BARREL INLETING HELP!

[Zonie]

IMO, it is rather unusual to put in the tang screw this early in the game.

I know that TVM uses a wood screw for their tangs, but, usually, the tang screw is not a wood screw.
It is usually a 2 inch long machine screw. (I like a #6).
It goes thru the tang, down thru the stock and into the trigger plate in front of the trigger.
The reason for all of this is it is MUCH stronger than any wood screw and IMO, more importantly, it sandwiches the wood between the two metal "plates" which adds a great deal of strength to an area that is inherently weak.

Because most tang screws must be in the right place on two different pieces, they usually aren't drilled until both pieces are totally inletted.
Only then will I know what angle to drill at so the hole is in the right place. (The hole is not drilled straight in because the front of the trigger assembly is forward of the tang).

Then, with the barrel and tang, and the trigger assembly in place, the hole is drilled down thru all of the pieces at the same time.
I do this initial drill using the tap drill size.

Only after the tap drill hole is completed do I remove the trigger plate from the stock and then redrill the hole thru the tang and stock to the screw clearance size.

Zonie

 

[Birddog6]

I thought maybe you are trying to drill thru the side of the tang for the lockbolt. If so, most likely you attempted to drill the tang with a dull bit or at too high a speed, thus it got hot & tempered the metal. The harder ya push the hotter & more tempered it gets. You may end up having to remove the plug & anealing it now to drill it, or buy a solid carbide drill bit & drill it. I use 3 drill bits to drill the rear lock bolt hole thru the tang. 1st is a pilot hole. 2nd is the tap drill size. 3rd is a clearance size drill for the bolt to go thru easily.

I always drill a pilot hole on all of my tang & lockplate holes & then go to the tape size drill, then run the tap thru & tap the hole with the tap going thru the stock using the stock as a guide, then drill a clearance hole with a drill stop on the drill up to the plate with the threads you just tapped.

You might try drilling it from the other side of the tang.

I drill all of my lockbolt, tang bolt, etc. with a drillpoint to make sure the hole comes out where it is supposed to....... Otherwise it is a guessing game.

Also, a few cheap chisels at a flea market make great lil barrel channel scrapers. Harbor Freight has a set of heavy bladed carving chisels ($5-7) that you can heat & bend & make good scrapers too, two of which I made barrel channel scrapers with.

 

[Mike Brooks]

You might find my gunbuilding 101 posts helpfull.
Gunbuilding 101
And here's the rest of them.
The rest of 101

 

[pipascus]

In the video I got it said to put a wood screw in for now, then later comes the bolt through the trigger plate.

I tried both sides of the tang. The bottom side was even worse. I had the drill on low speed and used oil. I eventually got the hole through: after six bits! Funny thing is that the tang was still easy to shape afterwards.

I will check out the 101 info.

Thank ye all again!!!

El Casador :hatsoff:

 

[pipascus]

Tried the 101 link and got this:

key(): Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/claude/public_html/fusionbb/dosearch.php on line 314
Results: 1 - 1 of 1

 

[Mike Brooks]

Works for me
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/f...18526/hl/gun+building+101+Mike+Brooks/#218526

 

[pipascus]

Ok, this one works.
Thanks.

 

[rabjr]

It's a shame Mike's Gunbuilding 101 thread has gotten lost in the jungle of threads....should be sticky'd!

 

[aragorn]

If you've got a Sears (Craftsman) anywhere near you they do a range of good quality bit sets, incl cobalt and titanium-coated. I got a great set of titanium-coated that included the 1-50 number bits as well as a standard fractional set, for a really good price - a great investment. They're fine for drilling soft steel. While you're there you could pick up some of those pistol-grip clamps too, which I found indispensable, and would mean you could relax about getting the barrel pinned - just clamp it down for the time being and take a break!

 

[Zonie]

I don't know what the barrel tang was made out of but all of them that I've worked with (including the one on the Rice barrel I'm working with now) were made out of mild steel.

The only muzzleloading gun parts that drill easier than that are made out of brass and German Silver.

The mild steel I know of does not work harden from machining (or any thing else) however if the drill pauses or dwells in one spot, it will dull the cutting edges quickly.
Another thing that will dull the cutting edges is using too much speed.
A 1/8 inch drill for instance can be run at 3200 rpm when drilling Aluminum but it should be around 2100 rpm for drilling steel.
After the cutting edges become dull the drill is pretty much useless unless you can regrind it properly to sharpen it.

Zonie

 

[Vaino]

If a hole is difficult to drill in mild steel and the bits are either breaking or dulling, it's one of the following: The bits aren't sharpened properly and the "heels" are contacting first or the web is too wide and needs to be reduced, the speed is too high { IMO, a 1/8" drill used on mild steel should be run at 900-1200 rpm} resulting in dulled bits, the speed is too low and too much force is applied resulting in broken bits. I don't use cutting oil or lubrication on mild steel and have never had any difficulty. If the web of the bit is too wide either reduce it or first drill a pilot hole that's slightly larger than the web and it'll cut like butter. It's surprizing how many people don't know how to properly sharpen a drill bit and the difficulty in drilling a hole is blamed on the steel. I surely do hope that this post isn't taken as "preaching", but have observed many cases of "lousy" drill sharpening even at businesses where time is money.....Fred

 

[pipascus]

I really don't know what it was that made it so difficult. Likely it was something I did wrong. Or perhaps I ventured, briefly bu surely, into the outer reaches of The Twilight Zone.

Regardless, thank you for the insight, and thank goodness it's over! :shocked2:

 

[gmww]

Maybe you need to have

bless it and get the evil spirits out of it. :shocked2:

 

[pipascus]

Hey, where do you get those funny smilies from?

No evil spirits, just my inexperience and greenhornidity, but I’m workin’ at it!!!

 

[gmww]

I'll PM you with the Link.