I have 3 remington vs's with the hs precision stock and I torque them to 65 inch pounds as stated abouve.Now bearing this in mind,none have been altered in any way yet.I dont keep taking them in and out of the stock for whatever reason.I agree that remington does belt sand the scale before bluing.They take off a minimal amount and some worse than others. However I have had them in and out to check the contact with the v-block(aluminum bedding block) by using hi-spot bluing and checking to make sure that I have at least 50% contact.That being said they all had better than 50% contact so I retorqued in 2 steps,first at 35 inch pounds and then 65.I start the torque at the front action screw,go to back ,front ,back.That is my scientific approach to such a simple process.Many people listen to everything their gunsmith says about distortion and while it is true some of the time,I have 3 remmys made in different years that all shoot real well.My .308 being the 2nd most accurate only to the .223 version and then the 22-250 being almost a tie with the .308.I am talking .3 or better sometimes if I dont screw up. I bedded one for a friend at his request and while it helped only slightly,it probably wasnt necessary. As crowning the brand new vssf in my little shop did the trick in the end. So with all this said,listen to your gunsmiths as it is their job to always find problems they can correct for you to improve your factory rifle.Most guys are honest and many are not.Remember the more they accurize the more you are sure to spend lots of money with unscrupulous smiths.I am building a new VS from parts right now and when I am done ,I will let you skeptics know what I had to do to make it work,accuracy wise.I will document what I did and what order.I can tell you this :It will have a hart barrel,stock shaort action trigger(only lapped) ,hs precision stock,timney trigger,tac handle for comfort only and a bushed firing pin,bushnell 4200 scope,and my homemade muzzle brake,0 moa mount and burris zee rings.That is it and recut the face of the reciever.That is it.Most I will do myself.I have bo training as a gunsmith and actually alot of guys call themselves gunsmiths because they think they know everything,however it is no slur to the guys who are real smiths and know their crafts well.There are too many to list.You guys know who they are.I am just a lowly machinist who wants to try his hand at it to see how hard it really is to make it work.If I fail,I will tell you all that I suck.