Thanks to all that replyed to the drill and tap scope base jig thread.

I was messing with one of the 4 rifles that I plan to build but one of the 4 has already been drilled and tapped a long time ago and the charger hump was removed poorly.
The problem is it looks like the back base is crooked.I have some weaver see through bases and ring combo that I just put them on it to see what it looked like and I eye balled them and then layed a old scope in the bases and when I shouldered it and you can see that they are off.It seems it was drilled in the correct places just crooked.

Ok now for for you experts what are the options?
I have been thinking about it and here are a few ideas I have come up with.Please don't laugh.

Weld in the holes in the bases or maybe in this case a base and redrill them to fit the existing holes.

Put a filler screw or screws in the existing holes and redrill.

Find some solder on bases and put them on it.
Does anyone here know if the make solder on bases and rings? If so who and do they have a website.

Thanks for you help
Steve

I take it the bad holes are on the rear bridge. Have the holes mig ot tig welded up smooth out the weld to the correct contour & redrill in the correct places.

Yes its the rear bridge but they may be both crooked.

I know next to nothing about this, but Tip Burns was able to straighten out the drill/tap on one of my rifles by drilling and tapping to the next larger size (8x40).

I watched a local gunsmith solder screws in the old off-center holes, grind them to match contour then drill and tap correctly.

After he touched up the blueing you coulr hardly see the fine ring edge of the previous hole.

All of the above will work, but the common approach to repair/"fix" is to drill the larger hole size/8x40. Perhaps your situation is so out of line that they may require plugging and re drilling. For you to be able to visibly detect the situation, would guess the holes are more than a few thousands off line?? Unfortunately many fine old Mauser type actions have been butchered attempting to make them a sporting rifle. Good Luck!

Here's a thought, what if you use a one piece base like a Redfield, Leupold, Burris style. You said the front holes are okay and the one piece only hits the front base screw in the rear, this is what I did on my M96 that was "Kimber" sporterized.

quote:

Originally posted by dsiteman:
All of the above will work, but the common approach to repair/"fix" is to drill the larger hole size/8x40. Perhaps your situation is so out of line that they may require plugging and re drilling. For you to be able to visibly detect the situation, would guess the holes are more than a few thousands off line?? Unfortunately many fine old Mauser type actions have been butchered attempting to make them a sporting rifle. Good Luck!

This is the prefered approach, not necessarily the common approach. Most off center holes due to wannabe smiths drilling their receivers are too far out to be salvaged my a simple mill & tap to the larger size.

I used to laugh at the folks that screwed up the 6x48 so they decided to redrill & tap to 8x40. These too were off center because the drill bit will follow the old hole.

quote:

Originally posted by rem721:
the drill bit will follow the old hole.

All over town if necessary. And further if she's cute!

Do you think mig/tig, etc. is the best approach to solve his problem??

quote:

Originally posted by dsiteman:
Do you think mig/tig, etc. is the best approach to solve his problem??

I recently had a job in here that as a part of the job, required redrilling and tapping the front two holes because some bubba couldn't draw a straight line with his Black and Decker.

Without going into the story of this particular action, let me just say to those who would EVER contemplate welding up their drilling and tapping mistakes with a stick welder, for the love of God, if nothing else, at least chip the slag between each pass!

dsiteman, the preferred method would be to TIG it, but only if it is at all necessary.

quote:

at least chip the slag between each pass!

ROFLMAO! you got that right!

What about going with Burris signature rings and putting an offset insert in? They make them in 5, 10 and 20 degree offsets. Just a thought.....

quote:

Originally posted by tlp335:
What about going with Burris signature rings and putting an offset insert in? They make them in 5, 10 and 20 degree offsets. Just a thought.....

Some of the ones I've had the "pleasure" of working on have been so screwed up even a 20 wouldn't "fix" it.

When i seen one come in the shop, it wasnt just a little off, pretty much way off. So next size up wouldnt do, as mentioned above, drill would follow original hole.
What i would do is heat another 6/48 screw to soften metal as much as possiable and screw in with red lock tight,(after screw cooled off of course): hit head of screw good with hammer and cut off screw head and file down flush. Rapping with the hammer upset the top thread and would leave nearly no visiable ring or crater from the plug screw, then redrill and tap and then add a little cold blue. Uaslly made Buba happier that he brought it to a little more advanced Buba!

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:

quote:

Originally posted by rem721:
the drill bit will follow the old hole.

All over town if necessary. And further if she's cute!

I've re-drilled crooked holes using a short carbide drill bit. No problem, no wander. I've also used small diameter carbide end mills. Maybe too expensive for most?

Just talking here.

How to drill a hole with a center drill

http://www.korit.com/tapndrill.htm
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=49&PARTPG=INLMK32

A) For redrilling for 6-48, the final drill with be a #31 = .120"

Center drill using a $7.17 #3 size combined drill and countersink with a drill diameter of 7/64 = .109" and drill length of .275".

B) To re drill for 8-40 thread the final drill will be a #28 = .1405".

Center drill using a $9.87 #4 1/2 size combined drill and countersink with a drill diameter of 9/64 = .1406" and drill length of .406".

quote:

Originally posted by Eric:

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:

quote:

Originally posted by rem721:
the drill bit will follow the old hole.

All over town if necessary. And further if she's cute!

I've re-drilled crooked holes using a short carbide drill bit. No problem, no wander. I've also used small diameter carbide end mills. Maybe too expensive for most?
Just talking here.

Uh, isn't that precisely what I said, an endmill will cut a straight hole where there is a pre-existing hole.

A drill bit will follow the existing hole whether you use carbide or HSS.

Did you measure the placement of the hole afterward to confirm your pronouncement of did it just look centered?

quote:

at least chip the slag between each pass!

I'd hit it with some 6010- the receiver's round like schedule 40, right??

quote:

Weld in the holes in the bases or maybe in this case a base and redrill them to fit the existing holes.

Similar to this is to get some blank weaver rail and drill the holes offset as you suggest. It will be simpler and faster than trying to close an existing hole in a base.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:

quote:

Weld in the holes in the bases or maybe in this case a base and redrill them to fit the existing holes.

Similar to this is to get some blank weaver rail and drill the holes offset as you suggest. It will be simpler and faster than trying to close an existing hole in a base.

Has anybody actually done this? Drilled holes in bases to match the staggered and off centered holes found in the receivers we are discussing? I hear these suggestions all the time. I can't even imagine the amount of math it would take to TRY to determine the exact angles and locations for which to punch holes in a finished base so that you end up with a scope base that is functional and square to the bore. I'd like to hear some first hand accounts.

Funny Malm, I thought the same thing when I read that.

What's even harder to comprehend is in some cases the very same individual that couldn't drill a straight hole is now supposed to undertake this vastly more complex operation?

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
Funny Malm, I thought the same thing when I read that.

What's even harder to comprehend is in some cases the very same individual that couldn't drill a straight hole is now supposed to undertake this vastly more complex operation?

I guess in some situations it might be easier to take a steel base, put it in position, place a big rock on it so it doesn't move, close the hood and strike an arc.

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:

quote:

Weld in the holes in the bases or maybe in this case a base and redrill them to fit the existing holes.

Similar to this is to get some blank weaver rail and drill the holes offset as you suggest. It will be simpler and faster than trying to close an existing hole in a base.

Has anybody actually done this? Drilled holes in bases to match the staggered and off centered holes found in the receivers we are discussing? I hear these suggestions all the time. I can't even imagine the amount of math it would take to TRY to determine the exact angles and locations for which to punch holes in a finished base so that you end up with a scope base that is functional and square to the bore. I'd like to hear some first hand accounts.

Easy big guy!!!

I've done this before! What I do is screw in a couple of fillister head screws and indicate the location of these with the offending action in the mill vise. Zero the DRO on the first hole and move over to indicate in the second and record it. Without moving the action from the vise, take your pre-cut-to-length-and-height
blank base and super glue it to the action making sure it is levelled up with the front one. When the superglue sets, simply drill and c'sink the base being careful not to drill completely through. IT WORKS!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Kobe:

quote:

Originally posted by Westpac:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:

quote:

Weld in the holes in the bases or maybe in this case a base and redrill them to fit the existing holes.

Similar to this is to get some blank weaver rail and drill the holes offset as you suggest. It will be simpler and faster than trying to close an existing hole in a base.

Has anybody actually done this? Drilled holes in bases to match the staggered and off centered holes found in the receivers we are discussing? I hear these suggestions all the time. I can't even imagine the amount of math it would take to TRY to determine the exact angles and locations for which to punch holes in a finished base so that you end up with a scope base that is functional and square to the bore. I'd like to hear some first hand accounts.

Easy big guy!!!

I've done this before! What I do is screw in a couple of fillister head screws and indicate the location of these with the offending action in the mill vise. Zero the DRO on the first hole and move over to indicate in the second and record it. Without moving the action from the vise, take your pre-cut-to-length-and-height
blank base and super glue it to the action making sure it is levelled up with the front one. When the superglue sets, simply drill and c'sink the base being careful not to drill completely through. IT WORKS!!!!!

I understand this, provided the holes are perpendicular with your quill, however, the majority of the "out of whack" holes that I see are not only staggered, but at different angles. I suppose with a rotary table one could determine the angle of each hole, but a what point do you lose your ass?

I had a Charles Daly 98 in recently that had all the holes actually on centerline. However, they were all at angles to the cenetrline. Some pointed left, some right, and some left or right and canted forward or back. In this case the easy option was to mill the holes out and tap to 8x40.

Sadly, the scope base holes were one of the better attributes of the action, lol.

I surrender

Well gee guys...

For what this is worth:

My hallowed and much bragged on 30-06 wears a one-piece B-Square weaver type scope mount. I had it installed for two reasons. First that I may possibly switch optics around in case I ever want to put a red dot sight on it and go hog hunting. Secondly, when the guy I bought it from years ago D/T'd the action with a (Wheeler brand??) jig, he somehow got the rear holes out of alignment and drilled them both off centered and off vertical. With the thought in mind that I was in a time crunch to get this rifle to the range and then off to the field for some hunting, I had my gunsmith screw the mount down from the front (which are on center and properly aligned vertically) then drill two new holes through the mount, into the rear bridge. ...That's kinda not a perfect fix, but it works and the mount covers up the maligned holes. I filled in the holes with plug screws and this summer when I get set up to lay Dura-coat, I'll paint over them and make them go away.

Sort of a field expedient fix that worked....