If you make your own:

What material?
What O.D.?
How much oversize is the hole in the stock so wone can "glass" in the pillars?

I have some thick wall SS tubing that seems like the perfect pillar material!


To heck with pillars and just do a good glass bedding job?

Thoughts and ideas from the ecxperts will be GREATLY appreciated.

Forget the pillars !! Glass bedding does much more than the pillars .It locks together the whole receiver and some of the barrel [if you choose] Making the whole gun more rigid [for accuracy] greatly reduces problems of stock warping from moisture ,etc.

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Forget the pillars !! Glass bedding does much more than the pillars .It locks together the whole receiver and some of the barrel [if you choose] Making the whole gun more rigid [for accuracy] greatly reduces problems of stock warping from moisture ,etc.

So does solid aluminum. In order for the glass bed to provide the rigidity stated, it must extend all the way to the trigger guard assembly, and in a sufficient amount. It won't provide the necessary support if there is any compressible material between the action and trigger guard assembly. This is why pillars are so popular and why they work so well. A 9/16 pillar provides a lot of support for such a small area. For top accuracy, I prefer tying the action together using both aluminum pillars and glass.

TC, standard pillars are about 9/16 diameter. The pillar are grooved to hold epoxy. Keep the hole about .0625 over the diameter of the pillars. Though a hole a little bit larger shouldn't hurt a thing. Pillars can be made from nearly anything that is sturdy, though most are made from aluminum.

Pillars have it all over streight bedding. A lot more solid connection between action and stock.

I've done a few guns by making the pillars out of the bedding material. I drill the holes in the stock as large as possible and then glass them up. Then I drill new screw holes in the center of the poured glass pillars.

Only done this on med. calibers, no big boomers. I'm sure there's some slight compression compared to aluminum pillars but it's better than nothing at all.

Malm, when you use aluminum pillars does the pillar contact the receiver and triggerguard, metal to metal?

I remember reading that it may be better to leave them slightly short and then glass over them to insure 100% contact.

Rob

I whittled out a pair a few weeks ago.

6061 Aluminum, .5625" diameter, .2812" center hole.

Gave them a couple grooves with a .125" parting tool about .125" deep just to give a little better "grab".

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:

Malm, when you use aluminum pillars does the pillar contact the receiver and triggerguard, metal to metal?
Rob

Yes indeed, 100 percent contact, metal to metal.

quote:

Originally posted by malm:

quote:

Originally posted by Recoil Rob:

Malm, when you use aluminum pillars does the pillar contact the receiver and triggerguard, metal to metal?
Rob

Yes indeed, 100 percent contact, metal to metal.

Me to! I often use brass pillars, because I have a lot of suitable brass, and because it is more pleasant to work with than alu or SS.

TCLOUIS:

Everybody does their pillars and bedding different.

He are some considerations I think about.

The pillars have to support the action and bottom metal to assure proper case/magazine alignment. Metel to metal insures it will not be continually crushing. The pillar diameter should be at least twice the square of the diameter of the screw. If a pillar is done correctly the surface contacting the action should make 100% contact. This means if the action is a round action the pillar top should be cut with a flycutter to the same contour as the action body. The pillar should have an exterior with grooves to accept epoxy or other suitable anchoring material. The stock must be clean and free of oils, so the epoxy will hold. Threaded guides whould be used to align the action pillars and base metal. Be sure to use paste wax or a release agent on all metal parts. It is also wise to wax and tape your stock if it is already finished. After the pillars are completed and installed the recoil lug area and area under the receiver should be glassed in with a high quality two part(resin and hardner)resin mixed with a high quality polester filler. These can be purchased from a marine supplier. The pillars and the glass bedding should compliment each other in supporting the action. The barrel should be free floated from just in front of recoil lug. in the area under the chamber. Periodically some barrels will shoot better fully glassed bedded to the front of the stock or with a glass band in the front of the stock barrel bed. This is the exception and not the rule.
If the action is not being glassed in to the stock perminently it should be removed once the glass has stiffened up but not completely hardened. You may have to drive the action out of the glass with a rubber hammer. The glass can be trimmed with a sharp knife. Allow the glass to harden then finish trimming the glass to a custom fit. Air pockets should be filled with a second application of glass or with a glazing compound.

Bedding is a multiple step process and takes a couple of days to complete.

In my 35 years of gunsmithing I feel properly bedded rifles with properly adjusted triggers will do more for accuracy than almost any other
enhancement.
Longshot

I've found that rifles with light-weight foam-filled syntheic stocks benefit the most with pillars regardless of action type. Flat-bottomed receivers bedded to hard wooden stocks don't benefit hardly at all from installing pillars unless you're prone to grossly over-tighten the receiver screws. Round-bottomed actions nearly always benefit from pillars, no matter what the stock is made of.

On the couple Mausers I've bedded, I used pieces of the threaded hollow rod used on table lamps. Somebody on a another forum suggested it and they work well. They're just the right diameter for the action screw to fit through and they're threaded on the outside to hold the bedding compound. A pretty good low-tech solution for a homemade hunting rifle...