My son-in-law bought a second hand Swarovski scope with a rail for his Mauser 66. Having been mounted previously, the rail had been drilled already (anchoring screws). New holes have been drilled to establish correct eye relief for his rifle and I'd like to fill up the old ones for cosmetic reasons. What should I use : metal putty or something ?

Epoxies don't adhere to aluminum well as it's part of the nature of aluminum.

I'd make a plug out of aluminum on the lathe and press fit it into the holes, file flush and touch it up with indellible black ink to try to match the annodizing of the original metal.

Duct tape

Devcon makes an epoxy specifically designed to bond to and repair aluminum, and it comes in either putty or liquid and can be drilled, tapped and machined after a 16 hour cure.

Thanks.

Rick 0311,
I followed your advice, using an epoxy-metal paste, and covered it up with mat black for ironwork. The repair (4 holes trough the scope rail) is now virtually indiscernable. Thanks a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by Andre Mertens:
Rick 0311,
I followed your advice, using an epoxy-metal paste, and covered it up with mat black for ironwork. The repair (4 holes trough the scope rail) is now virtually indiscernable. Thanks a lot.

Good job, Andre. I was about to suggest that aluminum can be welded. I welded some up many
years ago at the Lincoln welding school in Cleveland, Ohio. It was kinda like using a glue gun! Not too hard to do at all.