Mini Pillars...

B

Brian Pfleuger

Moderator Emeritus
for my Savage 11 project.



You'll might remember it's start, here, and it's semi-finished state, here.



So I was thinking about the purpose of pillars and the nature of laminated wood stocks and I thought... "maybe mini pillars would work?"



I don't know. They might, what do you think?



I bent the one to contour with the stock, using a .357sig Lee trimmer mandrel and a Redding body die installed upside down in my press.:D

etevu3u6.jpg
 
Mini-pillars may work for the short run, but the wood may not resist heavy screw pressure and spreading caused by round actions.

It's important to pillar-bed laminated stocks, especially on round actions, because we've evidenced stock-spreading, apparently due to the relatively soft birch used in many such stocks spreading, perhaps from action screw force, or shrinkage.

I use 1/2" steel tubing obtained from Home Depot, etc., because it fits within trigger guard/floorplate dimensions, so stock surfaces aren't damaged by installation.

In the past, I've made drill bits from the tubing or portions of steel golf course shafts that are slightly larger than the pillars. More recently, I bought a Forstner 1/2" bit that bores clean holes in wood, but the pillars are a bit tight in them, so I open the holes a bit with a round wood file, and epoxy them in. Holes are started from the bottoms, to prevent splintering exterior surfaces.

(A full action-length epoxy-bedding job and free-floating completes the work.)
 
I use 1/8" black gaspipe nipples. Cut and epoxied in any type stock material. I also have drilled the inside to allow action screw clearance.

They're cheap and easy.;)
 
I would say that you could use surface pillars but the question is, how big would the have to be? It's all about spreading the load over a large enough area to prevent the compression of the wood at a given pressure. Sure wish I knew how to figure it!
 
When a full-length pillar is used, stock screws fetch up in about a half-turn from contact and can be torqued 50 inch-lbs, or so. If a rifle's cartridge doesn't induce much recoil, mini-pillars might work okay, along with full action bedding, but why take the chance, unless you don't have an electric drill, a hack saw, and a file.
 
I don't think I would bother. The whole point of pillars is to eliminate compression of the stock under screw torque, and varying tension caused by expansion and contraction of the stock.

With the 'mini pillars' you're giving the action a relatively decent seating surface, if formed correctly... but not addressing the undesirable variables.

I wouldn't be surprised if the mini pillars negatively affected accuracy, if the action wasn't epoxy bedded at least at the 'pillars'.
 
I mainly did it just to see what happens. ;)
Plus, it essentially free floats everything, including the rear tang which is supposedly desirable in a Savage.

Gives me a reason to shoot and see what happens. :)
 
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