I was told that if you take the front action screw out and the barrel moves f upward form tip of the forearm it needs bedding?
Another question on pillars,
Do the pillars have to touch the action? or can bedding be between the pillar and action?
If you take the action bolts out and move the action within the stock, you need to bed. yes, there are some very interesting interlock stocks that 'clamp' together when the bolts are drawn but that is not what is offered in conventional rifles.
I believe the TC ICONs use a type of matching plate. V blocks and Accustocks dont count.
Yes, the whole point of a pillar is to keep the stock from crushing when the bolts are tightened so making contact with the bottom of the receiver is desired. However, a skim of bedding will resolve any gap between the factory pillar and the action. Epoxy steel is very solid when cured.
If you had to do one style of bedding, I would bed the action and forego the pillars. both would be ideal but if the action and stock are properly mated, the amount of force needed on the action bolts is low thus there is little chance of crushing the stock.
Those bolts just need to be tight enough to keep the action/stock from separating and keep from loosening. hand snug is plenty. All this torqued action bolts tell me that rifle has poor bedding.
As for clearance around the bolt and pillars. Again, two schools of thought and it goes back to how well you have bedded the action.
If you have clearance AND you have sloppy bedding, the action will use the bolts as a load bearing surface and will move until something jams up enough to stop the movement. When the action bolts get slammed and bounced around inside that pillar, it will bend and stretch.
Just look into the pillar of a non bedded rifle and I bet you will see the black imprint of threads. You might even see threads worn into some part of the pillar. Bad....
If the action is properly bedded, it shouldn't move thus there is no load on the bolts. Some say clearance improves tuning. I can't see an affect but whatever makes you happy.
Another way to look at bedding is to use threaded pillars so that the bolt is integral with the stock. NOW, the bolts CAN be load bearing. Try looking up the shear force on a 1/4" good steel bolt.
It is very different from conventional stock design but offers an interesting way to secure your action and stock in place.
There have been many rifles that used a threaded recoil lug. These lugs were part of the receiver so all a solid interface.
bottom line is that the action and stock MUST NOT MOVE under recoil loads.
How you get there is entirely up to you and your engineering ideas.
Jerry
) pillars in todays modern stocks (ie. mcmillan, manners, etc) with heavy fills do not benefit at all from pillars when bedding as the epoxy and heavy fill prevent any crush unlike wood stocks. Given my slight OCD when it comes to my rifles I go ahead and use pillars anyways tho.
