Epoxy and duct tape are wonderful. Okay, maybe not duct tape for a rifle...
I'm a little surprised that Savage has never beefed up that area of wood. It really is very, very thin and it would seem to be very easy to over-torque. Any idea what maximum torque should be? The torque wrench set that I have on the way from Brownells has a minimum setting of 15# which would be too much. I'm thinking hand tightened just enough to be snug is the trick. The epoxy should even add a bit of bite for the screw.
BTW, so far this rifle has been a real challenge, at least as to my patience. I bought it "new" from a dealer who bought it from a shop that went out of business. Savage tells me that it left them five years ago. I had it on layaway for a month and when i went to pick it up I noticed that there was no follower assembly. I hadn't noticed it when I put the gun on layaway as I had tried the trigger and was astounded by it being so light and crisp, and even a pre-Accutrigger, and was distracted. The rifle got passed around the shop and everyone was amazed. So, they knocked off $50 for a $7 part and my trouble. I ordered the follower from Brownells. Then the follower arrived and I realized that the internal box magazine (it's a blind mag) was also missing. Someone along the way had snagged it, probably to convert to a blind mag. How I missed that I don't know. So, it was a phone call to Savage for the magazine box and the bracket that holds it. Thinking that I already had the follower assembly I was tempted to not get one from Savage, but it occurred to me that I wasn't sure if I had the right one and for $6 more I could be sure. As it turned out the one that I got from Brownells was the wrong one. No problem as it will be a spare for my 10FP. So, here I am a month out and the rifle is just now ready to shoot.
Still, it is one sweet rifle. It has just taken a bit more effort.