I have two model 70s that I want to pillar bed and have one that is pillar bedded. The bedding pillars for that one were made by a gunsmith on a lath. I'm going to tack the two jobs myself. One involves a restock job and the other is a new, unfired piece. Why wouldn't a solid polymer work instead of metal? Polymer won't shrink, shift and would be a heck of a lot easier to work with.

Polymers gives in to force easier than metal. They don't stand well against abrasion. Sometimes solvent breaks them down, but metals are not affected. That's why metals are preferred as material for the bedding pillar.

Do yourself a favor and don't try and reinvent the wheel. There is a good reason why no one uses polymers and it was adequately explained by the above post. Brownells sells adjustable aluminum pillars for about $13. Drill out your action screw holes as per the instructions, glassbed in the pillars and barrel at the same time and your done.-Rob

Another problem with a polymer pillar would be lack of adhesion for whatever epoxy you use to bed it in with. Some epoxies won't stick to some polymers.

Joe.

Just to muddy the water a bit....

I used some PTFE bearing material in a 270 and a 22-250 and it works like a charm. Acragel sticks to it like s*^t to a blanket. I made sure to cut some locking ridges into the pillar to hold it better.

Cheers

pete

PTFE? self llubicating and readily compressable for bedding? If you want to do it an EASY way, use brownell's steel bed, otherwise, Rob put it just about perfect.
Jeffe