Made a mistake drilling hole in buttstock - what to fill it with for redrilling?

[Mattole]

I have been undertaking a rather ambitious remaking of a Lyman Great Plains rifle recently. This is my first time doing anything like this and I am enjoying the process very much.

However I have gotten myself into a pickle this evening. After changing the angle of that silly Lyman buttplate and shaping the butt of the stock to accommodate it, I discovered that the previous screw hole for the buttplate does not line up. I was expecting that. So I drilled a new hole, but alas I was not precise enough and it ended up being not centered the way I need it to be. I need to drill another hole, and this one will be very close to the mistake hole I just drilled. My question is, what can I fill the existing hole with that will be tough enough grip a screw, if the new hole touches into it (which is likely)?

Many thanks for whatever suggestions you may have.

Kevin

[Dphariss]

I have been undertaking a rather ambitious remaking of a Lyman Great Plains rifle recently. This is my first time doing anything like this and I am enjoying the process very much.

However I have gotten myself into a pickle this evening. After changing the angle of that silly Lyman buttplate and shaping the butt of the stock to accommodate it, I discovered that the previous screw hole for the buttplate does not line up. I was expecting that. So I drilled a new hole, but alas I was not precise enough and it ended up being not centered the way I need it to be. I need to drill another hole, and this one will be very close to the mistake hole I just drilled. My question is, what can I fill the existing hole with that will be tough enough grip a screw, if the new hole touches into it (which is likely)?

Many thanks for whatever suggestions you may have.

Kevin

Put some carpenters glue in the hole, then glue and drive in a tight plug of hardwood dowel or stock wood, any hard wood.
Cut flush give it a couple of hours then drill in the right place.

Dan

[Long John]

Kevin,

Been there, done that!

Do you have any extra wood from the stock blank?  I assume it is maple.  If not get a piece of maple from Home Depot or Lowes and make a plug that looks like a golf tee, coat it with the wood glue of your choice and tap it in.  Let it dry thoroughly.  Cut off the excess, rasp the surface flat and use a centerpunch to locate your new hole.  keep in mind that you should locate the hole on the comb extension about 1/64th inch forward of where the butt plate hole is.  The counter sink of the screw will draw the butt plate up tight to the stock when you install it.  (This is a trick I got from Peter Alexander's book that I found very helpful.) There are lot's of rifle stock out there with plugs in holes!

Best Regards,

JMC

[Kevin Houlihan]

Kevin,
I would glue in a tight fitting hard wood dowel using yellow carpenters glue or white Elmer's. It's OK to drill the screw hole even bigger to accommodate the size dowel that you have.  I've had to do this more than once and never had a problem.
Another Kevin

[Mattole]

Dan, JMC, Kevin,

Many thanks for your quick reply. I am grateful to have such expertise as yours available in such times of technical need!

[bgf]

Congratulations, you just performed step one of properly locating a screw hole; step 2 is the plug, then step 3 is to center punch and drill a new hole .

[Kevin Houlihan]

Dan, JMC, Kevin,

Many thanks for your quick reply. I am grateful to have such expertise as yours available in such times of technical need!

Just don't ask everyone how they knew the answer...

[Ezra]

Been there, done that...more than once. 


Ez

[smylee grouch]

Mattole, I have used a short section of 7/16 hickory ramrod with good results, just drill proper sized hole like Dan said and glue in and trim off excess and redrill for but screw.

[Jerry V Lape]

One caution, don't make that plug so snug  you have to drive it in with considerable force as then might act as a wedge and split the end grain.

[Old Ford2]

Me nooooooo, never drilled a hole too big, or the wrong place, many of my stocks look like a woodpecker got to it first.
Great to know some of the fixes, isn't it?
Great stuff that wood glue!
Old Ford

[Mattole]

Yes I am on the time-honored beginner's path of making many learning mistakes. Hopefully there will still be enough wood and metal left of the gun to have something to show for it when the project is complete. 

I do know I'm making many errors, but am still having a great time doing it!

[JB2]

Sometimes, if not necessary, I don't fill in those extra holes.  I call it 'weight reduction'!

[whitebear]

I do know I'm making many errors, but am still having a great time doing it!

Or as the guy said going down the interstate " I may be lost but I am making great time"

Congratulations you are now a member of the rifle builders faturnity!

If you will look back at old post you will find that almost everyone on here has posted asking for advice on correcting a mistake.  Some of the really great builders on here have had to have plastic surgery to reshape there face so they could sight down the side of the barrel after they cut the dovetail on the oblique or side flat instead of on top where us mere mortals put it.

[Roger Fisher]

The glue pot was standard equipment on the ol timer's gunbuilding bench...

[doug]

     I would drill the hole out to fit either a dowel or a stack of plugs depending on which way the grain is running.  Basically I want the grain of the filler to be roughly parallel to the grain of the stock.  I would also use an epoxy glue because at least some of the carpenter's glues are water soluable and I would not want to take a chance on the gun someday having the misfortune of a wet butt and the glue softening.   Finally I would use the same species of wood as the stock is made of so that on your next try the drill does not hit a soft spot or a hard spot and drift off again.  I don't particularly like the golf tee method because it potentially is a wedge

cheers Doug

[Pete G.]

I think a lot of build time is spent "recovering" from missteps. If this is your worst, then you are doing well. You ought to try laying out, marking and cutting your dovetails for the underlugs........all on the side of the barrel instead of the bottom. Incidentally, use your center punch to mark the start for the new hole and you will have a better chance of it coming out where you expect.

[38_Cal]

I like to use the good old hardware store plugs...1" pieces of dowel with either straight "knurled" lines fore & aft or spiral lines to let excess glue push out.  I do a lot of recoil pads for the 4H and scholastic (high school & jr. high) trap shooting programs here, and usually have at least one hole to fill. 

David

[blunderbuss]

One can patch a mis drilled hole in metal too ask me when it happens I'm a past master on that one too. I put a sight (drilled and taped) on an octogon barreld pistol once I was so proud until I realized it was on the wrong flat. But it was right in the center of the flat does that count?

[Dogshirt]

I have had great sucess repairing door hardware holes with round toothpicks. Hinges and strike plates
take a lot of abuse and the screws get loose. I just give a squirt of yellow glue ( dries much faster than
white) and tap in as many TPs as it takes. Because they don't fit tightly together, you don't get
the hydraulic pressure that can happen with a dowel. Pushing a dowel into a hole with glue gives the
glue no place to go and creates pressure that will split wood, especially the crud that they make
door frames out of these days!
 Since most toothpicks are birch, they hold up very well to taking a screw, and if Titebond 3 is used,
the whole thing takes stain fairly well.
 I wouldn't use this any place out in plain sight, but under the buttplate it should give good results.

[kutter]

Filling extra holes in the ends of butt stocks for years before putting new plates and pads on, I've drilled the old hole clean with a 1/4" drill (if it allows). The take a common 1/4" dowel for the plug.

But before glueing in place, I score the sides by pulling it through the jaws of a pliers.
Most pliers have a rounded, open section with coarse teeth just back of the flat jaws.
Just lightly grip the dowel there and pull it through leaving lengthwise scored marks in the surface.

A a couple of trips through the pliers scores the full circumference.
It allows the xcess glue to push it's way out of the hole and avoids an air pocket on the bottom. Drys faster too.
The dowel bottoms out in the drilled hole easily and I lightly 'peen' (smash!) the end over on the surface into the excess glue to fill any of the hole that may be slightly oversize at the surface.

There is yellow carpenters glue that is water proof/ exterior rated available at Home Depot type stores. Drys quickly and will avoid a problem if the stock gets wet.
Maple, walnut, birch and other wood species dowels at some of the better stores.

[Stophel]

"Any hard wood", meaning NOT Ramin wood.  Awful stuff.  I wouldn't trust it to hold a screw.  Use a bit of hickory ramrod.  And drill a pilot hole for it!

[blunderbuss]

I keep wooden chopsticks for filling holes that's tough stuff. I'm not much good at doing somthing right the first time but a past master at fixin' mistakes 

[Roger Fisher]

Kevin,

Been there, done that!

Do you have any extra wood from the stock blank?  I assume it is maple.  If not get a piece of maple from Home Depot or Lowes and make a plug that looks like a golf tee, coat it with the wood glue of your choice and tap it in.  Let it dry thoroughly.  Cut off the excess, rasp the surface flat and use a centerpunch to locate your new hole.  keep in mind that you should locate the hole on the comb extension about 1/64th inch forward of where the butt plate hole is.  The counter sink of the screw will draw the butt plate up tight to the stock when you install it.  (This is a trick I got from Peter Alexander's book that I found very helpful.) There are lot's of rifle stock out there with plugs in holes!

Best Regards,

JMC

Heck yes and holes in plugs

[Mattole]

Thanks for your many great suggestions and your assurance that I am not the only one out here who has needed to fill the hole and try again.. and again.. and again...