pillar bedding question

kansashunter

I got my new stock for my Howa and I am getting ready to bed it but I am trying to make the pillars. The material I found fits the screw pretty tight and now I am worried that might be a bad thing. My question is how tight should the screws be in the pillars?

Jayhawker

I don't think it really matters, though mine are all pretty sloppy....your action screws should be torqued to 60-65 inch pounds

tennmike

Screws shouldn't be tight fit in the pillars. They shouldn't be really loose either. Sandpaper those puppies out for a smooth slip fit with no binding.

Teach

I fit the pillars I make pretty loose to allow them to align with the receiver and trigger guard properly. The pillars only prevent the stock material from being compressed so the screws can be torqued accurately- - - -I still like to do a glass-bed procedure to make the receiver a snug fit in the stock.
Jerry

jaywapti

Teach wrote: »

I fit the pillars I make pretty loose to allow them to align with the receiver and trigger guard properly. The pillars only prevent the stock material from being compressed so the screws can be torqued accurately- - - -I still like to do a glass-bed procedure to make the receiver a snug fit in the stock.
Jerry

:agree:
If the screws are 1/4" ( .250 ) I'll drill them 1/4" then ream them to .290, I like .020 - .030 clearance all the way around the screw

JAY

kansashunter

OK that is what I thought. When I was picking my pieces I was looking for a snug fit but as I thought about it that seemed not right. I am glad I asked before I spent any time fitting them, or worse, installing them. I am going to bed the action also and this is my first so trying to do it right. Thanks guys!!

Bigslug

There's no real reason to have any kind of contact inside the pillar. Your bedding around the recoil lug will handle all of your front-to-back issues. The screws are there to pull the action down.

snake284

kansashunter wrote: »

I got my new stock for my Howa and I am getting ready to bed it but I am trying to make the pillars. The material I found fits the screw pretty tight and now I am worried that might be a bad thing. My question is how tight should the screws be in the pillars?

The screws should not touch the pillar. Drill the pillar out with a slightly larger bit to make clearance. Don't ask me why specifically. All I know is this is what people like the late and great gun rag author Warren Page said in the papers I read on bench rest pillar bedding. I read a lot of his writings on the subject of bench rifles which discussed bedding and pillar bedding for bench rest and did my own pillar bedding before there were any aluminum blocks or any other fancy fixtures. Back in the day they started out with stainless steel bushings. Or they did what I did which I learned from Warren Page's papers. You made the pillar in the stock with aluminum epoxy. My old .270 still has this. You drilled the action screw holes out like you were going to insert bushings but instead you filled the holes with epoxy and drilled them out later on a drill press. Made for an excellent pillar that became part of the stock. After the pillars are made and the epoxy cures then you tied these pillars into the rest of the action bedding. The pillars not only keep the action screws from compressing the wood when tightened, they also help secure the whole action into the stock. They help make the action more a part of the stock because when tied into the recoil lug and action bedding it makes for one mass that is less likely to move with recoil or from changes in humidity (wood swelling and contracting). But according to Page you still didn't want the bolts touching the pillars, most likely because if they touch, this could cause alignment problems and/or uneven pressure.