Advice on enlarging a ramrod hole

[Turtle]

  I have a rifle with a 5/16 ramrod hole that I want to enlarge to 3/8. The stock  has enough wood to do it. I have a ramrod drill, but fear it will catch and cause damage. Ideas?
                                   Thanks,Rich

[Scota4570]

A long bit with common spiral point bit?  If so put a negative rake angle on the cutting edge of the bit, like for drilling brass.  Do some tests on similar wood with a 5/16" hole.  If you are going to try a Harbor Freight long bit be aware they lack clearance for deep holes and bind up.  You can upset a bit of metal on the outside of the cutting flute to make the hole cut larger,  or grind clearance on the bit behind the cutting end.  Be sure the stock is well secured when drilling and feed very slow.

[rich pierce]

I guess first enlarge the groove to fit the drill. After that go slow at the start and you should be fine. High speed, low feed if a spiral drill.

[Turtle]

I have a conventional ramrod drill from track. I have had it catch when deepening a hole in a blank, and this will be on a thin weak, shaped stock. I worry about a disaster.
                                Thanks for the help

[Nordnecker]

My only RR drill is 5/16". I have enlarged several holes to 3/8 without any problems. I welded a regular 3/8 bit to a piece of 3/8 round bar and it isn't even perfectly strait. It won't fit in a bit brace. I just twisted in with my fingers, nice and slow, and it worked just fine. It might seem unlikely, but it worked just fine.

[flinchrocket]

Jim Kibler has a video on you tube showing how to drill a ramrod hole. You would no doubt pick up some good tips from his video. Very informative.

[rich pierce]

Turtle, I’d consider clamping half a piece of PVC pipe or something to the already shaped forestock to just keep that area “solid” so the drill doesn’t feel less resistance there. But worst case scenario I think the ramrod hole moves toward the forestock 1/16” versus 1/32”. Let us know how it goes.

[T*O*F]

I have a rifle with a 5/16 ramrod hole that I want to enlarge to 3/8.

Why take the risk?  Replace your 2 forward thimbles with 3/8ths ones.  Take a 3/8ths ramrod and gradually taper it to 5/16ths from the entry thimble to the end.  You won't sacrifice that much strength and visually it will appear the same.

[BOB HILL]

Tof has the right simplest safest plan.
Bob

[little joe]

Scrape the channel out to 3/8 and drill it. No big deal.

[dogcatcher]

From 5/16 to 3/8 is a 1/16 of an inch, considering the 2 sides of the hole that is only 1/32" that needs to be removed.  A little sandpaper on a rod with a slit cut in the end should be able to remove that in no time without breaking sweat.   It would take longer to make the rod with the slit in it.  But then I would "cheat" and use a cleaning tip on a rod and CA glue a piece of sandpaper on it.  To make it easier, I would use a drill to turn the rod as it goes in and comes out, kind of like reaming the bore.   Make sure your drill is turning in the correct direction so the cleaning rod doesn't come apart in the hole.   

[Curtis]

Tof has the right simplest safest plan.
Bob

What Bob said + 2.  I agree with TOF.

[Pukka Bundook]

Tof has it, but what I did one time, is get a rod the size of the present hole, and with a cold chisel, put a burr towards the end, in one side.  (raised a cutting flish if you know what I mean))

Put rod in electric drill and wound it up and down and  the burr or tooth hogged it out very quickly.

[sonny]

I have enlarged a ramrod hole one time with a hickory dowel, slightly undersized to go down the ramrod hole, an put a taper on the end, like a pencil point, then glued a small band of sandpaper to the rod, like a ring for a finger. I loaded the ramrod into an electric drill, then slowly let the sandpaper sand its way down the ramrod hole. It was slow going, but having a few other rods with finer an finer sandpaper rings glued to them, made a super nice smooth enlarged ramrod hole. Don't make the fit too tight when starting, so it won't be hard on the ramrod with sandpaper. I did this on a 7,000.00 dollar custom rifle that needed to make me happy with a thicker ramrod. The tailpipe an thimbles needed enlarging slightly to fit the new ramrod. Round files  took care of them.....sonny