First attempt to pillar bed: FVSR in Leopard stock

[Brokenzipper]

I was looking for a solid thread to help me bed my mkii. I hope this helps someone out. The tools I used can be found cheap if you dont already have them.

I am by no means a PRO and this was my first attempt to pillar bed. Any critique is welcome. I dont recommend using the coffee table and bed as a workbench. Wife was mad at me for finding so much maple dust in bed.
I used the pillars from Brownells. PILLAR BEDDING SLEEVES | Brownells
Drilled out the holes with a 9/16th drill bit. Roughed up the holes a little with the dremel.


Put the pillars on the action with the screws and placed the action in the stock. Marked the pillars where they needed to be cut, put them in a miter box and used a hacksaw to cut them.


I tapped out my action screws from #12-32 to a more common meaty thread size 1/4-20(nerve racking)

old and new screws


I wrapped electric tape on the barrel about 1/8" thick in one spot to space the barrel from the stock to make sure the barrel floats.

I used Devcon 10110 to seat the pillars. make sure to use something like chapstick and/or painters tape on anything you dont want the devcon to stick to.
also on brownells EPOXY METALS | Brownells



Using a dremel on the stock (seen in 1st pic) so I could fit DIP bottom metal and devcon to fix my errors in cutting the extra room. It fits in nice and snug now.



I didnt bed the action yet. I dont see a need to right now. But I am very happy with the results. Any questions, feel free to pm me or post here. THANKS!

 

[Schultztec]

Wow,

Nice job. I just finished doing the same thing with my mark 2 into a leopard stock. Pillars, and then bedded both upper and lower. It was my first time as well. Some things went good, others not so much. But I got it done and it seems to function well. Just have a few small things to Finnish up with the mag well.

Chris

 

[eclipse57]

As said before, nice job.

I am looking forward to the final fit and finish report and pictures.

What was your initial impression of the Leopard? Was there a considerable period from the time you placed the order of the stock till you received it?

TIA

 

[CBeck]

I did this for the first time a couple weeks ago with my Boyd's stock. No more wood creaking when tightening the action down and helped the consistency of accuracy. Like you said it's nerve racking at first but completely doable and well worth it. Nice work.

 

[Brokenzipper]

This is what my finished product came out. I shared it in the rimfire pics a few weeks ago.

The stock from order to received was about 2 weeks. but that was about January.





50yard group 1/2". Im still new at this.

 

[kimberseries1]

Nice group! That's moa. If you can hold MOA at 100, that gun is a keeper!

 

[Brokenzipper]

At 100 I did a 1.5 moa. Believe it was me and not the rifle. I'm sure I can do better at 100 with practice.

 

[CBeck]

This is what my finished product came out. I shared it in the rimfire pics a few weeks ago.

The stock from order to received was about 2 weeks. but that was about January.





50yard group 1/2". Im still new at this.

What colors did you use for your paint job? That turned out awesome.

 

[Brokenzipper]

Sand, brown, olive, satin nutmeg, and forest green

 

[NewsShooter]

I put a 17 hmr in a leopard stock. I really like it. Nice solid walnut to work with on those stocks. I put pillars in mine too. I was going to leave it natural wood but decided to paint it. I used brass pex fittings for the pillars, I think they were $2.00.

 

[JelloStorm]

A really nice Gent on here made me a set of pillars for my 17 HMR I put in a Boyd's Rimfire Hunter stock.

I don't understand why Savage makes the 93R the way they do using these stupid ass supports.

If Boyds would offer a stock that would be usable without these supports, they could add more material to their stocks vastly improving them. I ended up using wood filler and JB-welded in two pillars which made the rifle much better.

 

[ghosthk]

Brokenzipper, Curious which 22's you are getting these groups with? Thanks, GhostHK

This is what my finished product came out. I shared it in the rimfire pics a few weeks ago.

The stock from order to received was about 2 weeks. but that was about January.





50yard group 1/2". Im still new at this.

 

[ghosthk]

Brokenzipper, What 22 round do you find to be the most consistently accurate? Thanks, GhostHK.

I was looking for a solid thread to help me bed my mkii. I hope this helps someone out. The tools I used can be found cheap if you dont already have them.

I am by no means a PRO and this was my first attempt to pillar bed. Any critique is welcome. I dont recommend using the coffee table and bed as a workbench. Wife was mad at me for finding so much maple dust in bed.
I used the pillars from Brownells. PILLAR BEDDING SLEEVES | Brownells
Drilled out the holes with a 9/16th drill bit. Roughed up the holes a little with the dremel.


Put the pillars on the action with the screws and placed the action in the stock. Marked the pillars where they needed to be cut, put them in a miter box and used a hacksaw to cut them.


I tapped out my action screws from #12-32 to a more common meaty thread size 1/4-20(nerve racking)

old and new screws


I wrapped electric tape on the barrel about 1/8" thick in one spot to space the barrel from the stock to make sure the barrel floats.

I used Devcon 10110 to seat the pillars. make sure to use something like chapstick and/or painters tape on anything you dont want the devcon to stick to.
also on brownells EPOXY METALS | Brownells



Using a dremel on the stock (seen in 1st pic) so I could fit DIP bottom metal and devcon to fix my errors in cutting the extra room. It fits in nice and snug now.



I didnt bed the action yet. I dont see a need to right now. But I am very happy with the results. Any questions, feel free to pm me or post here. THANKS!

 

[sigchaser723]

I just ordered a leopard for my MKII FVSR yesterday, I plan to pillar bed mine as well and appreciate the thread it gives me some insight into how its done. I am really looking forward to seeing how this stock will work for me.

 

[NewsShooter]

Here's a link to my photos of my Leopard/17hmr. Flickr: Album di riverphoto
I used a pex cap for the pillar that I drilled out. I used business cards to set the clearance on the barrel. Used a dab of super glue to attach the pillar to the action, marked the pillar for cutting then trimmed it with a dremel. I thought it worked well for my first time.
Still have to finish sanding and then paint it.

 

[LongArm]

Awesome work guys. I am still waiting on my stock to come in. Does anyone have a contact number for them?

 

[sigchaser723]

Good luck to you, after repetedly missing the promised ship dates for my stock and failing to respond to my emails I finally resorted to saying in the subject line that it would be my final attempt to contact them. They finally returned my email and gave me a refund which I used to order a boyds stock. Seriously I don't mind waiting on quality if they had been upfront and said we are a month or two out I would have paid my money and waited patiently. Instead they told me it would ship the same week then after a week I requested a tracking number and was told it hadn't shipped but would be going out that week, so I waited another week and a half and then went through hell getting ahold of them before finally being told it again hadn't shipped and would be at least another 10 days. I have no tolerance for companies that lie. As a side note I am aware that I am not the only customer that had this issue with them.

 

[LongArm]

Yes that's about where I am with them. Although I like there stock I am now thinking about getting a boyds and putting the extra money into ammo.

 

[sigchaser723]

I am impressed with the qualtiy vs cost on the boyds I got. It required a small amount of sanding along the right side of the barrel channel to properly free float the barrel but other then that it was great out of the box. Their CS was top notch and they were able to answer my questions quickly. The next step for me is to try and pillar bed and maybe glass bed the stock though I am kind of nervous about it so I may look around to see if anyone with experience would be willing to do it with me so I could learn the process properly.