Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Broken tap problem now worse... suggestions

OK guys I'm an idiot lets get that out of the way first. I'm the guy you gunsmiths love to hate. I recently posted about a broken tap in a rifle reciever. It is the front sight screw hole in a remington 700 so the barrel is directly under the hole. I tried to follow some advice given in the previous post so I tried to shatter it with a punch but I think I only served to drive it tighter into the hole. Sooooooo I decided to use a small dremel mill in a drill press.....and ended up messing up the hole. You knew that was coming didn't ya!!! Now i still have the tap stuck and the hole ruined to the point that 8-40 screws are probally not gonna work. Can the messed up hole be be welded and re-tapped??? Any other options or suggestions. I need to have absolute confidence that it is as strong as new. I plan to make this rifle a front line hunting rifle and it is on a mag calibur. If I can't get that level of confidence in it I'll scrap the action and start over. Thanks in advance. 163bc

You probably wouldn't listen, but take it to a smith.

Make sure broken tap is below the barrel surface , move sight 1/4" in either direction , drill and tap 2 new holes and reattach sight . No point in wasting time on that old hole anymore ! That being said , if you don't have a milling machine , take it to a smith $15-$20/hole .

Scope it.

Find a local machine shop with an EDM machine and have them remove it. Then tap for a larger screw size, maybe do all four holes to a larger size so they all use same screws. A good smith can redrill the other three and do the tapping on all four.

Silver solder. Compentently done, you won't need screws

This!

Don't screw up the other 3 holes. Have a pro do this.

True, but you will be need a reblue.

At this point a reblue would be the last thing to worry about.

Ditto,have a smith move the hole 1/4". Easiest thing to do and it will cover up your mistake.Once the sight is on, you will never know it.

Original Poster wrote the post a little confusing, the tap is broked off in the front scope base hole in the receiver, not on the barrel.

Thanks for the replies. I have discussed this with a well know gunsmith. I have a Talley steel mount that would easily accomodate an additional hole. Instead of drilling 2 new holes I'm thinking one additional hole AND repairing the existing one. My front base would then have 3 scope base holes and I would only have to drill 1 additional hole. If the one I have damaged now does not not hold up as repaired I would still have 2 8-40 screws holding the base. I have looked over the damaged hole carefully and it is bad but not completly unrepairable. It is getting shipped off tomorrow to same well know (24hour campfire recommended) gunsmith for pillar bedding into an Edge mountain rifle stock, ceracoating, re-crowning, bolt & trigger work.

where ya from maybe I can help you out

Northern Va. near Warrenton.

Now I read that you had a tap broken off in a front sight mounting hole . So now it's back to the receiver ? Color me confused !

Had the same thing happen to me in the same spot, except it was a screw extractor, same hardened steel. Send it to a smith, they can remove the barrel, tap the screw out, enlarge the hole to 8-40 and reinstall the barrel. My rifle shoots great afterwards.

Wow! I used to live in Culpepper. Is Clarks Gun Shop still in business?

Yep!

Clark Bros still going strong. Awesome gun shop with great employees.

My history with Clarks goes back to the 1960's. They certainly did a lot back then to help kids enter the game. Can you imagine post dated counter checks, breaking a box of ammo, or full price exchanges when trading in to upgrade a scope today? Elated to hear the business is still going and I wish them well.