A 1/16 inch drill bit really breaks easily.

[frogwalking]

In the old days, I used a nail with the  head cut off for barrel pins.  On my recent rifle I got fancy and used 3/32 inch hardened steel pins supplied by Track. 

My current effort is on a kit supplied with 1/16 inch pin material.  So, I fit the first under lug, inletted it, marked the spots on each side, center punched one side, set up the center point rig on my drill press and guess what? 
 
Right.  (the way Bill Cosby used to say it.)

The drilling went fine untill I was running the bit out the far side of the lug.  Ping. 
A bit that small breaks real easily.  I forgot the big motor on the drill press.  I am also used to using a hand drill.

This makes the broken off ramrod look like a breeze.   

I will save the suspense and tell you I got it out.  I ran down to the hardware and bought two more 1/16 inch bits, and drilled in from the other side.  when I felt the end of the new bit "crunch" I knew I had hit the broken off bit as hoped.  I didn't break this one however.  I got my 1/16 inch punch (a real one not a ground off nail) and drove the broken bit out of the lug.  I then removed the barrel and the rest of the broken bit.   

The two holes are not perfectly aligned, but that is a very minor deal compared to a drill bit broken off in the barel lug.  I bet no one else ever did this.

Frog.

[tallbear]

Frog
To avoid this drill in till you hit the lug.Remove the barrel from the stock, drill though the lug with the barrel out of the stock.

Mitch

[Gary Tucker]

Frog,
I had the same experience and have long since used a 5/64 drill bit for nearly all of my pin holes.  They don't break nearly as easy.

[amohkali]

I like the bigger pin idea too.  I tend to use my brace and bit and do the drilling by hand when I have to drill with a bit that small and am going through wood.

[Jim Kibler]

There's nothing wrong with using 1/16" pins.  Drill them with a decent quality drill and spin it pretty fast.  Let the bit do the work and don't force it.  Mitch's method is probably a good idea, but I don't bother.  Can't ever remember breaking a bit when drilling for lugs.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

My problem with the high speed drill and the 1/16" bit is that it wants to wander. #$#@$@#$    ...... I have found that a brace and bit makes it an easy task. Maybe its just easier to keep aligned with my old reflexes

[bob in the woods]

I use an "egg beater" crank type drill, or a brace type. My guns don't take kindly to 'lectricity run tools

[billd]

The smaller the drill the faster speed and the slower the feed.

[B Shipman]

1/16 is a really thick pin. Mine are .055 or .047 music wire. And these are drilled from both sides with an even smaller size without the metal  tab and are always a tad off. They are reamed into one hole and then drilled to final size.  Then the pipe or underlug is drilled without a problem. This seems time consuming but is quickly methodical. The barrel pins (or wedges) are also softened. Barrels don't like springy things for accuracy. Dead is good.

[davec2]

I use a drill press and a 1/16" drill.  I use copper plated mild steel weld rod for pins (they brown easily on the ends but never rust in the hole).  I drill the holes through the stock and the lug all at once from one side with a home made finger driller.  It is fed with the fingers rather than the drill press quill and allows a very sensitive feel of the drill progress.  I don't have a picture, but it looks like this commercially made one.  The one I made for myself has a 2 inch travel rather than 3/4".

http://www.mcmaster.com/#finger-drills/=63hlh9

[Michigan Flinter]

If you are using a pointed post ,attached on your drillpress table ,on centerline of the drill ,set your stop on your quill so that the drill doesn't hit the point of your post. I drill almost all the way through drilling the lug and stock in one step .Remove the stock from drillpress and hand drill the rest of the way through.  Eric D. Lau  Riverdale Mi.

[heinz]

I think that a consideration should be sooner or later you will want to take the pins out.  I use 3/32 piano wire.  Of course I bought it so long ago I do not know if it is still readily available.  Drill rod would also work if you tempered it.  I have never seen a study on the size of original pins. Perhaps this is a regional or period characteristic?
thanks to Frogwalker for a nice description of recovering a broken pin.

[JTR]

Just from memory with no measuring involved, on octagon barreled longrifles, original pins seem to be about 3/32" to 1/8" in diameter. Some maybe a bit smaller, but generally not larger than 1/8".

Barrel lugs seem to be about 1/16" thick, some a bit thicker or thinner. On 3 guns that I have that are each missing a lug, and I have measured these, on one rifle the original lugs measures .050", the 2nd rifle right at 1/16", and the third .070" thick.

John

[Don Getz]

I use little finishing nails for barrel pins, they measure .070.....I think it is a 6 penny nail.    Of couse I use a corresponding
dirill of .070, can't remember the number.  I use a hand held electric drill and free hand the actual drilling, straight thru, with no problems.    After drilling the hole, I will remove the barrel, then using the drill will open the hole in the underlug
longitudionally by drilling thru the hole but on a sharp angle, so as to elongate the hole..  I then clean it up with a small
needle file.   I guess the more you do the easier it becomes..............Don

[Bryce]

I'll second the hand powered ""egg beater"" type drill for this. Gives great control over speed and alignment while your drilling, and never broken a bit using it. Actually, i use mine for about everything, tang bolt, lock bolts and of course, underlugs.