Author Topic: Drill and Tapping a Pardner Barrel (Read 3152 times)

cattleskinner · « **on:** March 03, 2011, 10:56:17 AM »

The title pretty much says it all. I was wondering who has had this done, and if so where and how much. I am in Ohio but can mail the barrel if you guys have a good smith to do the work. I picked up a used 20 guage that I have plans to cut the barrel a bit shorter on to remove the choke and put either a low powered scope or red dot on for deer. I figure if NEF wants to keep avoiding the smooth bore slug route I will have to do it myself another way.

LHitchcox · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2011, 11:54:52 AM »

My smith will D&T a 20 gauge because there is a lot of metal, but he won't touch a 12 gauge.

Spanky · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2011, 12:34:13 AM »

The 20's are easy for a smith to drill and tap. I've cut a couple 20's down to 20" and scoped them. They make real good woods guns and don't kick the heck out of you when you pull the trigger.

Spanky

Jal5 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2011, 03:03:22 PM »

I had mine done by SKS Industries, in Wintersville, OH- JD is a good guy and a sponsor on GBO.

Works great with a Bushnell Banner scope and plain Rem slugs.

Joe

gendoc · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2011, 01:29:12 AM »

Quote from: Jal5 on March 04, 2011, 03:03:22 PM

I had mine done by SKS Industries, in Wintersville, OH- JD is a good guy and a sponsor on GBO.

Works great with a Bushnell Banner scope and plain Rem slugs.

Joe

is yours a 20 or 12ga ?....

rsh4364 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2011, 05:06:09 AM »

12 or 20 ? I have 12 am in Ohio & interested.

gendoc · « **Reply #6 on:** March 05, 2011, 05:15:31 AM »

i kinda doubt the gunsmith would d&t a pardner 12ga barrel....
ain't a hole lotta meat there... and its get'n to close inside tha chamber. might bust !!!

but, maybe itsa been done and working i don't no.. thats why i asked.

spikehorn · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2011, 04:41:51 PM »

I've had a couple 20's done a tracker II and a 22" pardner my smith did them cost $50

Jal5 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 08, 2011, 05:12:34 PM »

Mine is the 20 ga. Pardner that SKS Industries did for me. I understand that the 12 ga. barrel just doesn't have enough material to do the drill & tap.

There are other ways of putting sights on the 12 ga. see the FAQs pages.

Joe

Bill3006 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2011, 09:15:43 AM »

For the 12 ga., what have people done for scope mounting? If you can't drill and tap, you would either need to glue the base on, or perhaps solder on a steel Warne base. Anybody done either or those, or think they might work? Thanks.

Airsporter · « **Reply #10 on:** March 09, 2011, 11:14:35 AM »

I drilled and tapped my 22" 12ga barrel for a Williams WGRS peep. That is, the same 2 holes for the rear of a handi scope base. Being careful, was able to get 4 1/2 threads with a .10 deep hole (IIRC). I thought I would have to shorten the screws that came with the peep, but they only had 3 turns projecting below the base! If I were mounting a scope I would probably drill the forward (3rd) hole, lap the base, and use acraglas in addition to the screws.

BTW, I'm not convinced that drilling all the way though the chamber wall is as dangerous as most seem to think. Screws would have to be honed/polished smooth with the inside of the chamber wall to prevent chambering/extraction problems. Not recommending it, just not sure it would be a problem at 12ga pressures. Been tempted to buy an extra barrel and do a test. Anybody ever hear of a Kaboom because of this? Incoming $:-\$

gjdykeman · « **Reply #11 on:** March 09, 2011, 12:01:15 PM »

Been there, done that. Drilled two holes, up the chamber, all the way thru. Tapped, standard threads. Mounted a muzzleloader, Truglow sight. Ground the screws as close to chamber before mounting. I used a long shaft dremmel and ground them as close as I could, then polished the chamber. Fired quite a few rounds thru this, slugs, special hand loads, factory loads. A few stickers, but mostly not. I carried a round ball 69 cal. With a sticker, dropped the lead down the barrel and shell came right out. I later discovered I had scarred the chamber with the dremmel, thus the stickers. Four holes for a scope mount I don't know. Never had a blow out. Purchased a new barrel anyway but had many problems in it with stuck rounds with the hand loads, range hulls and no sizer. Others have done it, it was an experiment but did ok. Others have done it with no issues. I will be using the drilled barrel for a stub project, so no loss, holes will be for sight mount. 45 ACP Handi. I recommend silver solder.

Bill3006 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 09, 2011, 03:46:37 PM »

Thanks, appreciate your feedback.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2011, 04:20:39 PM »

If you drill though and tap there will be some burrs; its better to use a round back stone to dress them out than power equipment.
When you tap only run the tap in deep enough to take the screw, the deeper you go with it the more oversize threads tend to get. I like to use a taper tap for this reason on thru-holes, you can fine tune the fit. On a shotgun, or other heavy kicker I prefer larger than 6x48 screws, but the torx head type are pretty tough.
Shorten the screws bit by bit to be flush inside and the breech pressure upon the screw end will be so low as to never be a problem.
BTW, I DONT recommend trying to do this in a bench vise with a hand drill unless you are very skilled and/or very lucky.

Airsporter · « **Reply #14 on:** March 11, 2011, 10:48:15 AM »

Quote from: gcrank1 on March 10, 2011, 04:20:39 PM

BTW, I DONT recommend trying to do this in a bench vise with a hand drill unless you are very skilled and/or very lucky.

Indeed, truly a recipe for disaster! I consider a drill press/compound vise the minimum equipment. Knowing how to locate the holes is critical.

cattleskinner · « **Reply #15 on:** March 26, 2011, 06:17:52 PM »

Well, I've got it about 95% done. It started out as a standard 25.5" barrel 20 gauge full choke. I chopped the barrel off to 20" with a hacksaw, and filed it square, sanded smooth with fine sandpaper, and re-crowned with a carriage bolt/sandpaper attached. Painted the stock with spray paint can bedliner, and fitted a Pachmyer Decellerator pad. Sent the barrel off to SSK Industries to have the barrel drilled for the scope base. Here is the results...I still have to touch up the bedliner where I caught the stock with the sander. I also have to finish the recoil pad fitting, it is slightly proud but I may leave it as is.

Shotgun-$80
Spray bedliner-$8 and change
Leupold Rifleman base and Recoil pad- about $40
Barrel drilled for base-about $72 which includes shipping costs
Red dot- already had it

Total costs- just over $200
Light handy all weather smoothbore slug gun-Priceless!!!

scout4 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 27, 2011, 08:08:32 AM »

Yeah Man cattleskinner!! Thats perfect!! I sure like the home made slug shooters! Dandy lookin gun you have! scout4<><

cattleskinner · « **Reply #17 on:** October 27, 2011, 07:49:47 PM »

Just an update for this thread since I have seen a couple other guys ask about drilling their barrels. I just got done putting Duracoat on the barrel and receiver of the shotgun. When shooting with the reddot that was previously on it, I would consistently get the first two shots touching at 50 yds, but the following shots would always be about an inch or two out. I decided to put a Simmons Pro diamond 4 power scope on it to hopefully take care of any sighting factors. Now if the shots are wide, I can blame myself. I am going to shoot later today or tomorrow and post the results. Now I really do have a grab and go all weather deer gun.

Jal5 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 28, 2011, 03:19:12 AM »

I think you will like the 4 power scope better, that is what I have too by Bushnell and it is really accurate. Joe

cattleskinner · « **Reply #19 on:** October 28, 2011, 08:29:11 AM »

Well I got a chance to go out and shoot a couple boxes. The Winchester rifled slugs shoot pretty good up close but groups opened out further away. Here is a picture of the gun in better lighting and a picture of the Brenneke Rottweil 2 3/4" slugs(old ones). Not too shabby, but I think I might have twitched with the right one as it was the second shot, and lowest shot was the 5th shot. This is at 50 yds and shooting with about a minute or less between shots.

Lon371 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 28, 2011, 10:46:12 AM »

Nice job. The pics below are Cattleskinner. I couldn't see the above pict so I reposted it.

Lonny

spikehorn · « **Reply #21 on:** October 30, 2011, 10:37:51 AM »

Nice job! Except for the twitchy one it looks like minute of deer to me.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 30, 2011, 10:41:37 AM »

Hey, he was just practicing his lead.........>>>>

cattleskinner · « **Reply #23 on:** October 31, 2011, 07:40:34 AM »

Not making excuses, but that thing is light at 6lb 11 oz...I think I need to put a little lead in the stock. I did try putting a strap hooked at the front base of the bench which then loops around the buttstock to absorb the recoil(think poor mans lead sled), which didn't work too bad but need to experiment with it some more.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #24 on:** October 31, 2011, 09:13:44 AM »

You risk a cracked stock if it cant recoil back and it wont print to the same place because you are the 'give' in a certain way. Same thing with sighting in off the bench then shooting standing, offhand, the recoil impulse and muzzle rise puts the bullet into different places.

tacklebury · « **Reply #25 on:** October 31, 2011, 03:09:37 PM »

With me, I only shoot off the bench to put groups on paper for ladders. Once I have a load established, I use elbow only rests with bigger recoils and sit up straight, so my body can flex with the recoil. Most of the time, I start standing once I'm done groupin. Figure when hunting, I won't be sitting at a table with sandbags etc. anyway. I start shooting off hand and practice takin shots standing, kneeling and leaning against a tree.

I know 50-52 gr. RL 7 behind a 350 will rock me at 235# and 6' tall about 12". Standing, it's actually made me roll back off my heel. hehe

cattleskinner · « **Reply #26 on:** October 31, 2011, 07:15:27 PM »

I didn't think of the cracked stock as the muzzle is able to recoil up but for the most part it has no where to go backwards except against the strap. No bother though as I only wasusing it to test slugs and find the best grouping ones. Four or more boxes at a session wears the shoulder a bit.