Making pillars for pillar bedding a .22

R

Red Beard Forge

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In my recent thread here about the accuracy issues I was having with a savage MKI rifle the suggestion was made to try pillar bedding the action. I plan to make brass "bushings" to repair the damaged stock where the action screws bit into the wood so extending the bushings I already plan to make into bedding pillars seems simple enough but I do have a couple questions having never pillar bedded a rifle before.

my main question is how long to make the pillars? my thought would be to make them a few thousandths of an inch shorter than the actual distance from the bottom of the action to the bottom of the stock to allow for the action to torque down to the pillar rather than have the action touch to the pillars to begin with (before tightening action screws) which in my mind might lead to the action "floating" in the stock or is that the idea here?

Also given that this is a single shot bolt action .22 there is no bottom metal to sandwich the pillars in the stock ... would it be worthwhile to turn a shoulder on the pillars so that there is a mechanical stop to keep the pillar stationary in the stock rather than just rely on the epoxy to hold them or am I just overthinking this?

so in short what is the recommended spec on the pillar length in relation to the action and stock and what is the best way to accurately measure this? and do I need to turn a shoulder on the bottom of the pillar to take the place of bottom metal to keep the pillar from possibly creeping up in the stock if the epoxy fails for some reason? Another advantage of having a shoulder on the pillar is that in the absence of bottom metal it makes precisely locating the pillar in the stock much easier/ possible rather than relying on setting the pillar and hoping it doesn't move while the epoxy cures I could actually torque down the action while the epoxy cures just like a centerfire rifle would be ... thoughts?

all help greatly appreciated
 
My understanding is that the action should float in the stock. The alternative is to bed the stock using a bedding compound along with pillars. Here the action will be supported up to the barrel.
Your pillar fabrication ideas are fine. The shoulder will be fine for location and the pillar can be knurled for epoxying them in place.
 
No action should be torqued down while the epoxy cures - rim fire or center fire.

just bed the action and an inch of the barrel with the screws left loose and the barrel held in the center of the channel with masking tape... save yourself a lot of headache.
 
Dennis you are right I just meant having the screws just snug enough to seat the action in the stock... If I don't plan to glass bed the rifle should the pillars be exactly the distance from the action to the bottom of the stock or a bit over or under that measurement ? If I plan to glass bed it later does that make a difference ?
 
Pillars are supposed to go between the action and the bottom metal (which should be bedded) and are to prevent a light stock from crushing when the screws are tightened. Often the action is 'skim' bedded on top of the pillars. Rim fire action screws should not be tightened so much that the stock compresses.
 
I have drilled out the stock holes to 1/2 " and plan to turn the pillars this week if I get a chance just want to clarify if the pillar should be precisely the length of the distance between the bottom of the threaded inserts on the action and the bottom of the stock or longer or shorter? Right now my plan is to make them 5 thousandth of an inch longer to leave the action floating in the stock/leave some room for bedding compound in the future... Good plan?
 
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