6br barrel on it and it would shoot in the .2's regularly.

Why not bed the mag by putting mold release on the mag body and centering it up with shims and just put alittle thickened bedding compound in each corner to hold it in line with the clip on.Then cut the clip off and bed the bridge without using that dumb clip.There are epoxy stick you can buy at the local hardware store that you cut some off and kneed it together and it is very thick,roll it into a ball and put some in each corner.

Thanks gents for your excellent ideas. I think I will locate the mag. box with a little epoxy putty, then cut off the L bracket very near the box. Then I will have the length of the L clip slot to anchor my bedding. I was thinking about taking the trigger and the sear assembly out of the trigger housing and put some thin foam around the whole thing, then tape over that.taking up the rest of the area around the trigger with putty so the trigger doesn't lock up when I pour epoxy in there. That should give me about an inch of good solid contact with the pillar area. Does anybody know if the sear bar on the end of the trigger group actually rests on the cut out on the pillar bed? Or is the pillar just relieved to allow that part of the trigger room to drop far enough into the stock?

Nothing should touch the pillar. That part is cut away for clearance of the sear.