Glass Bed Only OR Pillar & Glass Bed?

[CjC73]

Looking to bed my Savage LA in 6BR Norma into a Boyds Laminated stock. Looking for the most cost effective way to do this. I would like to do it myself but not confident enough since i have not done it before and want it done right on this rifle.

Called a couple places around me and one was $125 to glass bed only (action and recoil lug) and $300 for pillar and glass bedding. Other place was $225 for pillar and glass bedding (and about an hour drive away).

How necessary is it to install pillars in a laminated stock? Are these prices good? $225 seems like a decent price even having to drive about an hour. Anything else I should ask them?

 

[ngb1787]

Pillars are not necessary these days,

 

[Lone Hunter]

Pillars are not necessary these days,

I agree but in a Boyd's stock I think the laminate is a little soft. At least in mine it is.

 

[ngb1787]

I agree but in a Boyd's stock I think the laminate is a little soft. At least in mine it is.

You do not want action to touch pillars ever,

 

[dmoran]

I would never consider doing one without the other, no matter what the stock material (unless it's metal).

 

[linebaugh]

On a Boyds I would for certIain piller. In addition it's necessary because they use a plastic insert in the front screw hole. That is never going to be a good thing, ever. Seating an action on wood with a plastic washer makes zero sense and you will be guaranteed to have a wandering POI from session to session.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Pillars always. And it doesnt cost $175 extra to do it right

 

[CjC73]

Thanks....I was figuring that. And the $225 seems decent, even with the hour drive.

 

[swd]

Bedding should be as solid as possible. I always install pillars.

 

[NorCalMikie]

You do not want action to touch pillars ever,

Then why bother to bed or install pillars? The reason for installing pillars is so the action doesn't just rest on wood and when the bolts are tightened down, they don't crush the wood. Metal pillars, the action is secured on top of the pillars, the barrel is shimmed for clearance and centered at the forearm and the pillars are secured (glued) into the stock. You bed around the action.

Better yet, it's a $$$ thing but think about a V Block. Action rests on metal to metal contact. You remove the barreled action for cleaning and it's re installed right back where it came out, metal to metal.

 

[ngb1787]

Then why bother to bed or install pillars? The reason for installing pillars is so the action doesn't just rest on wood and when the bolts are tightened down, they don't crush the wood. Metal pillars, the action is secured on top of the pillars, the barrel is shimmed for clearance and centered at the forearm and the pillars are secured (glued) into the stock. You bed around the action.

Better yet, it's a $$$ thing but think about a V Block. Action rests on metal to metal contact. You remove the barreled action for cleaning and it's re installed right back where it came out, metal to metal.

You actually want the action to lay flat or squarely on bedding. Bedding has a tendency to shrink a bit and then your action sits on the pillars and no longer touches bedding. That would mean the action only has two or three contact points to the stock instead of a fully formed fit to bedding. When pillars are used they are often ground off on top a couple thousands so the top surface of the pillars Never touch action.

 

[swd]

That’s why you leave the pillars low enough to leave a light bedding skim coat over them.

 

[ngb1787]

That’s why you leave the pillars low enough to leave a light bedding skim coat over them.

That works also,

 

[C.E.Smith043]

On a Boyds I would for certIain piller. In addition it's necessary because they use a plastic insert in the front screw hole. That is never going to be a good thing, ever. Seating an action on wood with a plastic washer makes zero sense and you will be guaranteed to have a wandering POI from session to session.

I agree, for the life of me i dont understand who thought a plastic insert was a good idea. Boyds makes a very good stock but i cant stand that they cheapen it up by the plastic insert.

 

[NorCalMikie]

The action is secured to the metal pillars THEN the pillars are glued into the stock and spaced at the same time. After that sets up, I go back and do the action bedding. But what do I know? I've only done about a dozen or so.And a few V Blocks too.
And NO bedding on top of the pillars. Bedding shrinks over time and you end up with a gap between the top of the pillar and the action. Might just as well forget the pillars and just set the action in top of the wood. Same thing in the end. Better choice? V Block.

 

[R.Morehouse]

Glue & Screw...........A call to Wheeler would be educational on the subject....

Regards
Rick

 

[CjC73]

so another semi local place quoted about $100 to glass bed and didn't recommend pillars. They use Acra-glass.

The place that quoted $225 for pillars and full glass bedding uses Devcon. I think this place wins..... now, i have to scrounge the couch cushions for some $$$

Thanks all.

 

[msinc]

I have tried bedding rifles every possible acceptable way you can think of and I never found any one configuration any better over the other one. I will offer that, very simply and just like different shaped rifling, if one was clearly superior that would be all any one would use. Everyone is still arguing over it, so to me it either still don't matter or we have not discovered the trick to it yet. What's it been 60 plus years???
It was always my understanding that pillars were supposed to help prevent squeezing the wood or stock material around the bedding if you constantly and repeatedly remove and reinstall the action. I believe they work for this, as rifles I have seen or worked on that were removed and reinstalled a lot always had the action screws tightening in a little deeper each time until you could noticeably see more threads like at the rear tang screw. I could see it on the front one with a bore scope. A metal bedding block also helps to prevent this.
On that note, I don't know about everyone else, but I have almost always found that rifles built with bedding blocks made into the stock always shot more accurately if they were bedded anyway.
As to the fairly recent trend of not bedding under or in front of the recoil lug....not only did that never make any difference I could see, but no one to date has ever been able to explain why it is done. Maybe I cant shoot good enough to tell and maybe I am not talking to the "right" person...but I think I will stick to plain old ordinary glass bedded action and floated barrel.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you have pillars showing after a while thats your bedding and theres no need in even using epoxy. Bedding shrinks but pillars dont. You dont even need specialized tools- just run your fingernail across the bedding to pillar junction. If you feel the transition then you know. Even those little nubs on top of pillars throw it off- action will be teetering on top of those nubs. But it looks good to some i guess. If your pillars are 1/8-1/4 below the bedding surface it does the exact same job as pillars touching the action without the downfall of shrinkage making the pillars high. And all this shrinkage is why the most accurate bed jobs are glued in.

 

[CjC73]

Never heard of glueing an action in. How do you remove it to clean it?

A call to Wheeler would be educational on the subject....

Who is Wheeler? I'd be glad to discuss and learn about this subject.


The place i'll take it is Pierce Engineering, they do custom rifles for benchrest, short and long range competitions. Hope they know what they're doing when it comes to pillars and bedding.