I know I spent a lot of time searching to see how much work was involved installing a CDI Precision detachable magazine on my Rem 700 5R with a H+S Precision stock and hope this thread will shine some light on how much work is involved. Tip of the hat to CDI, they shipped my order quickly on Thursday from FL and arrived in CA on Saturday, giving me the evening to install it and shoot it Sunday morning. I did all this on my shitty Ikea kitchen table with a Dremel and keeping the stock steady with the buttpad in between my legs so I can work with two hands.
Here are some notes for the major tasks of this project. For each step, a lot of time was spent dry fitting the new bottom metal and seeing where its contacting, remove the contact points, dry fit, repeat. Here is my experience:
1) Generally you will need to expand out the current cutout that exists in the H+S precision stock. Most of it will be around the magazine area, and not so much around the screw holes. I used a Dremel which made really light work, take your time its easy to remove the powdery fiberglass. Minor work but time consuming to get it.
2) Also you will find that inside the magazine well area of the stock you will have removed all of the fiberglass and will start hitting the aluminum frame. I used a bastard file to easily take a few hairs off each side to allow the new bottom metal to slide in. Minor work
3) There is an aluminum block in the stock that your front trigger/receiver screw passes through. You will need to remove (off the top of my head) a little less than 1/4". This is a significant part of the project. A Dremel makes this work light. Only using a file will suck.
4) The H+S Precision stock comes with 2 aluminum pillars. This is also a significant amount of work (relative to the overall project). The rear pillar needs to come down maybe 1/8" or less. The front pillar needs to come down a very tiny margin. Using a Dremel with a round grinding head is what I used. If I had to do it again, I would try a titanium/cobalt drill bit sized to the pillar to remove the metal faster, then touch it up with Dremel.
5) The front screw they provide you with needs to be trimmed down or else it will protrude into the receiver and scratch your bolt lugs as they close into battery. I put the screw in a vice and used a hacksaw to remove about 2 threads then used a file to smooth it up. Fit perfect (for me)
6) I'm planning on painting my H+S precision stock so I wasnt too worried about removing too much fiberglass. I have some surfboard resin to fill it in, sand and repaint the stock afterwards so I "went to town". I have a few small areas to touchup around the magazine well area and the screw hole area is rounded more than it needs to be after trying to control the rounded grinding stone on the pillars (which is why Im suggesting trying a drill bit instead). No big deal for me, a little touch up, sanding and repaint and Ill be g2g.
CDI Precision mag
A little rough, but no worries. Easy to patch up and plan to repaint stock anyway. This pic is significant so you can see the amount of black fiberglass removed and white aluminum. In this pic you can see the aluminum block is jagged, I wasn't finished. I was reaming it out taking out sections which left peaks and valleys, i then went in with a small file to make quick work of smoothing it out.
Finished for the day, at ready to shoot
Here you can see I still have more to go to sink the bottom metal into the stock. It was getting late and the rifle was cycling dummy rounds so I stopped here. I need to take more off the aluminum pillars to allow it to sink further. The rounds are sitting a tad low in the breech so this will help a little too, but after a morning of shooting everything cycled fine.
Don't forget to wear a mask and eye protection. Hope this helps and I'll report back when I have the project 100% with the bottom metal flush with stock and filled in.
Here are some notes for the major tasks of this project. For each step, a lot of time was spent dry fitting the new bottom metal and seeing where its contacting, remove the contact points, dry fit, repeat. Here is my experience:
1) Generally you will need to expand out the current cutout that exists in the H+S precision stock. Most of it will be around the magazine area, and not so much around the screw holes. I used a Dremel which made really light work, take your time its easy to remove the powdery fiberglass. Minor work but time consuming to get it.
2) Also you will find that inside the magazine well area of the stock you will have removed all of the fiberglass and will start hitting the aluminum frame. I used a bastard file to easily take a few hairs off each side to allow the new bottom metal to slide in. Minor work
3) There is an aluminum block in the stock that your front trigger/receiver screw passes through. You will need to remove (off the top of my head) a little less than 1/4". This is a significant part of the project. A Dremel makes this work light. Only using a file will suck.
4) The H+S Precision stock comes with 2 aluminum pillars. This is also a significant amount of work (relative to the overall project). The rear pillar needs to come down maybe 1/8" or less. The front pillar needs to come down a very tiny margin. Using a Dremel with a round grinding head is what I used. If I had to do it again, I would try a titanium/cobalt drill bit sized to the pillar to remove the metal faster, then touch it up with Dremel.
5) The front screw they provide you with needs to be trimmed down or else it will protrude into the receiver and scratch your bolt lugs as they close into battery. I put the screw in a vice and used a hacksaw to remove about 2 threads then used a file to smooth it up. Fit perfect (for me)
6) I'm planning on painting my H+S precision stock so I wasnt too worried about removing too much fiberglass. I have some surfboard resin to fill it in, sand and repaint the stock afterwards so I "went to town". I have a few small areas to touchup around the magazine well area and the screw hole area is rounded more than it needs to be after trying to control the rounded grinding stone on the pillars (which is why Im suggesting trying a drill bit instead). No big deal for me, a little touch up, sanding and repaint and Ill be g2g.
CDI Precision mag
A little rough, but no worries. Easy to patch up and plan to repaint stock anyway. This pic is significant so you can see the amount of black fiberglass removed and white aluminum. In this pic you can see the aluminum block is jagged, I wasn't finished. I was reaming it out taking out sections which left peaks and valleys, i then went in with a small file to make quick work of smoothing it out.
Finished for the day, at ready to shoot
Here you can see I still have more to go to sink the bottom metal into the stock. It was getting late and the rifle was cycling dummy rounds so I stopped here. I need to take more off the aluminum pillars to allow it to sink further. The rounds are sitting a tad low in the breech so this will help a little too, but after a morning of shooting everything cycled fine.
Don't forget to wear a mask and eye protection. Hope this helps and I'll report back when I have the project 100% with the bottom metal flush with stock and filled in.
