RR hole

[little joe]

I would like for my ram rod hole to drift about .125 in to the left. Right hand lock and I,m tired of the main spring running into the RR hole. Any ideas?

[smylee grouch]

Make a scraper like Taylor describes and scrape on that side. Use the search function and look for ramrod hole topics.

[looper]

You could mortice in the channel where you want it from the inside of the barrel channel, then fit a piece to cover it back up.

[Mike Brooks]

Grind a little off the mainspring or use a larger breeched barrel.

[David Rase]

Then line it up your ramrod channel when you lay things out to have your drill end up .125" left of center.  Pretty easy.  You will end up with your entry pipe also positioned slightly to the left. 
David

[smallpatch]

Listen to Mr Rase...... he knows!!!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Mike nailed it.  If you build with 3/4" and 13/16" AF barrels, and use a 3/8" rod hole, you'll have problems. 

[little joe]

After thinking about this for awhile here,s what I came up with. Cut a centered RR channel . Then I use a piece of 2 in. by 2 in.x .250 wall, very  rigid tube.Lay the stock LEFT side  down, clamp it at the muzzle end as many times as necessary after putting a  .125 shim at the breech and then clamp the stock at the RR entry point and then drill the hole. Smylee If I do as you suggested I still have a RR hole where  I don,t want it as you have to have a hole to use a scraper. Trying this on the next one.

[Mike Brooks]

Fred Miller used to bend the stock which ever way he wanted the drill to go. I'm sure there is a sharp learning curve to learn that trick.

[Daryl]

Fred Miller used to bend the stock which ever way he wanted the drill to go. I'm sure there is a sharp learning curve to learn that trick.

  yes

[Jim Kibler]

When making custom guns, I bent stock fairly often while drilling holes.  This becomes important with heavily "swamped" profiles and English fowling piece barrels.  Basically, make a form and clamp it in place to have the hole go where you want it.

I've drilled hundreds of holes in the last while and while it can sometimes still be an adventure, I've found these things to be most importsant:
Have the groove pointed where you want it to go.
Use a sharp single flute gun drill.
The very start (when the bit first starts to cut the wood) is most critical.  This needs to be controlled and be in the proper position.
Clear chips often and avoid too much heat build up.

[smart dog]

Hi,
What Jim didn't mention is that the drift for heavily swamped barrels such as on English fowlers is downward so you can keep a thin web at the muzzle but also not have the ramrod hole break into the barrel channel near the breech or block the forward lock bolt.

dave