I bought a torque wrench that measures in inch-pounds and here is the way I set the action screws on either a Model 70 Winchester or a Model 700 Remington. I'm not saying this is factory specs, this is just what works for me. I put the barreled action in the stock and run all of the screws in finger-tight. I then push the barreled action back so that the recoil lug is firmly seated in the lug mortise. There are various ways to do this. One is to gently bump the butt plate on the floor and another is to put a block of wood over the muzzle and tap it gently with a plastic mallet. Or, you could just grab the barrel and push hard towards the rear. Once the barreled action is seated against the lug mortise, I torque the front and rear screws on the 700 Remington to 30 or 35 inch-pounds. On a Model 70 Winchester, I set all three screws to 20 inch-pounds and then set the front and rear screws to 30 - 35 inch-pounds and leave the middle screw at 20 inch-pounds. That is enough tension on the middle screw so that it won't shake loose but not so much that it will warp the action. On stocks with pillar bedding or aluminum bedding blocks, you can probably use a higher torque setting. I remember seeing a Brownell's add for a wooden stock with an aluminum bedding block and the recommend torque was 65 inch-pounds. The secret is to find what setting your rifle likes and then return to that setting every time. By using a torque wrench, that is pretty easy to do.
