Boyd's

[Alibiiv]

IMO, lots of shooters on this site are DIY kinda folks and learning is a fun part of the journey to owning and shooting an accurate long range rifle.

It would be helpful to tell us what pillars we should be using with steel Devcon. Do you make your own? I myself use aluminum lamp stand threaded tubes for pillars from Ace Hardware with Devcon. How crazy it that!

Barrelnut, thanks for sharing this one about using the aluminum lamp stand tubes, I'll have to look in to that one. I used a pillar block kit from Brownell's, however I have Ruger 77s and found that the front pillar was not long enough to make contact from the hinge plate to the recoil lug. The pillar was notched to fit into the recoil lug (angled), however it fell short by at lease 1/32nd to meet the floor-plate hinge. For my next one I was going to get some 1/2 inch aluminum bar stock and make my own.

 

[5.56×250]

I ve used whatever is laying around over the years to make pillars. Last I made myself was out of an old aluminum bow stabilizer. Just cut and ground and drilled till I had 2 serviceable pieces.
The last one I did, and yes, it was on a Boyd's featherweight laminated thumbhole stock, I used a premade set that I liked a lot. It's made by score high and is contoured to fit the curvature of the action, but the thing I really liked was the pillar inside a pillar design. Each pillar is 2 pieces and threaded so the inside piece screws into the outer . It allows exact length adjustment for your stock. Just a little thing that makes it easier to get the pillars just right.
The pillar/ glass bed job turned out as perfect as I've seen , with no binding and solid, flat engagement with both action screws. I'm as DIY as it gets and seldom do I give much thought or credit to a ready made gadget to help with a project, but those pillars are worth the extra coin, IMHO.

 

[CoachChris]

Barrelnut, thanks for sharing this one about using the aluminum lamp stand tubes

I followed Barrelnut's advice on the threaded lamp tubing for the first bedding job I did. It worked out perfectly. I've done 4 more since then. All turned out well. I'm no craftsman.

 

[DSheetz]

I hadn't heard of the score high pillars before they sound like they would work well and make the fit to the action solid .

 

[5.56×250]

I hadn't heard of the score high pillars before they sound like they would work well and make the fit to the action solid .

Their install kit is pretty trick too. Comes with long threaded stock with the same thread pitch as the action. Then they have t nuts to tighten everything down to set the pillars in place. I drilled two 5/8" holes centered on the original action screw holes in the stock , gooped up the pillar outside halfs, attached the pillars to my action with the threaded rods and a thin nut at each pillar. Slid it into my stock, slapped my floor plate on and snuggled it down with the t bolts. Once the epoxy set, I pulled it all apart, expoxied the threads on the inner half of the pillars and screwed them to the right length to fit my stock. Once all that set up, I cut loose with a dremel and sanding barrel on all the area that mates to the action on the stock inlet except of course on the pillars. Got at least 1/8-3/16" of clearance everywhere and used loctite slow set epoxy to bed the stock. I used the threaded rods and t bolts to snug ot all down till the action set solid on the pillars. End result was an inlet job that fits perfect and pulls down on both pillars exactly square and pinch free.
That's my go to way to pillar/glass bed in the future.

 

[DSheetz]

That sounds like something I want to look at getting and trying as well .

 

[shortgrass]

Okay I can't help the unwilling and the stupid

I'm a thinkin' this would be a good one to put on the "IGNORE" list..........

 

[Bravo 4]

I'm a thinkin' this would be a good one to put on the "IGNORE" list..........

Done!

 

[HARPERC]

......Okay I can't help the unwilling and the stupid.......

A legitimate opinion was expressed, and it's basis sourced. Sounds like someone very willing to discuss the issue, and take it to the next level if there is one. Neither supports the use of "STUPID" as a conclusion.

 

[JTB]

I sometimes use whatever is laying around my shop (brass fittings, etc) for pillars. Always use loctite 9460 Hysol non sag epoxy. Nice for bonding dissimilar materials and very strong; no POI changes. Some great ideas/options posted. Thanks

 

[CoachChris]

Always use loctite 9460 Hysol non sag epoxy.

You use 9460 Hysol as bedding compound or just to set pillars?

 

[JTB]

You use 9460 Hysol as bedding compound or just to set pillars?

Been using for bedding and pillars since I tried it on a race engine problem that should not have been repairable but the 9460 is still holding after several years. No sagging, plenty of time to cure and is rock solid.

 

[DSheetz]

Interesting to hear . I use J B Weld and Devcon 110 for a lot of things and Loctite 336 adhesive to bond things . Does the 9460 have a good shelf life ?

 

[JTB]

I only order 50ml (dual tube) at a time but I have had some partial tubes laying around for a few years I use for small jobs and it works fine. I know there are several good products available but just had this around and gave it a try. Leave a solid bed that will not shrink over time or scrape when assembling. I initially found it because I needed to bond steel to aluminum in an engine and that usually does not go well.