Pillar Bedding?

What I've got so far...

Savage 111 action with DBM, McGowen 26" bull contour, and just recieved my tacticool stock from Boyd's. It fit nicely with the factory barrel but I'm going to have to do some inletting to make room for the bull. I've glass bedded a 700 before but never have attempted pillar bedding. Can some of you guys in the know steer me in the right direction as far as what type pillars, approach, etc. I believe I'd benefit greatly from pillars in this laminate stock. And also glass bedding may be on the agenda as well. This is my first semi-custom build so just jumping in to this new soon-to-be addiction.

Thanks!

I have never done the pillar bedding myself, but I read a nice article a year or 2 ago where the guy was using aluminum Pillars, but on the receiver side, he left them flat. That way when he bedded the rifle the bedding would fill in gaps and make a perfect fit to the receiver. Makes some sense. But either way if set correctly they should help with the accuracy.

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet...bed_rifle/Page

This is an article on glass bedding and pillar bedding from Stocky's stocks, a vendor here
I think this will get you going in the right direction
Hope it helps
Jack

I have full bedded savage actions and it was a pain in the butt. Pillar bedded and it is soo much easier.

Here is my how to:

1. Drill out action screw holes a bit larger than your pillars.

2. Attach pillars to action with trigger guard installed, torque to desired torque setting (I use 50 in-lbs for my pillars)

3. This is important **TEST FIT with the trigger guard on the rear screw.** Make sure the pillars sit in the stock properly. Test the bolt to make sure it cycles ok.

4. Put several wraps of electrical tape around rear of action and on the barrel 4-6 inches out from the recoil lug.

5. Remove trigger, tape off areas (Stock and action) where you wont be bedding, do a lot more taping than you think you need. Apply release agent to action, use it in places you dont expect to get bedding compound. Its easier to remove release agent than to unstick an action and a stock.

6. Apply bedding compound to drilled out holes in stock. Put a bit on pillars as well.

7. Put action into stock. Secure it tightly, make sure action is straight in stock. Resist the urge to check it until the set up time for your bedding has elapsed. Once the bedding has set, remove the screws and the action should come out!

8. Bed the recoil lug area, using the same process, making sure you put tape on the sides, bottom and front of the lug. Makes sure you use release agent here too!! Also tape the first few inches of the barrel, just to be safe.

I went to lowe's and got some all thread lighting rod to use as a pillar. Its aluminium and easy to work with. Plus it has a rough exterior to hold the bedding better.

I used devcon as my bedding agent and made more than I could use for my job. Once the action was bedded, I left the excess devcon laying out so I could check to see when it had set up. Once this excess was solidified, I took the action from the stock to check the job.

I used Johnson paste wax as my release agent. It works.

Sean

Very helpful guys...thanks!

I've pushed the steel pillars out of the factory stock. Think I could use these? The rear is already notched for the trigger sear. One concern about drilling out this boyd's stock to fit the pillar is there is not much wood there to work with especially for the front action hole. I'm afraid I'll split the stock.

Anything you take out, replace with devcon or what ever other bedding agent you use.

Here's a good article. It is not specifically a Savage rifle, but has some good tips and techniques.

http://www.6mmbr.com/pillarbedding.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxr...bedded#at=1834

I bed the pillars first making sure there is plenty of epoxy in the bottom of the hole. I do not cut the notch in the rear one until I am all done. If I cut it first I had trouble getting it to stay perpendicular to the action. I use alum. spacers I get from McMillien Carr, they are available in different sizes and the screw hole is exactly the right diam., cut some groves on them so the epoxy holds. I chuck them in my drill press to cut groves and get to the right length. Keep in mind that the rear pillar should touch the trigger guard and the action and the front one should touch the screw and the action, if there is any stock material in there it is not pillar bedded.

The http://www.6mmbr.com/pillarbedding.html link is a good one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bsekf

I bed the pillars first making sure there is plenty of epoxy in the bottom of the hole. I do not cut the notch in the rear one until I am all done. If I cut it first I had trouble getting it to stay perpendicular to the action. I use alum. spacers I get from McMillien Carr, they are available in different sizes and the screw hole is exactly the right diam., cut some groves on them so the epoxy holds. I chuck them in my drill press to cut groves and get to the right length. Keep in mind that the rear pillar should touch the trigger guard and the action and the front one should touch the screw and the action, if there is any stock material in there it is not pillar bedded.

The http://www.6mmbr.com/pillarbedding.html link is a good one.

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I was able to pick up some steel spacers at ACE hardware that I believe are just the right length. May have to shorten them a tad if anything. The ones from the factory stock are too short for this Boyds tacticool stock and would require too much inletting to have metal to metal contact. I also had to get a longer action screw for the front. I plan on epoxying these in place first then glass bedding the action and recoil lug. Did you use a dremel to notch the rear pillar? These spacers are hardened steel I believe so may be a little tough.

Thanks guys for all the links and advice. Very helpful. I'll post pics when I'm done.

"lamp rod" is hard to beat :-)