• The Shot You’ll Never Forget Giveaway - Enter To Win A Barrel From Rifle Barrel Blanks!

    Tell us about the best or most memorable shot you’ve ever taken. Contest ends June 13th and remember: subscribe for a better chance of winning!

    Join contest Subscribe

Gunsmithing Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Firefour

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 13, 2005
166
14
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Installing a dbm in a mcmillan htg stock (yes, I'm cheap, trying it myself) with a rem 700 pss .308 barreled action. With everything installed and torqued down, the bolt just barely touches the top round in the magazine, but way short to catch the round and feed it. Looks like the only fix I can see is to take .050-.070 thou out of the trigger guard area/face of the stock so the trigger guard/magazine will sit higher in the stock, to raise the mag up enough to pick up the round.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Did you get pillars with your DBM? If not, your just going to have to keep fudging with it until its perfect. You want the bolt to be as close to the feed lips as possible OR just so your magazine does not touch the action. Whatever comes first.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Can you modify the magazine latch so that the mag sits higher in the DBM? That might work and might be easier than sinking the DBM deeper into the stock.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Heat, stuck the bdm to the bottom of the receiver and the mag is still not high enough for the bolt to catch a round,,don't know if I want to mill down that much on the existing pillars,,,

Had the bright idea to mill off the top of the bdm, which would raise it in the receiver, but that would mill off the the bolt hole stops to where it was just a hole,, hmmm.

McFred, looking at it could modify the bdm, but would require milling a longer slot for the mag latch, and redrilling the mag latch keeper pin hole,,, gonna have to think on this a bit,,
Thanks
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

BDL inlet pillars are about 1/8" to 3/16" too long for badger inlet bottom metal.
I'm not saying that's how much you need to remove from your particular stock, but when I am inletting most BDL inlet stocks for a badger type setup, that's how much I usually have to remove from the pillar lengths.

Pillar lengths are generally 1.075" and 0.725" on badger bottom metal compatible DBM setups.

http://badgerordnance.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/10/306-82-M5-Triggerguard.pdf
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Ran into the same situation today with an Atlas Inlet that we did here in the shop.

Instead of altering anything we made a latch with a longer stop to hold the mag higher out of a piece of 1/2" steel bar.

Works like a charm.

Sorry the pictures are bad but you get the point.

The new latch has .085" longer bite.




Atlaslatch001.jpg


Atlaslatch004.jpg

Stock latch

Atlaslatch003.jpg

New latch

 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Madpipe</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for all the work Brad, I cannot wait to test it out tomorrow.</div></div>

Dave,

If you want to wait a couple more days, We'll cerakote the latch black to match everything. Let me know
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

2156SMK, will have to check the pillar length, thanks for the badger pdf. Just didn't want to do any milling if I wasn't supposed to. Thanks

Edited to add-measured pillars, dead nuts on 1.07,,,0.72 It is a new Mcmillan HTG, but I believe was inletted by GA precision for the badger M5 BDM, so I thought this would be a near drop in.

Just received an email from Atlas, on the other side of the planet. Colin is going to send me a 2 MM longer latch, said he hasn't heard of my problem, but I'm sure it will take a couple of weeks for it to arrive. Sunk until then. Grabbed a piece of 7075 T6 to attempt to make a longer latch, but it will be a while before I can get to a mill.

Brad, did you have to lengthen the slot in the dbm any so the mag would set higher in the housing with the longer latch? It appears my AI mag is stopped at the end of the lever slot, by the mag catch on the mag, not allowing it to sit higher in the dbm,, or am I missing something here?
Thanks
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Firefour,

Making a new latch is the only way to go. Not cost effective in shop time but fixes the problem without altering components.

We made an exact copy of the stock latch but extended the bite by .085" from center hole to end of bite. pm me if you decide to give it a try.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan


Well I attempted to install a AtlasWorx DBM into the Remington LTR today!

Was hell.....

I too had problems with the DBM not sitting high enough when having the DBM level with the underside of the stock so it was flush. My DBM came with the longer lever, changed it over, but the Alpha mag would not push far enough into the DBM to click over the catch and hold.

What I did do was take the DBM a little deeper into the stock. Does not look the best, but still would not pick up the cases. I then openned the lips of the mag so very slightly and now it sits fine.

Just put back together now, when to run 5 rounds though mag to check to see if feeding would be fine... and it isnt. With the Alpha mag and Atlas DBM, when the bolt is cycled the next case slides forward to the front of the mag, and then the projectile point sits under the bottom of the action feed ramp. Bugger!

I am guessing I need to notch the bottom of the actions feed ramp, only enough to open to the legnth of the DBM, and only wide enough for the projectile to fit through.

This common with DBM's on remingtons needing to notch the bottom of the action?

Cheers
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

I installed one into a Bell and Carlson stock and it works great. Was a PITA to inlet, but it functions flawlessly.

I'm not sure what pillar length I ended up with, but installed there is somewhere between .06"-.10" clearance between the top of the mag-well and bottom of the action. It doesn't sit flush with the bottom of the stock, but I didn't really expect it to considering all the different stocks on the market and the unit being designed as a universal fit.

Before I started the inlet I removed the action and attached the DBM without the stock to test for function and determine the seating depth. When it was seated against the action (or very close) it performed without a hiccup.

It is my understanding that the Type I Alpha mags work with the unmodified feed ramp but the Type II will allow the problem you describe unless you notch it. I am using Accurate Mags and haven't had any problems. YMMV.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ackley Improved</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just put back together now, when to run 5 rounds though mag to check to see if feeding would be fine... and it isnt. With the Alpha mag and Atlas DBM, when the bolt is cycled the next case slides forward to the front of the mag, and then the projectile point sits under the bottom of the action feed ramp. Bugger!

I am guessing I need to notch the bottom of the actions feed ramp, only enough to open to the legnth of the DBM, and only wide enough for the projectile to fit through.

This common with DBM's on remingtons needing to notch the bottom of the action?</div></div>

If you have the alpha mags that are designed for longer seating length, your action will have to be modified to allow for the longer length, even if you don't actually load to longer lengths.
Do your testing with AI mags and I bet you have no problem.
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Well, got my AtlasWorx DBM insalled and running perfect using th Alpha Type2 mags.

Mine is into a LTR HS Precision stock. The DBM does not sit flush with bottom of stock, slightly in as it was not deep enough. I also had to slot the feed ramp a very small amount so projectiles tips wouldnt get caught.

All up, couldnt be happier... but was a bit of work to get right.. and was first attempt doing one. Only ran the mill the wrong way once!!!!!

Cheers
 
Re: Help with DBM install in a McMillan

Ackley, glad you got it running, I'm still working on it. Everything together, bolted up, I see the bdm is resting against the bottom of the receiver, and the mag is still not high enough to pick up a round. Options are running low.

May need to relieve a small portion on back of bdm to keep it from resting against the receiver
Need to raise the magazine, which looks to me like i need to lengthen the latch slot a bit to allow the mag go higher.
Anyone?