Remington Model 504 Bedding Pillar and Rear Action Screw

From the factory, the Model 504 Remington rifle is equipped with action draw down screws located centrally and at the front receiver ring. The remainder of the receiver rearward is essentially free floating back of the central pillar for a distance of more than three inches. The addition of a third action screw at the rear tang, along with a well placed pillar, adds strength to the overall bedding system.

On close inspection you will see there is sufficient room for a small tang pillar and a third action screw on the 504. The new pillar is positioned immediately rearward of the trigger body and forward of the new tang screw. The screw is positioned upward through the rear screw hole of the trigger guard. A pilot drill is directed through the rear trigger guard hole through the brass anchor and stock wood into the base of the rear tang.

The lead drill serves only as a precise marker as it makes its mark on the underside of the tang. This shows precisely where to drill and tap the new tang hole. A number 21 tap-drill is used for the 10-32 flathead screw. The hole is then tapped using a good, sharp tap. I placed the action in the stock while tapping the screw hole, which served as a perfect in-line, tapping guide. Following the hole drilling, careful measurements are taken to form the relatively small metal pillar.

I used brass for this piece, cut to a 0.50 x 0.40 x 0.125-inch. A small, sharp wood chisel is used to enlarge the space for the pillar, which is positioned just slightly forward of the screw hole. The top of the screw hole can be used to estimate the height of the pillar top surface, allowing about 1/16-inch of bedding material beneath the pillar. It will be necessary to make a groove into one side of the pillar to make room for the new tang screw.

This groove completes half of the screw hole as well and can be made with around file or a small, ball-shaped end mill. A small amount of metal was removed from the back end of the trigger housing to make room for the brass pillar. A file does a good job here. The pillar is then placed in position and the action is placed in the stock. It should fit freely. Be sure the tang doesn’t contact the pillar at

As described in text, the rear tang screw is added later. Note how this third screw is conveniently positioned in the rear trigger guard screw hole. We see here where additional bedding material is used along with the brass pillar to form a perfect bed. this stage as the tang contacts the stock. Also try the new stock screw for thread freedom and alignment. The screw can now be cut to length, leaving a few extra threads for final length to be trimmed later.

I ended up making a special screw for this purpose to get the length I needed. Pillar Bonding, Tang Bedding The new pillar can now be permanently bonded in place as the rear tang is also bedded into the stock, flush with the pillar. I used Brownells Steel-Bed here. This produces a most sturdy bed for the tang as well as the pillar. It isn’t going to take much bedding material to do the job, just a light coat for the tang-to-wood surface and just enough around the tang to fill any voids.

Be sure there is sufficient bedding material beneath the new pillar. As the pillar extends above its final position the action is used to push it down into the bedding material. Be very careful as the action is lowered into the stock. Of course, there is release agent applied to the action metal which is allowed to dry before contact with bedding material. I did not use the new action screw to draw the tang down while the bedding material was setting. The tang should not be sprung down at this time.

The two existing action screws hold the rear tang in perfect alignment. Allow several hours for the action bedding material to set and remove the action from the stock and clean up excess material. It also shows the additional bedding of the rear tang forming a complete bed. This fully bedded tang is on a very solid foundation. Conclusions Anything that can be done to improve the action-to-stock fit on a good rifle will likely result in marked accuracy improvement.

The Remington Model 504 is a perfect example where the addition of a rear pillar and tang screw showed such improvement. To date, I have completed this work on three Model 504 Remington rifles and all resulted in improved action bedding and excellent accuracy. AG