Piller bedding ,Yes or No?

BCboy

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What is the main benifit of piller bedding insted of just glass bedding? I have a new stock for a savage and am trying to decide witch way to go . I can Glass it myself no problem ,But the pillers might be more difficult as there isent much meat for the rear action hole. Any good guids the net for piller bedding? And do you drill the piller hole right through to the trigger gaurd? any help would be great
 
Its better for returning the metal to the place where it once was, better than a glass bedded stock where you may not get the metal to set the same each time through wear.
I bed small tubes of metal to the action where the action screws mount, this makes for a solid consistant fit, each time you remove the barreled action from the stock. I could be totally out to lunch on that theory , but its mine :D :runaway:
 
I am not the expert

but it appears that pillar bedding is more required for synthetic stocks versus wood. I have heard with wood that all that should be required is a bedding job without pillars.

When I received my Shehane Tracker stock I asked Bill how to bed the action to the stock. Bill responded that I do not need to use pillars. When he beds his Laminated wood stocks he just beds using a layer of Marine Tex.
 
I think pillar bedding is way over rated and overused... in modern Benchrest shooting it was used to prevent super light synthetic stocks ( a shell of fibreglass over a light foam core) from collapsing when screws were overtightened. You won't collapse wood stocks with 65 inch pounds of torque... or a lot of the heavier synthetics either...
 
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it appears that pillar bedding is more required for synthetic stocks versus wood. I have heard with wood that all that should be required is a bedding job without pillars

Don't know about this.... You'll probably have several different points of view in regards to the use of pillars, but wouldn't a wood stock tend to compress more/quicker than a good quality synthetic one (ie. all fiberglass stock ala McMillan, Roberston's Comp., etc...). Then again, guess things might be different if it were a wood laminate one due to the use of epoxies...

hsld.
 
The question

is are they entirely Fiberglass right into the middle?

I am not sure but I doubt it. One would think they would be heavier than they are if they were solid right thru.
 
In short....

Pillar bedding gives you the assurance of more stable bedding system.

Wood will compress and over time it will move. Wood has the tendency to soak up oil, solvent and water etc. etc. Coating the wood through a wood finish or epoxy will help prevent the wood from soaking up liquids and dimensionally changing. Wood fibers are easily damaged.

Laminated woods tend to absorb a large percentage of the bonding agent (glues) during the lamination process (high pressure and absorption). Consequently they are harder and less likely to compress or absorb liquids/moisture like a standard wood stock.

Steel pillars matched in material type to the screws will ensure screw tension is not affected by expansion or contraction caused by changes in temperature! Penalty is weight. Aluminunum keeps the weight down but will vary screw tension with temperature changes.

Fiberglass pillars are also being used and apparently (I haven't checked this out) have very similar expansion coefficients to steel. They also do not tend to come loose.

Poured pillars are easy to do but are not as consistent as solid steel or aluminum.

Since this kind of work isn't too complicated, why not try bedding first and once you are comfortable with the pillar idea and you feel there is room for improvement, add the pillars later. Brownells sells pillars and we can order them in for you if you like or you can order them directly. I machine mine.

Hope that helps.
 
I have some interesting information to post on bedding material verses solid aluminum and steel. I lost my original information but started pulling this together for general reference. I had forgotten the details on why I do what I do when it comes to bedding.. As we all know there are many ways to skin a cat........
 
Many gunsmiths have been casting fiberglass pillars into stocks since the sixties. I have always done this. I have also used aluminum and steel for pillars but my preference is glass. Regards, Bill.
 
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