Drill and Tap

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
How much does it usually cost for a gunsmith to do it? How long to get it done (on avg.)?

Thinking about getting a .410 shotgun drilled and tapped to mount a mini reflex sight on it.
 

Ol Copper

Twelve Pointer
Had an 870 youth gun done not too long ago. It was $10 per hole and he mounted the base for me. Got the gun back in 3 days.
 
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Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Wow, that's cheap! Most of the gunsmiths I'm familiar with charge between $10 and $15 per hole as a minimum

That's what we always charged, for a simple drill and tap. Usually another $10 for intalling mounts and rings.
I haven't been in the business for a few years but it's such a simple process that it shouldn't be much more.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
40$ a few days if he’s local and not “commercial”
It’s pretty easy.
Buy the rail you want for it. It should come with the hard wear. Sharpie the holes using the rail as your stencil. Drill small pilot holes very square. Then a hand threader can be bought at the local auto store or Lowe’s probably. Tape the bit to the correct depth so you don’t drill to far. Work bit size up slowly. Should only be 3 sizes. Really small to the correct size before you thread.
Take some pictures and post under do it yourself. Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
40$ a few days if he’s local and not “commercial”
It’s pretty easy.
Buy the rail you want for it. It should come with the hard wear. Sharpie the holes using the rail as your stencil. Drill small pilot holes very square. Then a hand threader can be bought at the local auto store or Lowe’s probably. Tape the bit to the correct depth so you don’t drill to far. Work bit size up slowly. Should only be 3 sizes. Really small to the correct size before you thread.
Take some pictures and post under do it yourself. Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nope size 6-48 tpi taps are not usually available in box stores and for the front holes you need a special blind tap with only one or two thread lead in, then for the through holes you can use a standard tap with four or five threads lead in
 

bwfarms

Old Mossy Horns
Nope size 6-48 tpi taps are not usually available in box stores and for the front holes you need a special blind tap with only one or two thread lead in, then for the through holes you can use a standard tap with four or five threads lead in

I think you mean tapping a blind hole using taper tap or plug tap in conjunction with a bottoming tap.

If you're cheap and only plan on doing it once, you can do it with just a plug tap. When you get your thread started, you remove the virgin tap and grind the chamfer flat and then give it a slight break. Make sure you use a coolant and don't get the tap hot. Clean the started hole well and tap to the bottom.

A few other pointers:

Use a drill bit that has a 135 degree split drill point.

As you tap, back the tap out occasionally so chips don't crowd the blind hole.

While you can use a sharpie and a drill press, invest in a cross slide vice for the press. A dial caliper won't hurt to have either :)

Take it to a machinist :)
 
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