Stock modification question

[its only light]

Alright here we go. I bought a used bell and Carlson stock for my savage target action. I had to free float the barrel that part was pretty simple. After I got that done I went to bolt the action to the stock and well the front stock hole does not line up with my front action hole. Its pretty close but when I look through the bottom side if the stock I can only see about half or a little more of my action hole. I thought about making the hole bigger but that wouldn't leave anything for the head of the screw to torque on to. Anybody ever have to deal with this? I really want to use the stock and am hoping somebody can give me some kind of direction here.

 

[mshelton]

You could drill it completely out and bed in a pillar.

 

[jonbearman]

You have a 4.4 inch stock and probably your reciever is 4.275 center to center,return it and get the correct one.Just realized it is used,so, putting an oversized pillar in to cover the indescretion would work as the above poster suggested.The best way to fix the screw hole is to mill it to the correct location off the rear screw.If you try to drill it,the drill will follow the old hole.

 

[ryanjay11]

It is possible to do, but only if you are comfortable with bedding and installing a new pillar. I did this on a sporter stock recently and it worked great. Afterwards, you will need to repaint. If you think this is too much work, you could have a gunsmith do it, but in all likelyhood, you will spend more on the stock that it is worth.

You have already modified the barrel channel, so you might be better off listing it here for sale and picking up what you actually need. It is tough to hear it, but sometimes throwing money at a something to make it work costs you more in the long run than if you cut your losses.

 

[matthias]

Brownells has adjustable pillars that you can install at home with a drill and epoxy. Going the pillar route might Orkney better if you fill the current offending hole then re drill for the pillar. Adjut the pillar to correct length then glue in. Two hours at home in the basement. Good luck

 

[normmatzen]

My first bench rest build was a Savage PTA and I bought a used BVSS stock. I had to both re-locate the action screw holes, but install pillars and skim bed it. First, I plugged the magazine hole with a plywood block.

Then, I got a piece of wood dowel about 1" dia and drilled three holes in the stock 1" diam as close to the screw spacing as possible. If I remember, the rear hole didn't move. Anyway, I then glued pieces of the dowel into these holes with about 1/4" setback from the bottom. My plan was to put in a shiny black plug to cover this hole in each screw hole. I never did add the plug, it looked just fine.

Then, I drilled pilot holes exactly located where the pillars should be then opened them up to fit the pillars (bought a new set from SSS) Then, pillar bedded the action. Finally I skim bedded the action. First time for pillar bedding AND skim bedding. It is easy if you follow internet directions!

I shot this gun for a year or so till I bought a real BR stock, and, the gun always out-shot me!

 

[its only light]

Thanks for all the advice. The stock was advertised as a 4.4 and I checked when I got it which consisted of setting my caliper to 4.4 and eyeballing the holes. It was close but not quite, definitely wasn't 4.27 spacing. I'm going to go with the advice of bedding in a pillar. Seems straight forward enough. I did consider just selling it but I really like the stock so I want to make it work.

 

[teele1]

if its a Medalist you've got a lot of metal to cut thru. I've moved pillars on a target F/Class stock to fit a 4.27 action and it wasn't that big of a deal, but on that Medalist with the aluminum bedding block you've got more work. I made a jig to use on my drill press to hold the stock up side down to drill the 4.27 front screw hole with a 1/8th bit then used a 3/16 finally a piloted 5/8 aircraft bit to finish drilling for my pillar. altho it can be done i have drilled a Metalist for a front pillar.

 

[amlevin]

The best way to "Move" a hole is to first plug it with a piece of he same metal. One way is to thread the hole and then take a rod of the proper diameter, thread it, and insert it into the hole using a good epoxy to bond it in place. Grind, file, or mill the ends flush then re-drill the hole where you want it. No drill wandering, no need to find a mill if you don't have one, and no over-sized hole that merely weakens the structure.