Tikka M560 Deluxe Stock - Pillar and Glass Bed and Stock Repair

[DDMS]

Good Morning.

I currently have a Tikka M590 in .308win flavour with a deluxe walnut stock. There is a small amount of damage where the front sling stud fits but generally the stock is in good condition.

I picked this up recently second hand for the princely sum of £250 and it even came with a Sonic 45 Moderator. There is some pitting in the barrel but overall the rifle is in good condition, and more to the point, is still grouping 3/4" with 150grain Federal powershok.

My plan with this rifle is to shoot it until the barrel is out then get a re barrel from Steve Kershaw.

This is now my go to rifle for the deer management i carry out on two estates and will be out in all weathers. I plan on Pillar and glass bedding the action, and replacing the bottom metal with an AICS mag well.

I will update with photos along the way and will post the initial photos tonight.

 

[Ronin]

Always good to see home builds and improvements on the forum

 

[DDMS]

Always good to see home builds and improvements on the forum

Thanks very much Ronin.

I also have a Howa .243 that is in a Bell and Carlson fibreglass stock. I pillar and glass bedded the action. With 87grain Vmax home loads im getting an easy 0.6" group which is wayyyy more than enough for my foxing needs.

 

[DDMS]

I also have to add. It is a Tikka M590 not and M560. That is s typo on my behalf on the title.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Would be interested in where you get an AICS bottom metal from for one of those & how you get it to work... I have an M595 (same flat base to the action as an M590).

 

[DDMS]

@Donkey Basher Ive seen and read a few vides and forum actins where a Remington 700 bottom mettal is used and the stock inletted to suit. Richard Utting has a video from 10 years ago on Youtube where he does this to his M590 in .204.

@Ronin ive seen a previous post from yourself where you have machine a top hat style recoil lug and bedded in a M590/595 on this forum. Would you recommend the top hat style over a conventional recoil lug?

My plan was to bed a pillar underneath the standard recoil lug, then bed the recoil lug on top f the pillar after removing wood from the bottom and side of the stock. Does that make sense?

The rear was just going to get a standard pillar, then machine some material out and glass bed. I have had two Aluminium Pillars machined from our machine shop at work.

 

[Ronin]

Either way works but the custom made lug fits and provides a better contact area, it’s also aesthetically more pleasing

 

[DDMS]

It is very aesthetically pleasing.

I will see if i can get somethin made up from work. Failing that i will just use the standard recoil lug and bed that

 

[Donkey Basher]

@DDMS - I think you'll find that the distance between centres of a short action Remington 700 is not the same as an M590/595 so think you'll struggle to fit the bottom metal. If I'm wrong on that I'd be very interested in how it's done as I'd seriously consider fitting one to my current M595 project below.

You'll also find that you will need to machine metal off the bottom of the M590 action to seat the AICS magazine at the correct depth to allow rounds to feed - I have an M595 that has been fitted with a modified Remington 700 s/a AICS courtesy of Dasherman so speak from experience on this.

Re the front pillar, I'd definitely go with a 'top hat' one than mess about with the standard L shaped lug - my first bedded M595 kept the original lug & it's not ideal.

If the weather isn't good for the prickets this week I will be pressing on with my project to fit an M595 into a Howa 1500 GRS stock using a 'top hat' front pillar.

 

[Ronin]

Action comparison

Sorry not all in same
Image

T3 alongside 590

T3 / Sako 85 308) / Rem 700 SA

Quite different on hole spacing , trigger position and importantly mag position and relation to the bolt

 

[DDMS]

@Donkey Basher and @Ronin really appreciate the replies. Hole centres im not too worried about as i can Tig the holes, redrill and centralise but the the trigger position might stump it, mainly as i cant really take my rifle into the workshop at my employers...

For now im going to concentrate on bedding the action, and i might just take the easy route and buy a new 5 round magazine.

Im assuming the top hat design is one piece with the pillar?

 

[Haggis Hunter]

I bought a Waters Rifleman 8 shot mag for my Tikka 590 recently (for my 6.5x57). It’s not quite a drop unit but with a wee bit of fettling to the mag catch location/hole on the side of the mag it’ll be fine, allegedly. It’s good quality, seems better than my Tikka 3 and 5 shot mags. Just haven’t got round to fettling it.
hh

 

[Iamtheferryman]

Following with interest.

My original plastic tikka mags are now wearing out and one is a bugger to click in. If rem/AI system can be made to fit I would be interested.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Im assuming the top hat design is one piece with the pillar?

PM’d you.

Re the bottom metal, it might be worth you looking at the aftermarket ones for a T3 but you’ll still need to machine out the underside of the action to allow an AICS magazine to engage far enough for the bolt to pick up the top round.

 

[25 Sharps]

I bought a Waters Rifleman 8 shot mag for my Tikka 590 recently (for my 6.5x57). It’s not quite a drop unit but with a wee bit of fettling to the mag catch location/hole on the side of the mag it’ll be fine, allegedly. It’s good quality, seems better than my Tikka 3 and 5 shot mags. Just haven’t got round to fettling it.
hh

Go slow, I took a smidge too much off of mine (electrical tape thickness, which I added for a right fit) functions well now.

 

[DDMS]

Back on. Managed to get access to my old account.

See attached photos of stock in current state. Had some pillars machined at work out of aluminium. Sizes kindly supplied by @Donkey Basher

Currently deciding whether to use the original L shaped recoil lug or go with the new top hat pillar.

Have all the drill bits, dremmel and devcon ready for the weekend. So let's get this started

 

[Donkey Basher]

The idea of pillars is to enable you to get a consistent torque on the action screws rather than compressing the wooden stock to variable degrees depending on how 'wet' or 'dry' the wood is. If you bed the original L shaped lug in then you still have wood underneath it so defeats the object. You could, of course, do what what was done on the first one I had bedded & fit a stubby pillar under the L shaped lug but if you're going to faff about doing that you may as well just fit the top hat pillar. From the look of your pics you're going to need to do some degreasing on the wood too.

How are you going to sort out the split in the fore end? - thinking some small drill holes along it to provide some area to key into while it's opened up, epoxy wood filler into the split & then remove the bipod fitting so the split closes & leave till the epoxy sets? Maybe then fill the recess with epoxy/bedding compound & redrill the bipod fixing & screw recess - perhaps with a spreader plate too?

Progress on mine is coming along but in stages as the stock inlet isn't a straight drop in for the M595 - I've got front & rear pillars in but now need to look at things like clearance for the trigger & safety catch before I bed the action in. After that it's time to turn it over & get to grips with the bottom metal & mag release etc. Then some reprofiling on the stock to follow the bottom metal & a rub down & re oil... all seems simple when written down like that

 

[DDMS]

The idea of pillars is to enable you to get a consistent torque on the action screws rather than compressing the wooden stock to variable degrees depending on how 'wet' or 'dry' the wood is. If you bed the original L shaped lug in then you still have wood underneath it so defeats the object. You could, of course, do what what was done on the first one I had bedded & fit a stubby pillar under the L shaped lug but if you're going to faff about doing that you may as well just fit the top hat pillar. From the look of your pics you're going to need to do some degreasing on the wood too.

How are you going to sort out the split in the fore end? - thinking some small drill holes along it to provide some area to key into while it's opened up, epoxy wood filler into the split & then remove the bipod fitting so the split closes & leave till the epoxy sets? Maybe then fill the recess with epoxy/bedding compound & redrill the bipod fixing & screw recess - perhaps with a spreader plate too?

Progress on mine is coming along but in stages as the stock inlet isn't a straight drop in for the M595 - I've got front & rear pillars in but now need to look at things like clearance for the trigger & safety catch before I bed the action in. After that it's time to turn it over & get to grips with the bottom metal & mag release etc. Then some reprofiling on the stock to follow the bottom metal & a rub down & re oil... all seems simple when written down like that

Yeah I realise that is what the pillars are for, and if I bedded the original lug id put the aluminium pillar underneath that. In terms of degreasing I have some IPA solvent to take the top layer off, then will be removing a good amount of wood before applying a good layer of Devcon.

Hopefully once ive taken the top layer out i should have removed the contaminated material.

In terms of the forend..... Woodwork isn't my strong point so im going to read up on a few different ways to repair that. Other than the split at the forend the stock is in great condition. I like the idea of drilling into the split to give a better surface for the epoxy to key too. Similar to drilling the ends of a metal fracture to stop it spreading. I will be removing the front spartan sling stud as it has been fitted with the wood screw as apposed to the set screw that should have been used with the threaded insert. Once i get that out im going to see what the damage is like to the hole. A first look it doesn't seem too bad and i may be able to repair with a stainless washer and some bedding material under it. Failing that, yes, fill with epoxy and re drill.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Just a thought but might be an idea to think about running a small cutting disc down that split in the wood using the Dremel to enable the gap to close without being hindered by the splintered wood fibres? Woodwork isn't my specialism so hopefully someone more knowledgable can comment/assist?

 

[DDMS]

@Donkey Basher can you recommend a wood epoxy to use?