I'd skim bed w/ bedding screws, or stock maker screws in a pinch, and surgical tubing.
If being anal, McMillan published a paper on the subject reference crush strength of their bedding vs machined pillars. Other than having a lightweight bench rest construction in the action area, normal construction cannot be crushed by torquing action screws. They found pillars add no strength over standard fill and epoxy bedding, but they continued to offer machined pillars for the sake of technique and demand.
It is impossible to machine pillars to perfectly match the mating surface of the action and bottom metal, so a skim bedding w/ bedding epoxy would serve that purpose, while maintaining crush strength once cured. Some use the technique of relieving the pillars to ensure a place for the epoxy to fill and cure to a stress free mating surface.
If a ligtweight bench rest construction where pillars are critical to provide enough strength to resist crushing. As above, using epoxy to ensure a perfect mating surface, vs bare machined pillars, would aid toward having a stress free fit, and would not negate the crush strength of the pillars when torqued.
Not sure what they use now, but McMillan was using Marine TeX Epoxy Grey for all the above. Good stuff, especially if hard used and/or high recoil.
Last edited by GaryVA; 12/30/16.
