My Investarms Hawken Rifle

[painter]

Okay, I messed up. When I drilled the butt plate it drifted off center, not really a problem as I could still put the screw in at a slight angle. Wouldn't look great but it would work. The real problem occurred when I drilled the pilot hole, the bit snapped off inside the hole with no way to dig it out without creating a fairly large hole.
As far as I can see I'm left with two options, one: buy a new butt plate and start over, two: drill a new hole and fill the existing hole in the butt plate with solder or pewter.
Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

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How about drilling out the broken bit and gluing in a piece of hardwood dowel to fill the larger hole?

 

[kje54]

How about drilling out the broken bit and gluing in a piece of hardwood dowel to fill the larger hole?

I considered that but decided I'm extremely unhappy with the placement of the hole being wayyyy off center so I've already ordered a replacement buttplate. Heck, they're only $18 a piece.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Some of the parts fitted.

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Nice work. Dale

 

[kje54]

Started flattening out the bottom of the forestock then realized there's a void under the ramrod channel so I'm only removing as much as I think is safe. It will still have a slight bulge but not as pronounced as before.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Okay, I messed up. When I drilled the butt plate it drifted off center, not really a problem as I could still put the screw in at a slight angle. Wouldn't look great but it would work. The real problem occurred when I drilled the pilot hole, the bit snapped off inside the hole with no way to dig it out without creating a fairly large hole.
As far as I can see I'm left with two options, one: buy a new butt plate and start over, two: drill a new hole and fill the existing hole in the butt plate with solder or pewter.
Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

View attachment 54895

Something I learned many years ago (from making wandering holes), a spring loaded center punch is a good investment.

 

[44Bro]

Weld it up with what? I'm a carpenter not a welder.

Didn't know you don't have welding capability.
Most towns have at least one welding shop or a business that can do it. Some of the guys would do that kind of fill weld for a six pack.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Didn't know you don't have welding capability.
Most towns have at least one welding shop or a business that can do it. Some of the guys would do that kind of fill weld for a six pack.

Best solution. There's almost always a little weld shop that's closer than you think.
After a little grinding, sanding, and polishing, you will never know there was a hole that was welded over.

 

[kje54]

Decided to strip the bluing from all the parts that are blued. The barrel stripped down to a grey color, the picture gives the appearance that the color changes from muzzle to breech but it's just the lighting. The barrel is a consistent color along it's full length, the color at the muzzle end is the color along the whole barrel.

The under rib did not strip, I suspect it was coated with a paint then oven baked.

 

[kje54]

Here's a couple more pictures with better lighting.

 

[Byrd]

On my Invest Arms that rib was aluminum that had been painted when I redid it I used flat black spray paint on it. Turned out ok.

 

[kje54]

On my Invest Arms that rib was aluminum that had been painted when I redid it I used flat black spray paint on it. Turned out ok.

I didn't even consider it being aluminium, it's still black so I'll keep it that way I guess.

 

[Bent Sight]

Best solution. There's almost always a little weld shop that's closer than you think.
After a little grinding, sanding, and polishing, you will never know there was a hole that was welded over.

I would ask myself if paying someone to weld up the hole would be the same cost or more expensive than purchasing another butt plate.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

I would ask myself if paying someone to weld up the hole would be the same cost or more expensive than purchasing another butt plate.

Filling in a hole in a butt plate is about 2 minutes (tops) with a MIG.
A lot of small weld shops would not charge anything (they consider it being neighborly).
That's been my experience anyway. I usually have to MAKE the guy take $5.

 

[kje54]

Finally installed the correct front sight. Obviously easier to fit than a steel base if one is very careful as the copper base bends fairly easily as I found out the hard way.

 

[kje54]

Got back to work on it, the new butt plate is cleaned up and drilled. Still deciding if I want to remove the excess at the toe or remove it and install a toe plate.

This has required the most work so far, had to reshape the fit overall removing about 3/8ths of an inch from the bottom.
When the screws are in and tightened down the small gaps disappear.

 

[kje54]

I'm currently working on the nose cap, have it drilled, fitted and doing some final filing to fit.

 

[kje54]

Okay, ran into two problems. First is somehow my thimble mounting screws have disappeared, strange because I keep all the parts in disposable plastic food container bins large enough to hold all the parts for one gun.
Second is I finished then drilled the primitive rear sight to match the existing holes the modern sight was mounted in. As I suspected the original mounting screws are too long, 1/4" too long.......

 

[Zonie]

If you need to shorten a screw, the best way I've found is to first buy a hex nut that fits the threads.
Then, screw the screw into the nut, stopping it when the amount of material you want to remove is left sticking out of one side of the nut.

Clamp the nut in a vise or in a pair of locking pliers. This will hold the screw tightly with the right amount of screw threads exposed, ready for the hack saw or cut off tool in a Dremel.

Cut off the exposed threads and then unscrew the screw. If the screw you end up with is longer than the nut is thick, you can screw the screw in slightly to expose the area that will need a new lead in chamfer filed onto it.

In the case of your sight screw, you might need to chase (thread) the threads down a bit further on the screw to get the nut to the right position to establish the length of the needed screw.

 

[kje54]

If you need to shorten a screw, the best way I've found is to first buy a hex nut that fits the threads.
Then, screw the screw into the nut, stopping it when the amount of material you want to remove is left sticking out of one side of the nut.

Clamp the nut in a vise or in a pair of locking pliers. This will hold the screw tightly with the right amount of screw threads exposed, ready for the hack saw or cut off tool in a Dremel.

Cut off the exposed threads and then unscrew the screw. If the screw you end up with is longer than the nut is thick, you can screw the screw in slightly to expose the area that will need a new lead in chamfer filed onto it.

In the case of your sight screw, you might need to chase (thread) the threads down a bit further on the screw to get the nut to the right position to establish the length of the needed screw.

Actually I messed up in the screws I was using, the ones I was trying to use were for the thimbles, been a while and I forgot, same threads. What I'm missing is one of the original sight mounting screws, the one I have works just fine now I need just one more.
I'm at that point where the only thing I have left to do is drill for the trigger guard then seal the stock with tung oil then mount all the hardware.
As for cutting screws and bolts thanks for the advice, been doing that for decades when needed.
Granted it will never look exactly like an original Hawken but I think it will look better than it did.

 

[billraby]

Drilling holes on curved surfaces. Start with a center punch. Then start the hole with a center drill. Next drill a small hole. Then drill a hole about half the diameter you need. Then drill the full size hole. Use a drill press.