I've always been a bit nervous as to whether these would hold a rifle over the course of time. I see some bases that bolt through the stock like a normal swivel stud. I imagine the general concensus must be the regular two screw bases work fine?

If you are familiar with the way the normal sling swivel stud is installed on a forearm, you can rest assured because the two "screw" (actually machine bolts) are attached in the same way, with a backing nut of sorts in the barrel channel, only there are two of them. They are not just screws screwed into the wood. Athough the bottom one is but the pull on the bottom is more parallel to the bore and the forearm is more at 90 degrees to the barrel.

Chic, I've only installed a couple sets, both Dakotas. They came with four wood screws. I was browsing Brownells and see the Talleys come with the two bolts for the front stud. This makes much more sense to me. I'm wondering why Dakota doesn't do it the same way and If I should see if the Talley heads will fit in my Dakota bases and re-do them.

Those screws are not interchangeable without some work. I think the Dakota screws have a bigger head so the Talley's would be undersize. On top of that, the dakotas are 3/8" wide and the talleys are 5/16"

Jim, thanks for the size info. I'll stick to the talleys in the future.