I just purchased a model 11 Trophy Hunter .260 for my wife... I want to bed the action and stiffen the stock beyond the recoil lug (putting steel rods inside bedding material along bottom of stock under barrel channel) I have had good luck bedding Accustocks, but this is the first time attempting to bed an action into an ordinary factory stock. I was surprised to see all the plastic around the action screws and the plastic "bedding" incorporated into the factory stock. I guess I expected to see some sort of heavier metal pillars similar to what the accustock has. Oh, well.

Assuming I stay with the factory stock (for now, anyways), I have two questions:

1) Is it necessary to add some other sort of pillars or does the stock have sufficient metal pillars imbedded inside all that plastic?

2) Should I "carve-out" some or all of the original plastic bedding or just leave it in place and bed around it?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.