Pillars & Bedding: Reinforcing the Boyds' Laminate Stock
My first post here, I hope you find it useful!
I’ve owned my MKll FV for about year and have been very pleased for the money spent. The plastic stock, though giving the rifle a rather “economy model” look is actually quite functional, at least in terms of the way the barreled action is secured to it. The front and rear stand-offs under the receiver sit on the stock’s molded-in “pillars” making a repeatable connection that can be tightened without fear of damaging anything. As a result, the rifle shoots very well. Along with the overall “low end” feel of the stock, the ergonomics leave much to be desired. The Tac-Pro cheek rest I added solved eye alignment issues, but the forearm remains too narrow and flexible.
After much thought and research, I ordered a Boyd’s Rimfire Hunter stock in Nutmeg to replace the Tupperware. Everyone knows the main issue with these stocks: they are aggressively inletted leaving little material under the receiver. There are many threads in various forums (such as this one) by people who have attempted to pillar bed these stocks to maximize accuracy, with varying degrees of success. The main problem remains that there is simply not much material to actually secure the pillars to which results in pillars breaking lose, especially in field conditions where the barrel can be bumped on the ground, into a branch, etc.
Without pillars, the laminated wood is compressed between the receiver on the top and the magazine surround metal on the bottom when the action screws are tightened. The disadvantage of this arrangement is that wood can swell and contract with temperature and moisture content, and action screw torque can have a significant impact on accuracy.
Having used a couple of stocks with aluminum bedding blocks for centerfire rifles, I began working on a way to reinforce the Boyd’s stock in a similar fashion. It’s apparent that if there was a way to better secure the pillars, the connection between receiver and stock would be much more robust, ensuring maximum accuracy and durability. This post will detail the way I went about doing so with common hand tools, less than $35 in locally available hardware and plenty of time, planning and patience.
Reinforcing the Stock
The heart of this modification is the fitting and installing a metal insert made out of ½” aluminum c-channel that will serve the following purposes;
- Serves as a platform/pillar reinforcement for the rear pillar
- Reinforces the stock where the most amount of wood is removed
- Bridges the trigger guard to the bottom metal, effectively creating a rigid “chassis” to add strength and stability
By amazing coincidence, the bottom of the inletting above the rear action screw measures .630” side-to-side and the outside dimension of commonly available ½” aluminum c-channel is .625” making it the perfect material to use for this purpose. Additionally, the inside measurement of the c-channel is exactly .5” and the outside diameter of the stand-offs measure just under .5”, making a perfect fit there as well.
A piece of the c-channel was cut to 1.75” and dropped into place like it was made for it. The c-channel is positioned so the rear edge is .5” from the center of the rear action screw (to just clear the front of the trigger assembly) and the front edge extends .75” past the rear bottom plate wood screw. The three outer sides of the c-channel were scored with a file and degreased, and several slots were cut with a Dremel inside the stock to provide extra grip for the JB Weld epoxy that was used to secure the c-channel. Here is the c-channel installed in the stock;
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-2.jpg
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-3.jpg
The wood screw usually used in the rear of the bottom plate was replaced with a ¼ X 20 machine screw, so the rear hole in the DIP bottom plate was opened to ¼” and touched up with cold blue. An 11/32” drill bit was used to drill up through the stock and through the c-channel using the small existing wood screw hole in the stock as a guide. A ¼ X 20 flange nut was inserted through the c-channel to bolt the DIP bottom metal and the c-channel insert together, creating a very strong connection.
Since strength was my top priority, the decision was made to bed the DIP bottom metal to the stock using JB Weld without release agent, bonding the bottom metal directly to the stock. A series of shallow holes were drilled in the stock under the bottom metal for maximum strength and adhesion. Additionally, the gap created between the bottom of the c-channel and the top of the DIP bottom metal was filled with JB Weld to further lock the two pieces together. Here are several photos showing the bottom metal, c-channel, bolt and flange nut installed;
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-6.jpg
With the c-channel insert and bottom metal securely installed, an 11/32 bit was used in a drill press to drill though the stock and c-channel for the rear action screw, and through the bottom metal and stock for the front action screw. Using a drill press ensured both of these holes were drilled square to the receiver. Using standard 1/8” IPS lamp repair pipe for the pillars, both holes in the stock for the action screws were tapped. For the rear hole, the tap was run from the top down all the way through the wood, and for the front up through the front hole of the DIP bottom metal and through what little wood there is above it;
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-7.jpg
Front hole of DIP bottom metal and the small amount of wood in the stock tapped for front pillar.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-18.jpg
Front trigger guard hole for rear pillar tapped through the c-channel and stock.
Installing the Pillars
With a single layer of painters blue tap place in the stock (under the receiver) to serve as a shim to allow space for bedding the receiver, and the barrel wrapped with tape at the front of the stock to hold it in position, the barreled action was placed in the stock. Allowing the receiver to sit in the stock, measurements were taken for the pillar heights.
With the pillars cut to approximate length, they were dry fitting to the stock for final fitting. A small brass washer was used on top of each pillar to contact the bottom of the receiver stands-offs, and each pillar was threaded in until the pillar/washer came in firm contact with the stand-offs. The final fitting was to allow the rear pillar to end flush with the trigger guard inletting and the front to be flush with the bottom of the DIP bottom metal.
With the pillars fitted, each was bonded in place using JB Weld. The pillars were threaded in to the correct height (brass washers in place) and then the barreled action was screwed down against the pillars while the epoxy dried to ensure the top of the pillars sat square to the bottom of the receiver stand-offs. Once the epoxy cured, the front pillar had the typical pour of JB Weld around it for further reinforcement. With this arrangement, both pillars are fully supported by the “chassis” made up of the c-channel insert and the DIP metal, as well as being secured directly to the stock with epoxy/adhesive. A traditional bedding job was then done on the receiver and trigger guard.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-8.jpg
Front pillar, top view. Held in place by both the thick DIP bottom metal and the usual epoxy "pour" around it.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-9.jpg
Front pillar, bottom view. The pillar is threaded into the DIP bottom metal ending flush with the bottom of the metal.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-10.jpg
Rear pillar, top view. It is threaded through both the c-channel and the stock and epoxied in place.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-11.jpg
Rear pillar, bottom view. The pillar ends flush with the trigger guard inletting, with the TG bedded.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-13.jpg
Before the action is installed, a brass washer is placed on top of each pillar. These washers were in place when the pillar height was set.
With the barreled action fully supported by metal-to-metal contact with the pillars and resting stress-free in bedding, a secure and stable engagement of the barreled action to the stock is achieved. The action screws tighten immediately when the action comes in contact with the pillars and the barrel remains fully free-floated. Without a doubt, these modifications greatly increased the strength of the connection between barreled action and stock!
Before the barreled action was placed back in the stock for the last time, an Apachee trigger kit was installed with the trigger pull weight adjusted to 30 ounces.
Finally, here are some "beauty shots" of the rifle reassembled in the modified Boyds’ stock. A trip to the range for a full evaluation will be done soon and I will post the results in this thread.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-14.jpg
On the outside, the slightly different hardware holding the bottom metal in place is the only visible difference from a normally installed piece.
http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/rfh-15.jpg
My modified MKll-FV wearing a Mountain Shooter Sling.
