Need to tweak inletting on Boyd's for Howa Mini...

[daved20319]

So I have a Boyd's Classic for my Howa, and like a lot of these from what I've been reading, the barrel channel is offset, still floated but the gap is wider on the right than the left. Stock itself looks symmetrical, and there's side to side slop before the bolts are tightened down. I intend to pillar bed this thing in the not too distant future, so was wondering what best procedure would be. Do I just open up the barrel channel so the gap is even, or do I offset the front action pillar enough to even it up? Or am I overthinking the whole thing and it really doesn't matter, do whichever is easiest ? Thanks.

Dave

[jbmarshtx]

I used a dremel, and I enlarged the screw holes so that I could get the barrel centered in the channel as it was from boyds. I also dremeled out around the recoil lug and around rear of the stock where the tang goes so that I could get the bolt handle centered as well. I'd never bedded/pillared a stock before. It came out decent. Opening those points gave me enough room to get the barrel centered as well as keep the bolt handle from rubbing. The pillars i used were whatever I could find at Lowes to work.

[A5BLASTER]

I would also check that the very end of the stock doesn't contact the barrel. If you can make the 2 touch without much force, you will want too take that area down as well.

I would open the channel on it closes side with a dremel and a sanding pad.

Then torque down and recheck how it looks and that everything is free floated. If everything was good and too my likeing then I would get a good piller bed kit and piller bed it.

Then shoot it too see where it's at and if need be then bed the action.

This is how I have done 2 Boyd pro varmints now and both stocks cam out great and my rifle still shoots super tight with my handloads.

Hope this helps sir.

[flyrod]

Stock itself looks symmetrical...

Then I would not cut the barrel channel to be crooked; leave the channel alone and bed the receiver straight. There are plenty of videos on bluetube and such explaining how to bed rifles. It's pretty straight forward using pillars/blocks. Wrap tape around the barrel where it meets the front end of the barrel channel in the stock. Build it up enough that it centers nice in the stock. Mill/dremel/cut/file out around the action, trigger, bolt holes, mag well, etc. such that it's a loose fit in the stock with the bolts tight on the pillars and bottom metal. This is where the "stress free" part comes in. That slop will be filled with epoxy. If it's still pinching or binding, then cut out more wood until it's loose and sitting where you want it.

Then really rough up everywhere you want epoxy to stick. Wax, tape over, or fill areas where you want epoxy to not stick. Mix up the epoxy, blob it into the areas you want it and assemble the gun, and tighten the bolts. Clean up where the epoxy is squished out, let it set, pop out the receiver and clean up the edges and such. One other trick I use is to add tape to the front of the recoil lug and the rear end of the receiver. This adds a small gap that will make assembly easier, and also ensure that recoil load goes through the lug and not the rear of the receiver. If you're handy at all with tools you shouldn't have much trouble. As I said, there are videos and articles explaining in detail how to do it.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out...

[AzDak]

Get it straight in the action before messing with the barrel channel. I did want more clearance than the factory channel allowed, so I ended up bumping mine out about a 1/8".

I found the easiest way to do that was an appropriate sized socket wrapped in sandpaper. I could run it down the channel and keep it very straight and parallel.

[Helpful-Grendel]

So I have a Boyd's Classic for my Howa, and like a lot of these from what I've been reading, the barrel channel is offset, still floated but the gap is wider on the right than the left. Stock itself looks symmetrical, and there's side to side slop before the bolts are tightened down. I intend to pillar bed this thing in the not too distant future, so was wondering what best procedure would be. Do I just open up the barrel channel so the gap is even, or do I offset the front action pillar enough to even it up? Or am I overthinking the whole thing and it really doesn't matter, do whichever is easiest ? Thanks.

Dave

I had the same issue with my Howa HB and Boyd‘s at one thumb hole stock. My rear tang, bolt handle, and barrel ( was not floated) were all misaligned when I first put my rifle together. Initially I tried to sand the barrel channel on the left side but I was later able to fix everything without any additional sanding.

The barrel will tighten down wherever it is in the barrel channel. So if it is off-center and then you tighten it down it will not center itself. What I did is I took two business cards wedge them in between the barrel and the very front of the forend so it stayed centered and Had my wife keep pressure on the rear tang so it stayed flush while I finger tightened the action screws.

What happens because it’s a heavy barreled action Is it tends to dip forward which will misaligned the bolts handle and the rear tank will not be as flush as it could be.

Let me know if this helps or if you have any questions on what I did.

[flatland1]

I've used two Boyds stocks on my Mini builds, and have found the same issue that affects whether the bbl is centered as I've seen for quite a few full-size 1500 actions. Take a good look at the rear of the action inlet with the action sitting in it. Most of the time, I've seen the tang inlet putting pressure on one side of the action tang, which will push the bbl over to the opposite side of the bbl channel. What's worked for me - with both Mini & full-size 1500 actions - is to dremel some extra clearance on both sides of the tang inlet, so by wrapping tape around the bbl to center it in the bbl channel when you've got everything else clearanced. A little glob of bedding epoxy in the tang inlet will bed the tang so the bbl remains centered after the bedding has cured, and the tape's been removed from the bbl.

[Helpful-Grendel]

I've used two Boyds stocks on my Mini builds, and have found the same issue that affects whether the bbl is centered as I've seen for quite a few full-size 1500 actions. Take a good look at the rear of the action inlet with the action sitting in it. Most of the time, I've seen the tang inlet putting pressure on one side of the action tang, which will push the bbl over to the opposite side of the bbl channel. What's worked for me - with both Mini & full-size 1500 actions - is to dremel some extra clearance on both sides of the tang inlet, so by wrapping tape around the bbl to center it in the bbl channel when you've got everything else clearanced. A little glob of bedding epoxy in the tang inlet will bed the tang so the bbl remains centered after the bedding has cured, and the tape's been removed from the bbl.

What kind of accuracy are you seeing with your Howas?