Pilot hole goof

[cleve.d.franks]

Greetings gun builders, first time poster here but long time reader of this forum.

I'm in the process of building a Northwest Trade Gun. I have inletted the barrel (at last) and at the point where I'm supposed to drill & tap the tang bolt hole through the tang and trigger guard. I drilled a small pilot hole in the tang, but after doing so, I have come to realize that it is probably too far forward (about maybe 1/4" at least) to have the bolt pass through the stock at the proper angle.

My question is this: is there a way to fill a hole in metal so that it won't show later after I brown it, or am I stuck looking at this hole every time I go shooting?

Thanks!

 

[Birddog6]

Yep. Weld it with a gas shield wire welder & go on. I weld up tangs all the time & never have a issue with them.

:thumbsup:

Keith Lisle

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you don't have your own welding equipment, take the tang to any machine shop and have them weld up the hole. Most Machine shop workers are into guns, too, and few know much about MLers. You are likely to make a bunch of new friends, and if they do the welding over their lunch hours, it won't cost you more than a 6-pack of beer, and a promise to take the completed gun to the shop when you are finished so they can take a look at it. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[J.D.]

How big is the pilot hole?

If you don't have access to a welder, using a screw with a partially threaded shank very lightly countersink the hole so's the unthreaded shank bottoms in the countersink, cut off with a hack saw and slightly peen the remaining shank to swell into the chamfer. File flush to the tang.

The hole in the wood can be filled with a dowel glued in place.

God bless

 

[Bill Hall]

Good description on the threaded hole plugging. If you don't do it that way, it will leave a circle and a partial thread "smiley" line exposed.

I've done them both ways, welding and plugging. I prefer welding if appropriate, since it adds back to the structural strength taken away by the hole. If you find a welder at a shop who is in a good mood, he might even do it for free. Bill

 

[Zonie]

I'm not sure what the "proper angle" is for a Northwest Trade gun.

If you mean the hole is simply too close to the rear of the barrel, or too far away from the rear end of the barrel I could understand that (although I don't know that anyone has gone to the trouble to document what that distance was on the originals).

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you have the hole in an acceptable place, live with it.
Then start a undersize hole in the trigger plate where you want the threaded hole to break out.
Do NOT drill this little pilot hole thru the trigger plate. You will finish drill it out from the top of the stock.


If you have a drill press, make a pointed steel pin and attach it (thru the use of a wooden board or a steel plate) in line with the center of your chuck.
Place the center of the pointed pin into the undersize trigger plate hole to position the stock. Then use the hole in the tang to pilot the TAP drill bit and drill down thru the stock ALMOST to the point where the drill will break out.
Remove the assembled stock from the guide pin that is supporting the gun and use the drilled hole from the tang side to guide the bit while you finish drilling the hole thru the trigger plate.

The angle will be whatever it takes to connect the tang hole and the trigger plates pilot hole based on the two holes location.

To me, this sounds a lot easier than welding up the tang and starting over.

 

[cleve.d.franks]

Many thanks, friends. Considering my negligible welding skills and the fact that it is not really off center or in too bad of a location, I think I'm inclined at this point to accept Zonie's advice and just live with it. When I look at pictures and drawings of other trade guns, it just seems that the bolt passes through the stock at a greater angle than what I'll get with the hole I have now. But after sleeping on it a couple of nights and thinking about it a bunch, I'm gonna just go with what I have. Thanks again to all who posted suggestions; I'm sure there will be more questions to follow......

 

[chuck-ia]

I know what you are going through, sometimes if a person ponders it over a day or 2 things don't seem too bad. I am working on a trade gun allso. I did not like the way the screw goes from the bottom at an angle, allthough most were made that way. I made a trigger plate and put the screw from the top and threaded it in the trigger plate. I have read some later trade guns were made this way. flinch