Need some advice here guys. I recently bought an old Winchester 1910 .401 WSL to replace another one that was stolen 6 years ago. I bought it on Auction Arms. It's not quite what was advertised. It's clearly been reblued somewhere along the lines but was a decent job. The wood was advertised as "perfect with no breaks or cracks". Well, a blind man can see the 2 obvious repaired forend cracks and the one in the stock. I should have sent it back but I didn't. I can get new wood made fairly reasonably and the metal is in good shape with no pitting. The bore is pristine, which is kind of rare in older rifles (this one was made in 1912). My biggest gripe is that it has 3 holes in the side of the receiver that were obviously done by some ham-fisted backyard "gunsmith". I want to put a receiver sight on the gun but the existing holes don't match up and one of the holes is off center. I've heard various ideas on how to fill these holes and start over but I'm looking for opinions. The main thing is I want to be able to fill them and be able to redrill it properly for the peep sight. Even if I just used the factory sights, these holes are unsightly and I'm too anal not to do something about it. Ideas on how to approach this and approximate cost? I can't afford to spend a fortune so I may end up trying to sell this one and finding another one but these guns in decent shape are getting scarce. Thanx.

It depends on what is on the other side of where you will be welding. Removing the surrounding finish, maybe counter sink or bevel the holes you wish to weld and with a TIG, lay a little fill rod. You may want to obtain a piece of large copper wire to flatten and use as a back stop to keep the fill material from flowing into any areas that would be difficult to reach for clean up.

I have a Mauser on my bench that I had to machine a steel and copper "form" to fit in the bolt guide track to help keep the clean up to a minimum. All there is left to do, knock on wood, is a little hand filing, redrilling and tapping. Cost will depend on how much pre-weld preparation and care is required to protect surrounding surfaces and critical dimensions.