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Thread: Pillars & Bedding: Reinforcing the Boyds' Laminate Stock

  1. #1
    NH Shooter
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    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;







    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;





    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;


    Front hole of DIP bottom metal and the small amount of wood in the stock tapped for front pillar.



    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.


    Front pillar, top view. Held in place by both the thick DIP bottom metal and the usual epoxy "pour" around it.



    Front pillar, bottom view. The pillar is threaded into the DIP bottom metal ending flush with the bottom of the metal.



    Rear pillar, top view. It is threaded through both the c-channel and the stock and epoxied in place.



    Rear pillar, bottom view. The pillar ends flush with the trigger guard inletting, with the TG bedded.



    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.


    On the outside, the slightly different hardware holding the bottom metal in place is the only visible difference from a normally installed piece.


    My modified MKll-FV wearing a Mountain Shooter Sling.

  2. #2
    NH Shooter
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    A few more photos that I couldn't fit in the post above;


    Hardware used to secure the c-channel to the DIP bottom metal.



    A short piece of the c-channel was also used to reinforce the two sling studs which were screwed through about a half inch of wood.




    Clearidge Ultra RM Rimfire Scope with fine duplex/dot reticle in bedded mounts.




  3. #3
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    Thank you so much for the wonderfully detailed post. IMO this seems to be the best approach yet and I will be doing my best to duplicate your work. The photos and descriptions were great! Glad to have you on this board!

  4. #4
    JCalhoun
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    Very cool!

  5. #5
    Team Savage GaCop's Avatar
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    Excellent job! Looking forward to your range report. This procedure should be made a sticky!

  6. #6
    NH Shooter
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    Thanks to all for commenting!

    I had a chance to test fire the rifle a few weeks ago, but not on a bench for accuracy testing. I discovered a glitch in the trigger pull, where it would start to break and then stop. Otherwise, the stock feels great in-hand and the action-to-stock fit rock-solid.

    I plan to get to the "real "range for accuracy testing in the next few weeks. I had to slightly stone the trigger engagement surfaces to eliminate the bit of creep and readjusted the pull weight to about 22 ounces. The trigger break is now VERY crisp/clean - perhaps the best trigger I have ever had on a rifle. I also settled on an action screw torque setting of 40 inch/pounds, which really locks the action to the stock in a solid manner with zero stress on either the wood or the action.

  7. #7
    Team Savage
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    Outstanding

  8. #8
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    Very good article, looks like a fantastic job
    And thank you for sharing with us
    Jack

  9. #9
    NH Shooter
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    Accuracy Testing

    I had time for a relaxed range session today and was able to test the rifle with a few different loads;

    SK Match Rifle
    Geco 22 LR Rifle (made by RWS)
    Eley HP SS
    CCI HP SS

    I was set up on a Caldwell Tack Driver bag and used a rear bag as well, all shooting at 50 yards. The results were quite good;





    The target above was the best 5-shot group of the day using Geco 22 LR Rifle ammo. The three best groups using the Geco ammo was the one above at .240", .330" and .418". Two other groups opened up to about .7".

    The SK Match Rifle didn't shoot the best group but was the most consistent with the following groups: .415", .485". and .495". The other groups were in the .5" to .6" range.

    Eley HP SS continues to shoot well in this rifle. Up until today the best group I had shot with the rifle was using this ammo at .380". Today, all groups ran between .6" and .7".

    Finally, the CCI HP SS grouped between .6" and .8", which is still plenty accurate for a small game/varmint load.

    The re-stocking project is working out well, the laminate stock with the modifications described in this thread make the rifle a pleasure to shoot. I will be giving some more RWS ammo a try in the near future.
    Last edited by NH Shooter; 09-19-2014 at 08:59 PM.

  10. #10
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    Great shooting

  11. #11
    NH Shooter
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    Quote Originally Posted by drybean View Post
    Great shooting
    Thanks! Now I need to stock up on some Geco l.r. Rifle.

  12. #12
    Basic Member kevwil's Avatar
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    Thanks for posting this!
    "The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted." - James Madison

  13. #13
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    What a great article, and a fantastic job of improving the quality of this stock. Please, make this very valuable post a sticky.

  14. #14
    NH Shooter
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    Quote Originally Posted by rasmith3530 View Post
    What a great article, and a fantastic job of improving the quality of this stock. Please, make this very valuable post a sticky.
    Thanks for the kind words! This post is now in the articles section for future reference.

  15. #15
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    I know this is an older post, but it looks like you did your homework in setting up the stock properly.

  16. #16
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    I used the information in this post to bed my Savage 93. Excellent article. The photos are not showing anymore. Any way to bring them back up?

  17. #17
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  18. #18
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    Thanks for posting this. My 93 is a .22 magnum that was stringing the shots. Since using this bedding method groups at 100 yards with Gameshocks are now around 1"

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