pillar bedding

I wanted to glass bed the action and install pillars in a savage 111 30'06. If I drill out for the rear (action) pillar, there will not be enough wood to fully support the pillar, particularly at upper (action) end of the pillar. In other words, the pillar would contact the wood only on the forward portion of the pillar. The rear surface of the pillar would be exposed (that is, open into the trigger/action inletted area). The top of the pillar would contact the action; the bottom of the pillar contacts the trigger guard.

As I see it, the pillar provides metal to metal contact (action screw head, trigger guard, pillar, barreled action), and applies downward pressure, securely holding the action into the inletted (glass bedded) stock. The recoil energy is transferred to the stock via the recoil lug and the action/glass bedded stock areas. As such, the pillar might not need to be fully surrounded by wood. The pillar could be 'free floated' from the stock. (In fact, in the existing bedding system, the action screw is essentially free floated, only contacting the trigger guard and the action.) The critical dimension of the pillar is its length, such that the screw applies the appropriate downward pressure.

Am I understanding this situation? Is the rear pillar necessary/beneficial, or would glass bedding generally be sufficient?

I went ahead and did both pillars in mine. I had to grind down my pillar more, even though it was a stepped one, and it was kind of a pain, esp bedding enough for support, but not too much for the trigger group.

But I did it anyway. The gun shoots great! I can't say for sure weather my groups are smaller, I use the rifle for hunting and the range I go to to sight it in is kind of a pain for saving groups. I use shoot and see targets and by the time I get to examine them they are pretty shot up as I move to a blank area when I do a new group.

I can say for sure that it has stablized the POA. I have been taking it to the range just to shoot a few 3 shot groups, to imitate what I would do hunting, and it's always right on!

Here are a few pics of the bedding. There was precious little wood in the rear takedown area even before I started. Now there is a nice pillar. There are some spots on the pillar w/o bedding, due to trigger group, but the pillar is bumpy and it's in there good!

Here is one view, you can still see the clay.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/...b18e127605.jpg


Here is a top view of the same area.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/...4f7e8ffa2f.jpg

Here is the front takedown area. It turned out great.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/...8fca0cfb4b.jpg

There is good trigger group clearance, good tang clearance, and it's very secure, so I'm happy. It's not the prettiest thing, but that's not important in this rifle.

I don't know how important the rear area is, it seems like it only needs to snug and secure, as most of the stability is in the front area. I'd be willing to bet that it would have worked just fine had I only bedded the front.

Thanks. Photos are great. And you addressed another question that I forgot to include, that is, having to modify the pillar (by grinding) to provide proper clearance.