I initially tried to go the cheap factory route with the parts you mention (TG, bottom metal, action screws), long story short they went in the junk box and I ended up spending yet more money on the DIP parts anyway.
The only thing I considered usable was the cast steel Savage triggerguard. Save your time & money and just get the DIP parts first, would be my advice.

 

+1 on DIP parts.

The factory bottom metal will slowly deform, loosening the action.

 

Ya I really only need the trigger guard because I have the bottom metal from my tupper stock to use... that's if it'll work... I've seen places like DIP sell two different bottom metals, one for tupper and one for wood... Not sure if it's a size thing or shape. Living in Canada sucks because DIP won't ship here. But I can get Savage stuff so if the trigger guard is good I may grab that and make my own bottom plate.

 

The factory bottom metal won't be great with the laminate stock. A heavier plate is required to distribute the load away from the center where the screws are.

I think the DIP stuff is overpriced for what it is. The mag well plate is just a 1/8" thick chunk of mild steel, water jet cut. They don't even deburr the cutout for the mag well.

If cutting metal is easy for you, you may do just fine making your own. Even a jig saw with the right blade and a hand drill and some files would get you there pretty quickly.

To do it right, you should put it in a mill and machine some flats to go under the bolt heads so they aren't at an angle. The right thing to do for many reasons.

The DIP trigger guard seems much more worth of the price you pay, as it is CNC milled from aluminum and has a trigger overtravel stop screw. But for the price, I would still go with the factory cast steel part.

If you go with the DIP plate, get a 6-32 machine screw and tee nut to replace the wood screw they include.

 

Glad you're very handy, and well equipped.

Gotta disagree on the value and delivered product from a layman's perspective...and I gotta go to bat for someone who has the ability and fortitude to run a small business. If you want to nitpick DIP's product, let's take a stab at it. And feel free to show us yours, for less money. I have two laminate Tacticool stocks waiting for bottom metal, and one waiting for a trigger guard.

They may not be worth it to the rare case of someone who has already invested the time, experience and equipment, but it isn't fair to not factor that in when talking about an independent small business entrepreneur's product.

Me, with a jig saw (but no metal blade) and some files... It isn't gonna look good. The DIP product is a couple of clicks and some transit time away. Not too painful, and I get something better than what Savage sent me.

You, with access to hundreds (thousands?) of dollars in milling, finishing and anodizing equipment, several chunks of mild steel just happen to be lying around...and the experience to do it (and the reluctance to release $30 from your wallet because you certainly can build it better). You can likely build the ultimate custom bottom metal "for close to free, in minutes, with a scrap of off-cut steel".

This reminds me of the fast/good/cheap triangle. I can get it quickly enough, and it is a good product. So I pay a little more and get something better than what Savage sent on my stock.

You can hit all three corners, apparently. :bthumb: If you put a product on the market, people would likely support you too.

The factory bottom metal won't be great with the laminate stock. A heavier plate is required to distribute the load away from the center where the screws are.

It may not even fit. My FV plastic stock's metal doesn't fit my TRR laminate stock's recess. Not even close. (I assume the F stock is the same as my FV's: crahppy/worthless)

I think the DIP stuff is overpriced for what it is. The mag well plate is just a 1/8" thick chunk of mild steel, water jet cut. They don't even deburr the cutout for the mag well.

What it is, is more than what it appears to be, I think.

Just a "chunk of mild steel" that someone took the time to make for others who don't have the same capability. How hard and how much would it cost the typical kitchen-table-gun-hacker to craft something like that? Time, money, materials.... It all has to come from somewhere.

Making "one for one's self" and making "many for others" are world's apart in terms of being successful and receiving a deserved margin for one's efforts.

BTW, they are quite open to talking about slight modifications to the standard offerings.

If cutting metal is easy for you, you may do just fine making your own. Even a jig saw with the right blade and a hand drill and some files would get you there pretty quickly.

Waiting for a time lapse video of the jig saw and files turning a 1/8" chunk of mild steel in to a comparable product, without looking like something from "amateur night at the fab shop" for most folks. I don't know if you're serious, but just in personal time alone, once a file is picked up, it is a losing proposition. (The less we fab at work, the less money we lose on our jobs.)

I have seen folks try to cut metal freehand in the shop while prototyping, and they came nowhere near the output of the wire edm machine or even the vertical mill in the same amount of time. I watch in awe, and politely ask for them to do me a few favors on the side.

To do it right, you should put it in a mill and machine some flats to go under the bolt heads so they aren't at an angle. The right thing to do for many reasons.

For the 90% of us without mad machine shop skills, supporting a vendor who developed a product that beats the factory's is he right thing to do for many reasons.

For the 10(?)% of you guys with machine shops, please factor in the cost of all your equipment, experience, time, materials, etc., before saying a vendor's product is overpriced for what it is. (Go ahead and try to make something and sell it without giving up. And selling on ETSY doesn't count.)

The DIP trigger guard seems much more worth of the price you pay, as it is CNC milled from aluminum and has a trigger overtravel stop screw. But for the price, I would still go with the factory cast steel part.

Which will quickly form surface rust without a bunch of protection and upkeep.

DIP's hard coat anodizing is well applied, with very even dyeing. My bar isn't very high, but I was impressed. I have also seen the raw aluminum output, and the tolerances were above expectation. After tumbling and finishing steps, the product was far better than the average joe could achieve for that price.

If you go with the DIP plate, get a 6-32 machine screw and tee nut to replace the wood screw they include.

If any of you metal wizard folks don't go with a DIP plate, I'm sure you'll be just as happy, if not happier. "Production is for today, craftsmanship is for life" as my foreman says. Build your own (better) bottom metal, but don't kid yourself that you're getting it "for less", just because the chunk of steel and your skills don't cost you anything.

For the folks reading this who can't cut, file, machine, mill, tumble, finish or anodize metals in your garage, kitchen or office, DIP products may just be worth it. Actually, they are. Well worth it.

Then again, folks, we are just holding Savage rimfire rifles in our hands. That firearm could be so much better in so many ways... Fab wizards, I am waiting for milled billet mag wells, composite magazines, etc.

Build it and I will buy, for I cannot make.

 

I made my bottom metal out of .125" SS, cut it to the correct length and width with a band saw, drilled the small holes for the screws. I don't remember what size bit I used to drill the holes for the mag well, it was the same diameter as the slot was wide in the factory bottom metal. After I drilled the two large holes I used a cut off wheel on a 4.5" grinder and a 2" air cut off tool to make the side cuts and then a file to square the corners up. The last thing I did was make the radius's on the ends, most was done on a bench grinder and the finish work was done with a 120 grit Rol Loc disk on a air grinder. The whole thing might have taken an hour.

 

Ya cutting metal is very easy for me I have a complete fab/machine shop at my disposal lol. But sometimes buying things is still cheaper than making them like the trigger guard from DIP. I'll likely end up making my own bottom metal and see if I can find a trigger guard or get real fancy and make one of them too lol

 

So you have some production experience. I have also managed programs supplying "low-volume" specialized parts to multiple OE auto manufacturers and race teams, which involved quoting based on bill of materials costs, including materials, labor, metal finishing, etc. Parts made in-house and by outside suppliers. I have an idea what it costs to make stuff when you're set up for it versus one at a time with inferior equipment.

The idea that I should be happy to pay an inflated price for something made in volume with modern production equipment because it's slightly below the line of what it would cost me to do it myself with essentially 19th-century blacksmith technology in my garage does not sit well with me.

Take another example. What would be my cost to make one of the keyboard I'm typing with? Infinity, because I simply don't possess the technology to do it. Years of my life, even if I just organized outside help. Should I be happy to pay $20,000 for it? Heck no. I'm happy to have paid $40 for it, with a mouse. Understood that Logitech had it made in China in vastly greater volumes than anything DIP or any other gun accessory manufacturer does, but that doesn't change the point. If the DIP mag well plate was ordered thousands at a time from China, its landed cost would be less than a dollar.

The point is that commodities produced in batch quantities should be priced reasonably in line with their production costs, including reasonable multiples for profit. Bottom metal isn't software or a service sold at a premium based on its value to the user, it's a chunk of metal. When the ratio gets to be 7-10x or more, I start looking at alternatives just because I don't want to do business with that kind of supplier. When the entire rifle can be shipped to an FFL for $210 and everybody makes enough profit to keep doing it again and again, paying 10% of that for new bottom metal is out of line.

Especially when the features included on it aren't even finished to a non-embarrassing level. And even more so when there are obvious engineering shortcomings, design elements missing that I have to go back and add in order to be satisfied with it.

Paying 25% of the rifle cost for a fancy spring, two pins and a 3-cent ball bearing is also out of line.

 

You're confusing some entrepreneurial endeavours who serve a small niche, within a segment of our hobby, for corporate ones.

I have walked in their shoes, and several times, the soles have worn off trying to get to the point where any return came close to the time, money, and effort put in.

I wish you luck and success. And tight groups.

 

Another thing that hasn't been discussed is the action screws. My Savage parts purchase included the action screws for doing the plastic-to-wood stock swap.
However, I was disappointed to find that they weren't long enough. I ended up having to purchase the longer DIP action screws as well.

The Savage action screws were a non-starter in my wooden Boyd's stock (with just a single thread engaging). Just a FYI,

 

Pipedream.....

The bottom metal upgrade is important if you don't plan to do pillars, and if you don't plan to have the bottom-bolts act directly on the pillars.

We went through this at length on the other thread where you asked this-->

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=482481&page=6

Understand that if you depend on "improved" bottom plate....you *still* have the stock material in-between that compresses and can lose tension over time, and won't be as good as total metal-to-metal contact throughout.

Best bet is installing pillars, and having the mounting bolts act on the pillars directly (by-passing the bottom metal altogether), as suggested in post #71 in the link above.

 

You've got me thinking about making a metal plate with pillars. That would tie the pillars together like you wanted and keep things nice and true.

 

The plate needs to be removable to allow the gun to be removed from the stock....

The pillars are "locked-into" the stock.......

:bthumb:

 

If the plate and pillars are one piece then all you do is loosen the bolts and lift the action/barrel out... or is there some kind of interference I'm not thinking of?

 

Effective use of pillars has the pillars "be-part-of" the stock.... I used the words "pillars are locked" into the stock. A pillar that "slip-fits" into the stock somewhat defeats the purpose..... you'd have seen many others having done this already, if it were so. Sorry.

The "U" channel we spoke of in the other thread ... would have the benefits of pillars as well as "tying-together" the front and rear pillars with the stock and with themselves.

.

 

I'm not saying they have to be removable from the stock. Epoxy them in. Drop the action on top and screw it in from the bottom. But again unless the bottom metal needs to come off for some kind of clearance while removing and installing the action this may or may not work