I always thought of pillar bedding as useful to maintain a constant pre-stress on the action screws as the stock changed size ever so slightly with the weather. But the exact pre-stress, or action screw torque for that matter, isn't critical in a properly bedded rifle. Enough to maintain enough friction that the action doesn't move. A little more doesn't hurt. May gain some advantage in a target rifle though. The way I do it is the side of the action screws don't touch anything. One less variable to wonder about.


The key elements in human thinking are not numbers but labels of fuzzy sets. -- L. Zadeh

Which explains a lot.