Ram rod hole clean out

[Daryl Pelfrey]

Has anyone ever driled out a ramrod hoe filled with pewter?

[EC121]

You might have to cut into the barrel channel.  Or at least drill a few holes to see how much there is. 

[WadePatton]

Dam.  I mean your dams failed eh?  Good luck, no experience but I've seen the warning labels and dams discussed. 

[rich pierce]

I was wondering how that would happen.  Tricky business but a ramrod drill held in the rib should to the trick.

[P.W.Berkuta]

No - not me but here are my 2 cents on doing it
Do you know how much pewter is down there? This may determine your success. The end of the pewter will not be flush and square. It will have a meniscus effect (domed) and slanted this will not start your drill square which will tend to force the drill point to one side or the other. IF you can square off the dome AND get the drill bit to start in the center AND you don't have to drill far you MIGHT have a chance of drill out that pewter - I think you success is SLIM to NONE -- good luck in you venture

[Robby]

You could buy a 3/8" dimeter rod at the hardware store and grind a flat scraping head on it with a little relief, the bore will keep it from wandering. Pewter is soft, it shouldn't take long.
Robby

[sdilts]

I did once. I just used a ramrod drill turned by hand to clean it out. It took a while but it worked.

[Flint62Smoothie]

Just thinking out loud ... as I have a few small 1/8” to 3/8” (sold by the 1/16” sizes) diamond-tipped thin-wall “hole saws” for drilling holes in china and ceramics, for making lamps or other crafts. Whereas they cut to the diameter listed, if somehow you could fashion or weld a long extension, perhaps the bit/saw and extension would follow the ramrod groove OK and remove any excess pewter.

I bought a 3-bit set for $10-$15 shipped off eBay or Amazon, when I made some custom LED lampshades for overhead my kitchen counter (large over-sized white ‘coffee cups’, mounted upside-down). The bits certaintly weren’t expen$ive at all!

[Herb]

Yes. In 1978 I built a Leman Trade Rifle in GRRW's shop in a class in "Antique Custom Riflesmithing" taught by Greg Roberts, the Production Manager.  He drilled the ramrod hole for my stock and the bit came out the bottom of the stock.  He said I could either throw that stock away and start over or fit a wear plate.  I fit the wear plate.  When I poured the pewter nose cap, the cardboard dam broke and the pewter ran into the ram rod hole.  It was drilled out, I don't remember who did it or how, but I now have a wear plate that is $#*! for stout.  That rifle is shown in the Black Powder Shooting board in my posts about Goex, Olde Eynsford and Swiss powders.

[Scota4570]

Put a dowel in the ramrod hole when you pour the pewter. 

[smylee grouch]

I did that once and I made a bottoming drill bit {ground a reg. bit square}  and ran that into the hole to square up the pewter slug. Then drilled the pewter out with a slightly smaller drill. Work very slowly and clear the chips often.

[G_T]

I wonder - would it be possible to use a ball puller on a range rod and pull it out? Or use an easy-out and torque it out? I'm not really suggesting to try this as it would be applying force to the stockwood. More curiosity than anything else.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

Gerald

[B.Habermehl]

Never needed to do this, but I would probably try a Irwin twist speed bore bit attached to a steel rod, turned by hand for control. The centering nib on the bit should help things nicely. Note, I’m not talking about the flat spade bits. They offer a twist style too. BJH