Whew!!

[Bent Ramrod]

I finally got a chance to use the Forster sight mounting fixture I got at a Gun Show a couple years back. It was missing a few parts, which I had to make or buy, like bushings for the drills and taps, and the clamps, which I bought from Forster Bros.

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The drill press is Chinese, and not a precision instrument. The chuck goes up and down when you pull the lever; that's about it. The Enco X-Y table is ditto, but it works fairly well. I was still glad I had the fixture to provide definitive centering.

Maybe my expensive Shiloh rifle wasn't the best thing to begin on, but the holes are vertical, properly spaced for the screws, the proper distance between the blocks, and I didn't break a tap or run the drill into the bore.

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Four holes, drilled and tapped, took me probably six hours to do. I took my blood pressure during a break to run errands and it was "high" according to the tester at the pharmacy.

I don't see how real gunsmiths make a living, but I do sympathize with their having to put up with, "Whataya mean, charging that much for that little job!?" Drilling and tapping a hole is a "little" job, just like sinking a 3-foot putt at the local miniature golf course is a "little" job. When the same 3-foot putt has to be sunk at the US Open, it's something else again.

The Forster jig is more set up for bolt actions where the receivers are drilled, but barrels can be done with a little strategerie.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Congratulations! Looks like you did a great job. I've had one of the Forrester Jigs for years, and they're pretty versatile. They make a pricey arm attachment that lets you do longer barrels such as yours without as much stress. I used mine primarily for bolt actions, but now days most of them come from the factory pre-drilled and tapped. Eventually I found some other jigs like B-Square that clamp inside the receiver with the hole drilling extensions hanging over the receiver bridge and ring in the appropriate locations--much easier to use and almost foolproof, so my Forrester became used only for the more unusual jobs like yours, and the other jigs for the surplus Mausers, etc. That looks like a nice rifle. No wonder I haven't seen any buffalos around for awhile.;)