pillar bedding question

[bobcat93]

I'm going to pillar bed my Remington 700 action
I have a wood laminate rifle stock, devcon ( I love the stuff) , and a set of pillars from Chad D. @ long rifles inc.
I need to know what size hole to drill ..that is if my pillar is 3/4" do I drill a 7/8" hole.. do I want more wood and less devcon around the pillar?.. Or do I want less wood and more devcon around the pillar...
I just wanted to hear what other forum members do and why..
I think Chad told me what size hole to drill, but I lost my notes from our conversation and I can't get a hold of him.
Thank you for your input
Bobcat93

 

[JRS]

Is the stock not ridged enough? I ask, because most well made laminated wood stocks aren't going to compress when you tighten the action screws.

 

[bobcat93]

Its a great stock. I purchased it from stocky's.
Bobby hart LTR but I have a PTG stealth magazine feed bottom metal and I just prefer to pillar bed it

 

[watercam]

I feel the steel or aluminum pillars hold up better than laminate alone. Especially when torqueing in the 50-65 in.Ib. range that many seem to like. I actually cracked a Ruger Target laminate stock behind the tang because I was torqueing the forward diagonal screw enough to force it. I no longer go crazy with the wrench and use pillars!
As far as the hole size, for a 9/16" pillar I use a piloted bit at or slightly larger than that. Devcon is great but the pillar should be supported by more than the Devcon alone. Brownell's sells the bits in a couple of sizes and separate pilots in various sizes as well depending upon the size of the factory screw hole.

 

[Preacher]

Drill the hole's just large enough to allow the Devcon to stay in place, and you'll do fine..
Don't ever bet money that you cant compress any type of wood stock !!!!!!!!!!

 

[bobcat93]

I'm going to use a piloted air craft counter bore drill bit for the holes in my drill press. I just want to know how much larger do you make the hole in relation to the O.D. of the pillar

 

[Preacher]

OK, if just large enough to allow the pillar to insert won't do, how about .020 over the pillar diameter....
My aircraft counterbores are 5/8th and 3/4" I just trim the pillars I make to fit with just enough to slip into the hole...

 

[bobcat93]

That is the info I was looking for..thanks preacher..I would rather not grind anything, I will get on eBay and see what size bore bits I can find..the ones I have are a bit to big..5/8" & 7/8.. I think a 9/16" and one 13/16" should work good..what do you think

 

[tinkerer]

And I have ONLY been using about 30-35 inch pounds of torque as well.

Larry
Tinkerer

 

[wwbrown]

Its a great stock. I purchased it from stocky's.
Bobby hart LTR but I have a PTG stealth magazine feed bottom metal and I just prefer to pillar bed it

I thought the PT&G DMB bottom metal came with pillars? If so you are better off using those as the length matches up with the bottom metal and will probably making feeding easier. Chad's pillars are great but in this case PT&G's may serve you better.

I always pillar bed laminated stocks.

 

[BoydAllen]

One needs to remember that the bottom of the holes that you drill for pillars need to be covered by the trigger guard or bottom metal, depending on your stock's configuration. Have you considered this aspect of your pillar bedding job?

 

[JRS]

If you actually have 3/4" pillars, 9/16 and 5/8 certainly won't work.

 

[bobcat93]

JRS- Not sure if you have ever seen the pillars from long rifle inc. They look like a T shape from the side profile. The top portion OD. Is 3/4", the bottom OD. Is 1/2". Thus requiring two different size bore in the rifle stock. These pillars are fare superior to the PTG pillars that come with the stealth bottom metal. These pillars will need to be milled off after the bedding process to properly allow the magazine to function. I believe this method is a P.I.T.A..because I don't own a milling machine and have no idea how to run one even if I could gain access to one. So the completion of my rifle build will be even more delayed. The the long term pay off will be an excellent bedding job with a properly magazine feed system. So I think piloted counter bores 1/16" larger may work best and hopefully the actions tang will cover the hole..I was running the question past others forum members for there thoughts and opinions

 

[JRS]

Yes bobcat, I see the configuration on his website. Chad is a very good smith. He is also quite the salesman ;D BTW, what makes Chads pillars superior? The pillars serve one purpose only. To alleviate compression. There is no reason for the pillar to be larger on top, than the bottom. You'll find, with a very simple test, that it is going to take considerably more pressure than the torque we use on action screws, to compress the stock. Seventy or so inch pounds, is only 5 and one half foot pounds. That's less torque than you can apply when twisting an oil filter on by hand We no longer live in the age of the original Chet Brown and Lee Six stocks.

 

[X Ring Accuracy]

Drill the hole's just large enough to allow the Devcon to stay in place, and you'll do fine..
Don't ever bet money that you cant compress any type of wood stock !!!!!!!!!!

Words to live by

 

[JRS]

Drill the hole's just large enough to allow the Devcon to stay in place, and you'll do fine..
Don't ever bet money that you cant compress any type of wood stock !!!!!!!!!!

Words to live by

Obviously, you haven't a clue what surface bearing means X Ring Accuracy ??? Most of the current trends is, "monkey see, monkey do" ;D

 

[bobcat93]

Thank you for the replies guy's..