Stripped butt plat screws

[FLHTCUI]

OK, the screws on the butt plate of my Savage 99C have stripped the wood. I read the best way to fix this is by drilling out and filling with a hardwood dowel. The recommendation was that the dowel be "a little bigger" than the OD of the screws.

The screws have a OD of 5/32". What is a good size of dowel? (what does "a little bigger" mean?) Home Depot sells 5/16"?

First couple of minutes will show you some tools and techniques available to you.
You can find pre-made dowels at specialty wood shops big orange box store might have some , maybe even pre-made oak or maple teak dowels.
As Why not has mentioned that is another fix to a stripped screw hole and using Sikaflex®-232 US (trade name/mark or even JB Weld) will work for the task.
The butt plate is covering the offending plug so there is another couple of ideas.
Rob

 

[laurencen]

the dowel idea works best however drill a pilot hole in the plug before installing, you are using the hole in stock to drill for the dowel by drilling the dowel you are guaranteed the screw will have the original center location when the dowel is installed.