Update on my 12 VLP

[BobT]

I would re-drill and tap the holes to 8x40, there should be enough room to line them up like they should be and all will be right with the world!


I have one smith saying, "Sure, no problem."

I have another one saying, "You'll end up with oval holes."

Does anybody know a smith in the Dallas or Oklahoma City area who has done this before?


The oval holes guy might be right, I wasn't thinking in my original post so here is the scoop. The major diameter of a #6 screw is .138, the major diameter of a #8 is .164, since your holes are off .018 at first glance it looks like the #8 screws should work fine. The tap drill size for the #8 screw though is only .136 so it is already .002 under the major diameter of the #6 screw, I'm going by memory on the diameters here as I don't have my handbook in front of me but I think I'm at least close. In any case this is a job for a PROFESSIONAL gunsmith, not a rookie. If you decide to go this route I would be very careful about whom I chose to do the work. This is not the only fix but I think it would be my choice if I were stuck with the gun.

Good luck!
Bob

[chestsprings]

Texas,

if you find a person who does it, & it helps solve that problem, please let me know who you used, & how it worked.

I would be very interested.

then maybe, I might be able to not use the Burris inserts for my R/L adjustments.

[TexasTransplant]

I'm waiting to hear what the smith's report on what they got back from Savage looks like.

Depending on what Savage did, it is possible that drilling out larger holes in a straight line will actually result in greater alignment error.

Does anybody here know anything about stainless steel welding? Another thought would be to fill the holes and then re-drill standard sizes.