Pillar bedding

DIY parts, pillars say £20 or less drill bit £8 epoxy £say 10, add in time £ =free , watching youtube 2hrs on how to job done ,depending if your skills are up to it other than that £150-200 but have it all done or what is needed .
 
Done properly $240 or about £170 should be about right. All it takes is a drill press and a lot of care.
 
I wouldn’t cut corners on this personally (have you ever seen it done - and I don’t mean watching youtube?). There is a fair bit of skill involved to do the job properly. As such expect to pay in the region of £250 - 300 for a bedding job which includes pillars. Over the years I’ve seen the so called smiths and diyers do appalling jobs. The worst thing is they don’t often realise what they have done wrong. You can’t beat empirical experience either such comes from doing a lot of bedding jobs.
I would be surprised if Norman Clark only charges £120 for a bedding job including pillars. Are you sure that is a current price?
 
Having done it myself twice my thoughts are:
1) you can definitely do yourself with average diy skills and care. And achieve improved consistency in accuracy.
2) looking at professional jobs they are in another league. Not comparable with a diy aesthetically, and would also suspect accuracy wise.
3) I would diy again. But if I wanted a really nice job doing I’d pay to get it done.
4) knowing how long it takes, would expect a good job to cost 250-350 depending on complexity.
JS
 
I wouldn’t cut corners on this personally (have you ever seen it done - and I don’t mean watching youtube?). There is a fair bit of skill involved to do the job properly. As such expect to pay in the region of £250 - 300 for a bedding job which includes pillars. Over the years I’ve seen the so called smiths and diyers do appalling jobs. The worst thing is they don’t often realise what they have done wrong. You can’t beat empirical experience either such comes from doing a lot of bedding jobs.
I would be surprised if Norman Clark only charges £120 for a bedding job including pillars. Are you sure that is a current price?
Hi quotes are £295-£450 by professional custom rifle makers
 
Trust me get it done properly. Get a good smith too do it.you get your drill and start drilling away on that £750..£800 stock you will regret it.its not a job for your average Joe you need too know what your doing atb
 
Thats glass bedding, not pillar bedding
Pillar bedding eliminates any variation due to stock compression. That's all it does, nice as it is. Glass bedding gives the receiver one and only one place to be. It prevents stress on the receiver and keeps the receiver's position consistent from shot to shot.
 
Pillar bedding eliminates any variation due to stock compression. That's all it does, nice as it is. Glass bedding gives the receiver one and only one place to be. It prevents stress on the receiver and keeps the receiver's position consistent from shot to shot.
Yes and they are often done at the same time.

I've just completed my first bedding job, a Howa 308 into a Boyds laminate stock. I did it after the stock screws came slightly loose, affecting accuracy; when i tightened up the screws to the recommended torque, I noticed that the stock was bending up and touching the barrel. And it was one of those things I've been meaning to try for ages anyway.

The pillars were aluminium spacers from ebay. I used Devcon metal bedding compound. Plus lots and lots of You-tubing, particularly to Nathan Fosters series, which I wound up following pretty much. Except I fixed in the pillars first to create the reference points and then the compound separately, which worked well for me. It was quite straightforward for me, but I'm very practical. However it did take alot of time to do and the dremel with rotary burrs is a 'must have'.

Anyway, I'm 1000% pleased with the job and it's improved the rifle significantly.

Triffid
 
I pillar bedded my CZ 527's in 204, 7.62x39, 300 AAC and 6.5 Grendel. I went to a hobby shop and they had aluminum tubing that as only a few thou smaller inside diameter than my screws. I ran a twist drill through them to fit, carefully cut them to length, and glassed them in. (You can chuck them in an electric drill and carefully file them to the exact length needed.) It's not that hard. Takes time and preparation, that's all. Makes a huge difference when combined with glass bedding. ~Muir
 
I have to ask, does this mean that you are able (not should or should not!) to apply more torque the bottom metal/trigger guard/floor plate screws of the rifle?

Would this mean that you need a 'better' (say 7075 aluminium versus plastic) bottom metal/trigger guard/floor plate as well to appreciate it?
 
I torque my actions to factory spec. I called CZUSA and asked them in this case. There are a lot of different kinds of 'plastic' out there so I'm not certain about the suitability of some. Aluminum is a no brainer and easy to work. Whether polymer or metal hardware, the factory torque specs should be suitable. The nice part about pillar bedding is that the torque remains constant -or is more likely to remain so. This alleviates the need or desire to over torque. I used to find that the screws would loosen up in my 300AAC CZ after a stretch of shooting. After installing pillars and glass bedding they remain secure.~Muir
 
Bedding of rifles is much more complex than it appears. Most videos on youtube are done by people who don't know much about composite materials or materials technologies. Further blatant mistakes are marketed as the thing to do without being able to explain why. I think one is better off to go to someone who beds many rifles... the more experience the more mistakes have been made.... not to be repeated. Looking at epoxy bedding videos, also the one mentioned earlier in the thread, the amateur might not notice the mistakes.... might repeat them.
I have made many bedding mistakes however even my very first bedding job improved the rifle even though it wasn't great.
Some of the problems start by not knowing what material the stock is made of, what material properties the stock has and then how it is made ( hollows inside etc.) Sometimes pillars are drilled out to be replaced with inferior pillars.....
edi
 
Many videos out there are also merely of "skim" bedding and not true deep bedding, and so in time may chip/crack or degrade away. Drilling out pillar holes with a hand drill may well cause the holes to be off centre or skew and so impart tensions that are undesirable or detrimental to any hoped for final accuracy of the rifle, either a well timed drill press/pillar drill or jig should be employed.
 
Fail to use, or not in the correct place, enough release agent and it "will" become expensive.
Getting your beloved rifle out of the cabinet after you've laid in bed sweating like a foundry worker, stressing about having your rifle and stock becoming joined together for eternity, only to find out when you come to tap it apart on the kitchen work top, that actually it is now "all in one piece"

If you do decide to DIY, just remember why you are doing it in the 1st place. Ive done 2 now, both pillar bedded and both i must say are pretty good shooters, but both needed it doing due sloppy stocks.
 
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