Bell & Carlson Bottom Metal Fit

[RobfromME]

Good morning,

I've inletted my receiver and barrel to the Bell & Carlson 700 BDL Sporter Style (p/n 2960) and it was pretty standard inletting for a Remage barrel with non-standard contour. However, I'm using a PTG BDL bottom metal and the fit to the stock is not quite so pretty. As you can see from the picture, even if I mill down the front and rear screw/pillar area and bridge, there will be a substantial gap for the floor plate.
The front of the bottom metal is .015 proud of the surface and the back (not clearly shown...I'm sorry) is 0.018. That still leaves a 0.12 gap for the magazine floor plate.
Functionally, it is fine, and I'm concerned to remove too much to get a nice fit as it will require machining down the magazine "liner" which leads to other issues. It appears the depression molded into the stock for the floor plate is deeper than the surrounding stock, which leads me to believe that the original style bottom metal may have had some curvature, or perhaps different geometry than the PTG I'm using? I don't have a Remington bottom metal to compare, so I'm not sure.

Is this common for PTG bottom metal and Bell and Carlson stock? Anyone else run into something similar?

Thank you in advance for your interest!

All my best,
Rob

 

[DJ Fergus]

I have heard of this happening with ptg bottom metal before but the stock itself may not be true because I've also heard of it happening with B&C stocks with Remington bottom metal. If you happen to take some out in order to fit it, don't take out too much or the latch will be hard to close. Also, ive saw the magazine box to be to deep many times and cause issues.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Regardless of stock make, all PT&G bottom metal fits like that. If you put the original next to it, the PT&G are thicker/deeper.
It has never bothered me or my customers as the heft is what we were looking for.
You can mill them to fit flush, but I see no point doing this.
I see many times that the original Remington bottom metal on a B&C stock to be not deep enough and binds on the stock…I know what I prefer.

Cheers.