Bedding Without Pillars?

[yukonal]

Is it possible to get a good, stress free bedding job on a wood stock without installing pillars?

If both the action and bottom metal are bedded (with Devcon), are pillars really neccesary?

 

[Lapua40X]

We did it for lots of years without metal pillars and it work very well. IMO, a carefully completed job of bedding with good material (e.g. Devcon) in a wood stock should be good enough for hunting. Competitive shooting is another story.

 

[spclark]

With metal on both ends of the screws holding the action into the stock it ought to work OK but is it that much harder to add pillars to make a really secure, stable screw tensioning possible?

With wood in between, there's always a potential for compression & resulting memory that might have an effect on action mounting, however slim.

 

[gotcha]

I'd prefer pillars on a wood stock to compensate for changes in Temp., humidity and compression of wood through assembly/dis-assembly. A quality Laminate stock....... not so much.

 

[yukonal]

Actually, I AM refering to a quality Laminate stock.

Can someone give me a quick rundown on the drill bits you use, and how you drill and install them? Do you leave them .010" proud on both ends? And, do you take a little material out of the bottom for the bottom metal, as well? Thaks guys.

 

[jonbearman]

A piloted 9/16"s drill and drill from both ends to avoid excessive chipping.I also take masking tape and tape both ends. Brownells has everything you need including pillars.I measure and make the pillar come up to the original bedding point by leaving the wood on top alone till the pillars are epoxied in.Then dremel the wood away from around the pillars and bedding area and leave a small area of the original wood near the tang to make it look professional.

 

[Larryh128]

Basically, you can make a Devcon pillar by bedding both top & bottom metal. I've got a walnut stock bedded that way for 20+ years & it hasn't shifted yet.

 

[BoydAllen]

Pillars can be buried beneath bedding on both ends. As a matter of fact, George Kelbly told me that back when pillar bedding first came to be, that it became obvious that better results were obtained with at least a skim coat of bedding material between pillars and the action. Look at it this way. Once you have incompressible material surrounding the action screws, you can proceed as if was not there, and just overlay a good bedding job, top and bottom. The trick is to do that bedding so that there is no stress on the action when the screws are tightened. In order to determine if this is the case, the use of a dial indicator and magnetic base is required. I have seen many good looking bedding jobs that were not stress free. As was previously posted, cast in place pillars work just fine. I have done it both ways. IMO, although a good non pillar bedding job can do wonders for accuracy, why would you settle for half measures? Just take your time, and it will be no trouble.

 

[mousegunner]

I used Devcon to build up some pillars on my McMillan 40X stock for my HP rifle. Shot less than MOA but you have to make sure they are as thick as aluminum pillars to have good support and strength.

 

[Rustystud]

The pillars I make serve two purpose they are machined to fit the the contour of the action on one end and mate with the bottom metal on the other end. I like metal on metal on metal. No wood, no bondo, no epoxy or fiberglass with screw compression. I prefer pillars or bedding block, glass or epoxied lug, and free floated barrel.
Just my opinion
Nat Lambeth

 

[jscandale]

Here is some food for thought. Over the years, I have made aluminum pilars and stainless steel pillars that are machined so that they stick out about of the wood on both ends enough to get a skim coat of bedding between the stock and action. They both performed very well I have been very happy with them. Here is something to think about regarding the material that the pillar is made from; aluminum grows about .001" per inch per 10 degrees. I don't know what the expansion characteristic of different epoxies are. Maybe a lot, maybe non at all.
Pillars are roughly and inch long and they heat up with the change in ambiant temperature and the changing temerature of active firing on a hot range during a match as much as 30 degrees sometimes. Now I don't know if this information proves anything, but it is something to consider when picking a material. With expansion of a pillar, the torcque on the action screws will most certainly change. Not by much, but change, they will.

JS

 

[22BRGUY]

Back when I was in the siding business, I was informed that aluminum expands and contracts at 16 times the rate of steel; of course vinyl even more and what about wood? How much does this affect the subject at hand????don't know but when I pillar, I always try to use steel. Thanks all for good post

 

[Larryh128]

Aluminum will definitely expand/contact more than stainless. Compared to Devcon, I don't know, but what I do know is that if an action is even skim coated the fit is exact while aluminum pillar to action bottom might or might not be.

 

[jscandale]

Years ago, I had a problem with my 1000 yd prone rifle. For no reason it started to thow an 8 out the top after things for hot. A few years later, I replaced the pilars from aluminum to stainless. I have not had that problem since the modification. I can't prove its the material, but from that point on, I used stainless as a standard in my own guns.

JS