Pillar bedding

N

NathanGardner

Inactive
New here, wondering if anyone can give me tips on pillar bedding. I have the Remington 783 in 7mm Remington Magnum, for some reason its been catching some serious flak in regards to its value. I paid ~$400 for it, got a Boyd's replacement stock and I'm consistently shooting Sub-MOA out to 300, not really sure what the big fuss is.

Getting off topic, on the original synthetic stock it was free floated and had two (aluminum?) pillars installed in it. I got the Boyd's replacement stock and as you would guess it's not pillar bedded (had to free float it myself as well).

So my question is do you all think it would be a viable option to remove the pillars from the synthetic stock, and install them into the wooden stock? (not too worried about destroying the old synthetic stock) Also, are pillars made specifically for a certain rifle, or are they a one size fits all type of deal? I've seen adjustable pillars for sale online I just don't know if they would fit tight with my action. I understand the process of properly installing pillars, just not sure about proper fit.

Any help would be appreciated.:)
 
It's not worht the time and effort to try and dig the pillars out of the factory stock. Just buy some new ones and install them in the boyds stock. Getting the adjustable ones will take care of any problems with them being the wrong length.
 
Not worried about the length, as I said adjustable pillars are definitely the way to go, but are they a one size fits all as far as fitting tight to the action, or do they require machining?
 
yes, I understand that the pillars will be bigger than the original take down screw holes. As all actions are not created the same, I'm asking if where the pillar fits flush to the action, there will need to be machining, or are there brands out there that make pillars model specific.
 
Stockys Stocks has pillar bed kits and videos available. I want to do one of my rifles when I decide on a stock for it. Looks simple in the videos. (HHHAAA!!). How do you like the Boyds? Does it look good, or cheap? I have never seen one that I know to be a Boyds.
 
Yes I only have an iphone for picture taking and it says the picture size is too big to upload unfortunately. I have one for the long action Remington 783 with Walnut and fleur d'lis (im American sorry for not spelling French stuff right) pattern and checkering for the grip and my initials engraved. patterns and grip are black looks phenomenal and is very high quality. The prices are different for each gun and they are completely customizable so I couldn't tell you an exact price. Go to their website and design one, they tell you the price of each option and the grand total before checkout. One thing I will say though is that it advertised the stock to come free floated, but it wasn't even close to being perfect in that aspect, however 15 minutes and coarse sand paper fixed that problem and the site does state that there might be minor adjustments for the stock to be perfect. I don't know if you would consider free floating a barrel minor, but it definitely wasn't anything to be angry about.

Mine personally was just over $100 so in my opinion worth it.

I'm good with wood so I know I can drill the holes, I just don't have any tools or experience for that matter to machine the pillars myself. looks like i'll have to bite the bullet and visit my gun smith.
 
Not familiar with the 783, but I have pulled pillars from a tupperware Savage stock before and used them- I see no reason why you can't do the same. If they're just molded into a plastic stock, it's relatively simple to cut close to the areas with a saw (jigsaw, table saw, anything will do) then do the more surgical removal from the chunk of plastic with a cutting blade on a dremel. I cut a slit down the chunks of plastic, split them apart, and the pillars popped free. Took me less than a half hour total, no big deal.

While pillars are easily available for the 700's, the 783 may not be so simple, so "salvaging" may be even more worthwhile.

It's best to use a piloted counterbore (Enco for an inexpensive one) for a neat job on the install. Use a pilot the size of the action screw holes in the Boyd's stock, with the counterbore usually being 9/16" for a 1/2" OD pillar.
 
That's exactly what I was thinking, I figured since the 783 is a relatively new Model I figured I would just salvage them.

And good to know they don't have to match the curve of the action.

all questions answered thanks guys

I don't know about other calibers(.243,.270, 30-06,.308, .300 win mag) or how they perform. but the 7mm Rem mag for the 783 is dead on. So if any of you are looking for a solid rifle but don't want to pay an arm and a leg I would shout from the roof tops to go and buy the 783. in total right now I have just under $600 into it and I'm sub-moa out to 300 yards (haven't shot further yet). I can easily outshoot my friends 700. pillar, then glass bedding this will undoubtedly allow shots out to 1000 with accuracy.
 
You could use conventional bedding with plastic steel. That receiver doesn't have to have pillars for best performance.
 
Wow after looking into it plastic steel seems like the way to go what release compound do you suggest? I see that midway sells plastic steel..is the release compound for glass bedding the same as plastic steel release compound? Also I see that it comes in either a couple ounce tubes or an entire pound. A pound is obviously overkill any help with amount to purchase would be a great help as well, thanks in advance!
 
Many things will work as a release agent- most of us use Kiwi shoe polish (wally world or K-Mart), neutral color. "Plastic Steel" Devcon 10110 is a type of epoxy, any epoxy release agent will work...
Apply it, let it dry, then buff smooth. Plenty of threads here already on the bedding process, try a search.

2 oz. will be enough to do one rifle unless you really hog out the stock more than is necessary. Unless you plan on other bedding jobs in the near future, I'd get the tubes. I'm not familiar with the 10110 in the liquid form though- others here that have used it might comment on it's viscosity. You don't want it to be too thin, it will run down the sides of the stock before you can position the action correctly.
 
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You can just buy a piece of 1/2" steel tubing from Home Depot (etc.) and cut pillars for it. The pillar ends should be filed square with the bodies and can be made a bit short at the top, but set on the floorplate and trigger guard at the bottom.

A 1/2" drill bit can be used to drill from the bottom to set the pillars.

I've used all sorts of bedding material including Devcon Plastic Steel and JB Weld. They all work okay when you use pillars, but those that don't run too much seem to work better.
 
If you understand the purpose of "pillars" you will understand that exotic/expensive pillars are not required (but Convenient), especially on a hunting rifle. What is required are socket-head action screws & an accurate torque wrench to adjust them the same every time.

I've never done a Rem 783 but I've done a number of Rem 700's & Win 70's. I have a small hobby lathe & I turn my pillars out of aluminum rod that came off a lawn chair. But before that, I used threaded lamp rods. These come in various lengths, threaded on the outside in either brass, steel or some sort of pot metal. The pot metal seem to be the best - plenty strong & easy to work. You can modify these very easily with a dremel or hand tools. If the receiver is round you can even match the curve with files but I think that is unnecessary. Better craftsman than me can install pillars & glass bed all at one time. I do pillars first then the full action. I also lightly bed the trigger guard/floorplate where the pillars meet. The idea is to use the pillars to attach the action/barrel to the stock as stress free as possible.
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FWIW...

..bug
 
I don't recommend spending the time grinding and fitting aluminum pillars to a stock. I have done that and it takes a lot of time, and you have to be lucky in not grinding the things smaller than needed.

Here in this post , with a Rem 700 in 6.5 X 55 Swede, I opened up the barrel channel, free floated the barrel, and “pillar” bedded with Bisonite, a two part epoxy.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5857545&postcount=3

Drilling a big hole, filling it with a good two part epoxy, setting the action on top, letting the epoxy pillars cure, then routing out a huge amount of wood around the pillars, worked just great for me.

I used a lot of Johnson Paste wax as a release agent on the stock and external action surfaces. I bought spray cans of “Mold Release” (which can be purchased on Fleabay for $10.00 S&H included) for the internal action surfaces. Johnson paste wax leaves a thick layer, the Mold Release leaves a very thin layer.

I can recommend Marine Tex, any Devcon Stainless Steel, Aluminum particle two part epoxy, Brownell’s Steel Bed, as bedding materials. In most applications I like epoxies that have the consistency of peanut butter, in crack fixing, I like Brownell’s Acruglass, which pours like honey
 
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