I have one of those rifles that someone drilled with a hand drill without the help of even a center punch, while drunk. It has not 2 but 5 holes in the front reciever ring. Worse yet you can see the locking lug through one. It being a 375 H&H it makes me a little concerned.

My question is this: is there reason to worry, and if there is what can I do to fix it?

I had one thought. If I welded the holes up then redrilled and tapped then had the action reheat treated. Is that a good solution? If so what kind of rod needs to be used?

PM sent

What action are we talking about here?

If a Mauser 98, I'd say trash it and start over.
If a Rem 700, I'd say trash it and start over.
If a Win 70 CRF, I'd say maybe.

But then again, the Rem or Win should have been drilled correctly, so this is either a Mauser, Springfield or Enfield.

Trash it and start over.


Regards,

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by DanM:
What action are we talking about here?

If a Mauser 98, I'd say trash it and start over.
If a Rem 700, I'd say trash it and start over.
If a Win 70 CRF, I'd say maybe.

But then again, the Rem or Win should have been drilled correctly, so this is either a Mauser, Springfield or Enfield.

Trash it and start over.


Regards,

Dan

I have seen a few of the Remchesters that were done friday at 4:57pm that didn't look much better.

I won't trash it. These old strong actions (98,enfields etc) aern't as readily available as everyone lets on. I can't find those $60 gun show deals everyone else does. Do the figures, $35 for welding and $100 for reheatreating vs. $125 action and $400 worth of metalsmithing.

I'd not allow heat to the receiver ring. Fill the holes with a press fit dowel...the problem is purely aesthetic.

if one is interested in rebluing ( I'd not do it) then tig weld the dowels in and file smooth and reblue.

The heat from a proper tig weld is not a problem as it's fast enough to not draw the receiver.

quote:

The heat from a proper tig weld is not a problem as it's fast enough to not draw the receiver.

Would smearing heat stop paste all over the the unwelded upon area of the front ring help control heat damage as well?

quote:

Originally posted by Tex21:

quote:

The heat from a proper tig weld is not a problem as it's fast enough to not draw the receiver.

Would smearing heat stop paste all over the the unwelded upon area of the front ring help control heat damage as well?

I doubt it...that stuff primarily masks the metal to avoid decerburization during heating and prevents scale build up. Any heat transfer potential is overrated.

The thing about the tig torch is that one can melt a small puddle of steel in a CO2 bath in seconds and withdraw so fast that there is not time for heat to migrate to deeper sections. To do this with an oxyacetylene torch would create destructive heat and draw the temper of the metal.

I would be concerned if any of the holes are in or on the edge of the top lug seat. With that many holes, that would seem to be a given. That could weaken the lug seat enough to eventually cause lug setback.

I have a Model 600 that had been drilled and tapped for a custom mount.Twice.
I had the holes welded up (TIG) and holes drilled and tapped for the correct base. One of the new holes overlapped the edge of an old hole. I need to have it reblued but am going to wait till I rebarrel it. TIG is the way to go. Nate