inch/pds? for retightening stock

okiekiyi

okiekiyi

New member
I have a new browning x-bolt 22-250. I took the stock off to adjust the trigger. I just bought a FAT wrench and was wondering what inch/pds to tighten the screws too. The instructions that came with it is pretty vague and says to use like 40 inch/pds and I have had a few people tell me 60-70 inch/pds. this is a pretty good stretch. I know a lot of you guys know your stuff about guns so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Wood stocks = 40-45 in lbs.
Fiberglass, pilar bedded, etc. = 60-65 in lbs.
Rimfires = 25-30 in lbs.

Most important is to be consistent each time you take the stock off and put it back on.
 
65 inch/pounds sounds right, but honestly youd be better off to just give browning a call as ask them to be sure. If you overtighted the action screws it can make a big differece on your accuracy. Ive seen it open up a 3/4" gun to a 2" gun at a 100 yds by just simply overtightening the action screws (screws in the stock).
 
If that Browning is a wooden stock and you use 40 " pounds be shure to relieve it after you have returned from hunting.
If there are Pillars in that stock tighten to 45" pounds and try it in 5" pound increments, if the bedding or pillars are good you probably won't see much improvement over 40" pounds.
Clarence
 
Originally Posted By: cdupuyIf that Browning is a wooden stock and you use 40 " pounds be shure to relieve it after you have returned from hunting.

WHAT???
Are you telling me that you loosen your action screws before storing your rifles or did I not understand your post?

I use 45"lbs on all my rifles.. Which seems to work fine on wood, Kevlar with alum. chassis, and pillars.
The FAT wrench says "up to 65"lbs on pillar bedded stocks",, but I bought one of Darrel Hollands excellent stocks a while back that came with an instructional video on how to install his pillars..
He recomended 45"lbs in the tape,, so that's what I go with..
I figured he knows quite a bit more than a bunch of internet experts,,, like me..
smile.gif

One thing that's important (IMO) is to stand the rifle up on the recoil pad before torquing so that the weight of the barreled action pushes the recoil lug back firmly against the stock..

Luck
Charlie


 
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65 inch pounds is the standard that most people use on synthetic. But McMillian says use less. I would call Browning and ask them. 45 inch pounds is probably plenty but the big think is CONSISTENCY. If you always retighten to the same specs, you'll find that the rifle may stay zeroed or very close to it.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluedeacon 65 inch pounds is the standard that most people use on synthetic. But McMillian says use less. I would call Browning and ask them. 45 inch pounds is probably plenty but the big think is CONSISTENCY. If you always retighten to the same specs, you'll find that the rifle may stay zeroed or very close to it.

Not only that, but if you get a stock torqued properly, a poor shooting factor rifle might suddenly and mysteriously start shooting pretty well.

Whoever puts actions in rifle stocks for gun makers must be required to be related to an 800 pound gorilla. Factory rifles almost always can use some re-torquing out of the box...

The purpose of a rifle stock is to hold the barreled action securely..... It's not there to see if you can bend the barreled action with the stock

-BCB
 
Nobody has brought up bottom metal yet. I'll go tight on steel bottom metal but some of these rifles out here are running cheap pot metal, or even plastic. I wouldn't go gettin all white knuckle gorilla tight on cheap quality bottom metal.
 
Originally Posted By: brdeanoNobody has brought up bottom metal yet. I'll go tight on steel bottom metal but some of these rifles out here are running cheap pot metal, or even plastic. I wouldn't go gettin all white knuckle gorilla tight on cheap quality bottom metal.

Good point Brad
That's one of the beauties of Hollands propriatory pillars.. They take the bottom metal/trigger guard out of the equasion with an allen head action screw that's threaded inside. Kind of a screw into a screw. Hard to explain, but on an ADL type action the trigger guard can be removed without effecting the action screws.. Clear as mud??
I can post a pic of it if ya want.. It's deffinatly a well thought out set up..
Charlie
 
That bottom metal thing, I'am really starting to wonder about. I have a Remington 600, in 308, with the plastic trigger guard that I have been fighting for over a year due to accuracy issues. I have another post on it, in the firearms section. And I ordered up a metal floorplate/trigger guard for it.
 
Honestly, every rifle can end up being different. Had a model 70 winchester that had a sweet spot, that would shoot wonderfully, when tightened properly. If time allows, I'd go a quarter turn past snug, and shoot groups, torqeing it a bit, and find the honeyhole.
OTF
 
I invested in a Wheeler Fat wrench a while back and used it on my Rem 700 SPS and it made a big difference in the accuracy of this rifle to the good. It shrunk my groups by about 1/2 inch. Wont complain about dime size groups from a stock rifle.

The way I look at it is the action screws need to be tight but not to the point of putting stress on the action.


DAB
 
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Torqueing action screws is like ammo, each gun has it's own sweet spot and ammo it likes best therefore factory specs are just a starting point. Tightening action screws in a wood stock that is not pillar bedded is almost futile because you are only compressing wood fibers and every change in humidity or atmospheric pressure changes your point of impact. Pillar bedded stocks will let you torque metal to metal which is not effected by air pressure or humidity if your barrel is free floated and not touching wood. Take a couple of boxes of ammo your gun likes best and start grouping and changing the torque, some torque screwdrivers will let you do 1/2 in/lb increments, till you get the best groups. I like to write each guns combination of ammo and torque in the stock that way if you don't have your shooting journal you can always recreate optimal conditions. I have 3-10/22s and each one has a different sweet spot and ammo it likes best.
 
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