Author Topic: Drillin-n-Tappin (Read 3739 times)

Haywire Haywood · « **on:** March 09, 2004, 10:14:08 AM »

Is there any reason why I can't have a competent machinist drill and tap a couple shallow scope rail holes about mid-barrel on my 357 Max handi? I am not getting along with the shotgun scope I bought hanging out over the breech and the hammer spur that I have to use because of clearance. I wanna put a genuine LER scout scope on it :?. Anyone ever done such a thing?

Ian

Duce · « **Reply #1 on:** March 09, 2004, 11:31:21 AM »

HH: Shouldn't be any reason at all. Might want to do a little math: OD minus Bore divided by 2 should give you the wall thicknes your dealing with. Probably hardest part will be finding a scope rail that will fit. Good Luck: <>< Duce:

JPH45 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 09, 2004, 12:53:47 PM »

I imagine that you would have to have a mount/rail made for this project. It shouldn't be difficult for a good machinist, but it will take a bit of thought and care. I wouldn't be surprised to see the work cost about half as much as your rifle or so. What rail are you using now, the Weaver of the factory rail, there are some differences that might help you out.

Leftoverdj · « **Reply #3 on:** March 09, 2004, 01:52:52 PM »

It oughta be doable. The holes are no problem. You need to mark and measure where you want the mount to go and find a rail with the right radius. A shim or three under the front of the rail will correct for barrel taper and keep cost down. You could use two piece bases if appearance matters to you.

I have a fixed 2x shotgun scope on one of my .45-70s and the eyepiece is about 3/4" ahead of the hammer. That's a nice setup. On my Max, I ground off most of the hammer spur and crossdrilled the stub to take an inch or so of soldered in drill rod. That gave me a low scope mount and an extension that's easier to use and never works loose.

H&R BANG · « **Reply #4 on:** March 09, 2004, 02:15:04 PM »

I did my 44 mag Handi that way. I used a Weaver TC Contender base. I drilled the screw holes less deep than the rear sight hole. You will probably want to fill in the gap between the barrel and base with JB Weld. The TC base hase 4 mounting screws so it should be good and rugged.

like2shoot · « **Reply #5 on:** March 09, 2004, 02:58:25 PM »

You may want to check out Compass Lake. They make an extension that attaches to a weaver type base. It may or may not fit, but extends forward quite a bit. A saw one on an AR15 and it did allow a wider range of options for length. Hopefully this may help. BTW does anyone know of a thread protector for the end of a pre-ban AR barrel? I would like to use one on my barrels without a muzzle brake. Thanks :?

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2004, 04:19:39 PM »

I think what I need is a 9" scope rail. I'd have the machinist drill and tap one hole (or maybe 2 since they will be shallow) in the barrel out near the end and screw it down thru a shim for support. That way I could move the scope I have just a hair forward of the breech face. I played around with it and I think it has enough eye relief to work. I went to www.weaver-mounts.com and sent their "ask an expert" a message telling them what I wanted to do. Maybe they will have a rail for me.

I looked at Compass Lake's stuff. What they have is made to mate to a flat top AR-15 receiver. It's not an extension rail as such.

H&R Bang, did you shim the front of the TC rail? If not, did ya have any problems sighting the scope in?

thanks for the replies,
Ian

H&R BANG · « **Reply #7 on:** March 10, 2004, 02:48:44 PM »

The taper on the 44 mag barrel is slight, so I had no problem with the sight adjustment. The rifle is a delight to carry with no scope in the way. My eyes are getting too old for iron sights. I think this is the best solution for low power scopes on a Handi rifle. I plan on getting a 30-30 barrel and mounting a 4x Simmons pistol scope.

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2004, 03:52:55 PM »

Thanks H&R Bang.

The "ask an expert" thing was useless... they don't have anything usable and didn't have any suggestions...

I sat here this evening and went through the scope base section of Midway's master Catalog and found exactly what I was looking for. It's a 10" piece of universal base for weaver rings made for a 1.17" diameter barrel. I miked my Handi's barrel at the existing rail holes and it is 1.18" give or take a thousandth. I'm going to attach it with the stock base holes in the rear and the hole under the rear iron sight in the front. I'll have to shim it there. The scope I bought won't have enough eye relief though, I'll have to buy another unfortunately. Looks like I will be looking for a compact 2.5 or 3ishx32 scope with 7-10" of eye relief. That'll put the scope's ocular about 1" forward of the breech face. I think finding the scope will be more of a pain than the rail was.

thanks for all the replies,
Ian

handirifle · « **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2004, 06:48:28 PM »

Haywire
Instead of shims in the front, do like the Ultra's and drill and tap a setscrew in the first half inch or so of the base and thghten a screw against the barrel through it. Then place anothe set screw in through the side to lock it in place. Clean looking.

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2004, 10:33:00 PM »

Good idea Handi, I've never seen an Ultra up close. I think I'll just loctite it in place instead of trying to drill a hole thru the side tho, that would require more accuracy than my eyeball could manage.

I'll post a picture of my monster when I get it done.

Ian

Airsporter · « **Reply #11 on:** March 10, 2004, 10:37:19 PM »

Both Leupold and Burris have scout scopes.

I began the same project, but its on hold for a month ot two due to a relocation move. The Leupold I have will end up a couple inches forward of the breech end.

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2004, 11:06:01 PM »

Yep, I've been lookin at them. All the LER/pistol scopes I've seen so far have 20mm objectives, and I would like a 32. The bigger the objective is the larger the exit pupil is given the same magnification and a larger exit pupil = less tunnel effect = less searching for the crosshairs = faster pickup.

shoot safe,
Ian

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2004, 04:22:15 PM »

Here's the monster. I still have to drill and tap the front of the rail for the set screw. I think I'm gonna like it. I knuckled under and bought a Burris 2-7x32 handgun scope. It was on the expensive side but ya get what ya pay for I suppose. Wadda ya think of my contraption?

Ian

danwolla · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2004, 05:01:45 PM »

looks slick, really slick. How is it to sight through? I'm sure you've shouldered it. how is the field of view with a pistol scope?

handirifle · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2004, 05:50:30 PM »

I like the look. I really like that the hammer is easy to get to.

Lie danwolla said, what does the sight picture look like? How easy is it to acquire?

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #16 on:** March 16, 2004, 10:28:33 PM »

It was dark when I finished with it last night but playing around with it 15yds or so across the garage it's really fast at 2x, then gradually slowing as you go up to 7x. It's not too bad even at the upper end. I think I need to move it further down the rail, it's too close as it is for the best sight picture. I think I read that the eye relief is 12-18" on that scope and it's sitting at around 10 now as best I can measure.

Ian

jeff223 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 17, 2004, 06:09:42 AM »

Haywire Haywood,
where do you get that scope base?if you said before i must have missed it.

Winter Hawk · « **Reply #18 on:** March 17, 2004, 08:04:41 AM »

I did this with my .30-06. I used the Burris base & rings, had the barrel drilled & tapped and mounted a 2X Tasco pistol scope. The smith put the base back a bit too far, optimum sight relief would be with the front ring over the front of the forearm. But it works well enough, and is easy to carry. I can wrap my hand around the balance point of the rifle, which is more comfortable for me.

-WH-

Dang! I tried to post a photo but it didn't take. Here is the URL if you want to see the rifle:

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/nef-singleshot/vwp?.dir=/&.src=gr&.dnm=Kees%27+Scout+Sight.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/nef-singleshot/lst%3f%26.dir=/%26.src=gr%26.view=t

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #19 on:** March 17, 2004, 11:15:11 AM »

Quote from: jeff223

Haywire Haywood,
where do you get that scope base?if you said before i must have missed it.

Jeff, look back up the thread a bit, I linked to it at Midway. It's the blue "Universal Base" in one of the threads.

Ian

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #20 on:** March 17, 2004, 03:50:20 PM »

Ok, I'm gonna quit yappin' about this but I had to show you this last thing I did. I moved the scope out to the end of the rail and put the forend off my BC on it. This is much better... I'm going to have to order a replacement forend for the BC now.

I'm done,
Ian

MSP Ret · « **Reply #21 on:** March 17, 2004, 03:57:22 PM »

sweet!!

Badnews Bob · « **Reply #22 on:** March 18, 2004, 09:53:50 PM »

Yep now all it needs is for me to bang and grind and polish up his trigger for him and maybe he might be able to hit something with it. :-D

Big Blue · « **Reply #23 on:** June 05, 2004, 03:42:25 AM »

Ian,
Now that you've had some time to work with this scout set up, is it up to your original expectations? I've been thinking of trying it on my BC, and use a red dot sight.
Don

handirifle · « **Reply #24 on:** June 05, 2004, 07:28:19 AM »

Haywire,
Just been reading this post over. That's a nice looking setup. Looks really easy to carry. It would look VERY clean it the scope base didn't have to come clear back to the breech.

ScatterGunner · « **Reply #25 on:** June 06, 2004, 03:39:34 AM »

it looks really slick haywire, but isn't that going to screw up the barrel harmonics ?

sg

Double D · « **Reply #26 on:** June 06, 2004, 04:22:04 AM »

If you take that rig to a Machinist to drill and tap, make sure you buy and take with you a 6-48 tap. He probably won't have one.

A Gunsmith will.

Haywire Haywood · « **Reply #27 on:** June 06, 2004, 04:46:32 AM »

Didn't think this thread would get dredged up again :-) It was frustrating getting it to shoot till I went with SR Magnum primers, then groups shrunk like your favorite cotton shirt in the drier. I wasn't concerned with barrel harmonics, as it couldn't carry a tune to begin with, we already replaced it in the quartet. :mrgreen: I got in on that custom Lee 180gr Gas Check mold but haven't even put the handles on it yet.
Here's the last group I shot a few weeks ago. 145gr Winchester silvertips running at about 25-2600fps. 5 shots, 50 yds. Makes great skunk medicine.

marv · « **Reply #28 on:** June 06, 2004, 05:00:39 AM »

Haywire, Looks to me like that would be a good medicine for
any thing you want to use it on. My calculation that givesn you
a energy of about 2000 f/ lbs at the muzzle. that is better than
30-30. You are giving me ideas Good luck Marv.

Big Blue · « **Reply #29 on:** June 06, 2004, 09:14:51 AM »

Ian,
Thanks for your long term report. I just thought, now that you had a chance to play with it a bit (the rifle) I'd check back and see how it was working out.
Don