I havn't done this before, but want to now. I've heard of using a high grade bolt for material. I suspect that it does need to be pretty hard material. I assume the bushing should be threaded. What thread to use? Should the bushing be soldered or Loctited in? Thanks for your advice in advance.

Welding is a much more viable option.

I've done it both ways. On a .17Rem which pierced primers, I drilled and tapped the bolt for a 8x32 hardenend hex-head cap screw, drilled a .062 hole through it and inserted it backwards into the bolt and simply locktighted it in place. It was then turned flush with the boltface. The Rem firing pin was also turned down to .060 Works beautifully! I prefer not welding( TIG ) on boltfaces. If you do, then IMHO the bolt should be rehardened.-Rob

When you weld a hardened part always temper the part since the welding will produce martensite which is brittle until tempered. Reheat treating is more complex unless you know the type of steel.

Savageshooter,

It has been a while since I last bushed a firing pin hole of a bolt. At that time, it was done to move the firing pin strike to the center.

With the bolt running in the steady rest, I used a 3/16 end mill to punch a "centered" hole, and then opened it to accept a 1/4 X 28 thread. With a "Circle" boring bar, I counter bored the bolt face to a diameter of .375 and about .050 deep to get good support.

I machined a bushing from 4140 to precisely fit the new bolt face and used 609 loc-tite to hold it in place. It is then a simple matter of truing the bolt face to finish the job. I was going to use some low melting solder to fasten this with but at the last minute decided against it out of concern for safety. I figured I could always redo it with solder if it ever needed it.

Some 15 years later, the bushing is still going strong and is still in place. Since then, I have bushed many 1911 slides to redirect firing pins when correcting barrel lockups and have never had a failure using this method.

I wouldn't use much heat around a bolt head were it me unless as Rob said, you were going to have the bolt reheat treated. 609 loc-tite is some pretty tough stuff...

By the way, this method can also be used to a degree, to correct excess headspace in weapons where setting the barrel back isn't an option or where a good replacement bolt cannot be obtained.

Good luck,

Malm

I've done a couple to old cheap rifles with way oversized firing pin holes. I checked to make sure the bolt face was thick enough, drilled and tapped just enough to catch about three threads on a 10x32 screw.

Tinned the screw with HiForce 44 and ran it in as far as it would go. Took an acetylene torch to the screw ONLY until it glowed and counted on transferred heat to get the contact area hot enough. Worked fine.

I then dressed the screw off flush and made a punch to go through the flash hole of a fired case and be a slide fit in the case neck. Used that to mark location of the firing pin hole and drilled it out.

Since one of the rifles was a .25-20 WCF and the other was a .30-30 and neither was worth much over $100, I could be a mite braver than I might have been with high pressure, high dollar stuff.

Anyway, both came out fine and that's the way I'll do it again if I ever need to.

Any suggestions for an angled hole? I have an old Ithaca trap gun which is really nice except for this. The firing pin needs to be smaller for reliable ignition(the design really limits the strength of spring you can use) and the smaller pin won't work because the firing pin hole is worn.