Boyd stocks

Did you pillar bed it yourself? They did mine and it seems great.
 
View attachment 202082I have a thumbhole featherweight. It is light, and stiff. I love the laminate wood. I, and others love love the look. I added a bunch of the accessories. The seashell checkering has great grip, limbsaver pad is cush, and the aluminum pillars seemed to be stiff. I didn’t have to do a thing. My first group was a 1/4 inch, and hasn’t shifted a lick. It is a custom rifle…
Wow! They should call that model "Viagra Special." Sure got me excited!
 
My Boyd’s stock cracked in the same way after a year. I originally bought it as a cosmetic “rapid fire” deal. Not so much of a deal now. I called and talked with a couple different people about it and the only thing they offered me was a 10% discount on my next stock. Idk, it just put a bad taste in my mouth about it all. This was a delamination and had nothing to do with the cosmetic issues that put it as a factory second. I’m fixing it this winter and hope it holds up.

My recommendation, if anyone goes for a Boyd’s, is to have it pillar bedded from that factory so it was “done properly” by them for any warranty issues.
Looking at where it cracked, I don't think pillars would have made any difference. However, I suspect glass bedding might have kept it from delaminating. Or is that gray stuff glass bedding?
 
I recently ordered one to replace the junk that came on an Axis. Where would one start with lightening up a Boyd’s stock?
A forster bit and drill press would work to remove some of the wood behind recoil pad. You'd have to make a jig to hold the stock. However, looking at some of the lamination issues others are having I might be a bit concerned about fiddling with the stock's "integrity." Definitely would void the warranty.
 
I swapped out a Savage 110 "Switchback" stock earlier this year to a Boyds varmint\tacticool. Apparently for the 110 they will only install one pillar, so I elected not to pay them to do it and figured I would do it myself at some point. I did have to sand the barrel channel open to accommodate the Switchbacks heavier barrel, but that was a really easy and simple process. Once it was opened up, I dropped the action and barrel in and decided to go see how it shot. It looked great, shouldered great and seemed to maintain accuracy (which was already superb).
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With how well it shot, I decided to leave it alone before bedding it or installing pillars. I took it out a couple weeks later and could no longer hit even the 300 yard 12" plate (which prior to I had gotten to a 100% cold bore hit rate laying prone over the last 6 months). I brought into paper at 100 and was hitting everywhere. I first figured it was one of two things. 1) as the action screws compressed and settled on the stocks laminate it created a pressure point. Or 2 the scope finally took a dump. Figured I would check the stock first and there was a crack clear through from the rear action screw to the magazine well.
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Prior to install, I had emailed Boyd's to get the torque specs without the pillars and used my wheeler wrench to install it at their specified numbers. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm almost certain it was a flaw with the piece of laminate I received. Boyd's was fantastic to work with. They had me cut the stock in half and send in a picture and in a couple of days had refunded my money. If you notice, I believe the dark wood piece that is laminated in the middle of the stock is where the fault happened. I'm not sure if that was just a rotten piece that was laminated in or what.
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I have plans to buy another and I do recommend them to people. I just let them know that if they do either buy the pillars installed or install your own. They are heavy, but that can be remedied if you're handy. They have terrific customer service (in my experience) in a time when money companies didn't have great customer service due to the pandemic.
What caliber? There's not much wood between magazine box and forward action bolt. What's that screw hole for behind the magazine box? Is that the rear action bolt? Wow. Definitely not much wood there. I was going to suggest crossbolts but doesn't appear to be enough wood. I'm thinking this gun is designed specifically for synthetic?

Edit: I see that the screw holes on either side of the magazine box are for the magazine box. Hard to tell from pics if there is enough wood at rear action bolt for a crossbolt but plenty of wood for forward crossbolt.
 
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This is a Boyd's on my wife's Tikka. Bedded the recoil lug, added pillars, chopped an inch off the butt and relieved some inletting for the bottom metal. Holds 1/2 MOA.20210628_104944.jpg20210625_144822.jpg20210625_144721.jpg
 
I put a Boyd’s on my Tikka. The quality is great and I really liked being able to pick all the different custom features. I glassed and pillar bedded it and it shoots just fine, but didn’t increase the accuracy much for me.

As stated above it is surprisingly heavy, but works good for stand hunting and antelope. I’d recommend selecting one of the higher end recoil pad options.

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I put a Boyd’s on my Tikka. The quality is great and I really liked being able to pick all the different custom features. I glassed and pillar bedded it and it shoots just fine, but didn’t increase the accuracy much for me.

As stated above it is surprisingly heavy, but works good for stand hunting and antelope. I’d recommend selecting one of the higher end recoil pad options.

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A beauty.
 
I put a Boyd’s on my Tikka. The quality is great and I really liked being able to pick all the different custom features. I glassed and pillar bedded it and it shoots just fine, but didn’t increase the accuracy much for me.

As stated above it is surprisingly heavy, but works good for stand hunting and antelope. I’d recommend selecting one of the higher end recoil pad options.

View attachment 202506
She shoots 243 so recoil isn't a huge concern for me, but I'll keep it in mind.

I'm more focused on something that fits her properly. She's always looked awkward with the factory stock, like it just don't fit right
 
I put one on my daughter’s savage model 110 and I love it. I got a spike camp and cut about 1” off the butt and screwed the butt pad back on and it was very easy to modify. I also think a thin hole stock is much easier for a beginning fun shooter to hold properly. For around $100 I can’t think of a better upgrade.
 
Looking at where it cracked, I don't think pillars would have made any difference. However, I suspect glass bedding might have kept it from delaminating. Or is that gray stuff glass bedding?

Gray stuff is the bedding compound that Boyd’s sold me when I bought the stock. I do agree that pillars wouldn’t have prevented the stock from delaminating, but it’s one more thang done by them that would, in theory, strengthen the stock for any warranty issues that may arise.

What caliber? There's not much wood between magazine box and forward action bolt. What's that screw hole for behind the magazine box? Is that the rear action bolt? Wow. Definitely not much wood there. I was going to suggest crossbolts but doesn't appear to be enough wood. I'm thinking this gun is designed specifically for synthetic?

Edit: I see that the screw holes on either side of the magazine box are for the magazine box. Hard to tell from pics if there is enough wood at rear action bolt for a crossbolt but plenty of wood for forward crossbolt.
My stock came with crossbolts as I believe all of there stocks for Savage actions do. Didn’t help mine.
 
I've owned a few Boyd's stocks and all of them have been pretty great. I put a Spike Camp on a Remington 700 and it shot better than before, and likewise with the Ruger 77 I put into a Heritage. As was said before, I would consider having them install pillars to avoid any issues you may have.
 
What caliber? There's not much wood between magazine box and forward action bolt. What's that screw hole for behind the magazine box? Is that the rear action bolt? Wow. Definitely not much wood there. I was going to suggest crossbolts but doesn't appear to be enough wood. I'm thinking this gun is designed specifically for synthetic?
.300wm. This is between the trigger and magazine. I believe the reason they won't pillar bed the rear is the awkward 'cut' that the pillar needs as you can see in the image. You can easily make pillars, or buy kits that fit but Boyd's won't pillar bed the Savage 110's with a rear at the factory.
 
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