Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Pilot bits necessary with a drill press?

I am trying to gather intelligence and materials to do my first pillar bed job.

I see where brownells sells pilot bits for pillar installation, but was wondering how necessary they are if I can use my drill press?

Also, is there a DVD or a chapter in a book that you can recommend? I think I have seen about everything on the net and YouTube

I use an aluminum center, like you would see in a dead center to land the hole on, I can drill into it without worry. The bit will self center as long as you are not chasing a 1/4" hole with a 3/4" bit. It will make you nervous as can be.....but it will go. Grab a piece of scrap and try it.....you'll be fine. You need room for the epoxy anyhow.

Richard has the best instruction videos of anyone i know. You will learn more in a hour from his videos than a year of reading

http://www.richardscustomrifles.com/instructionalvideos.htm

Thanks bea175, i was wondering if it was worth buying. There is a write up on accurateshooter.com of his method. That's where I found out about him.

I leaned how to build my own rifles from his metal smith video and now barrel and chamber my own bolt guns. My opinion his video is well worth the small amount he charges.

While they're probably not necessary, they sure make the job easier. I use my knee mill and the piloted tooling when I set up the stock for pillars...

Piloted counterbores are the way to go for precise pillar holes. I've got piloted aircraft counterbores in .375, .500, .562 and .750 sizes and 1/4" and 5/16" pilots. For the rear pillars that are underneath the trigger guard, the .500 works well on most. The .562 (9/16") will come right to the edge (on 700's and those that use the same trigger guard), but will be fine as long as you have a snug fitting pilot in the action screw hole.

Make sure you have adequate clearance between the screw and the pillar and that the screw is centered in the pillar hole when you're done. I make the pillar holes .312 (5/16") and use these Delrin sleeves (.312 o.d. and .250 i.d.) to center the inletting screws when the action is dropped into the bedding. The sleeves are glued into the pillars and removed after the action is removed from the cured bedding:



Before I got the counterbores, my first pillar installs were done with drill bits. This will give good results if you take your time, make sure things are straight and go up in small increments. If you're using a drill press to do this, you'll find out that some have significant quill wander under any side load. Sometimes, a good straight setup and a variable speed hand drill gets you straighter holes.

If your rifle has an ADL style front screw eschuteon and you want to keep it so it looks 'factory', go down from the top to just above the eschuteon, then get in there with a Dremel and remove the rest of the wood until you expose the top of the eschuteon. Clean the top of the eschuteon with acetone and bed the front pillar to it. If, as your screen name implies, you're doing a Sako with the front action screw that threads into the bottom of the lug, you want the bottom of the lug bedded against the top of the pillar. Allow plenty of clearance around the recoil lug sides, front and bottom, except as noted above.

On 700's and Model 70's, I make a small pillar for the center action screw so it threads into the pillar rather than the action so as not to stress the action as it's tightened.

Finally, after everything is done and cleaned up, bed the bottom metal...makes a big difference.

Let us know how it turns out.

Good shootin'. -Al

I use end mills or a piloted counterbore, depends on what size hole I need and what tooling is in stock in the shop.

Pic below shows using an end mill in the vertical mill. I have a simple jig for the drill press, will take a photo and post it later, it makes the job real easy in the drill press.

Just a simple jig:

Jig set up in drill press. Made from scrap walnut and a few pieces of hardware. The round bar (ends are turned to fit stock screw holes) in the chuck is for aligning the stock to the spindle, bump the table around until it looks right and tighten the table clamps. If you are using a piloted counter bore, just line up to the pilot.



The jig below. Two straps, 1/4" carriage bolts and wing nuts for clamping to the drill press table. A pad for clamping the stock to the jig, it is a piece of �� thick aluminum with leather glued on to protect the stock. Make the jig long enough to fully support the forend. If needed I sometimes will clamp the tip of the forend to the jig, this keeps the stock in tight contact with the jig, ensuring the holes you bore are perpendicular to the barrel centerline.




1/4�-20 nut epoxied in the bottom of the jig for the stock clamp screw.

Slick jig for the drill press...thanks for sharing it.

Good shootin'. -Al

Thanks for all the replies. Some of this is over my head, but I do enjoy the read.

That is a nice jig Cabriolet. Thanks for taking the time! I really appreciate it.