Best way to correct off center ramrod hole?

I'm building a .32 caliber squirrel gun using a Pecatonica River pre carve stock. The ramrod channel was drilled by the factory, and the drill bit must be wandered. You can see where it veers into the lock mortice. When I inletted the lock the mortice ate into the ramrod channel. How do I correct this so I can get the lock in place and the ram rod without the two interfering with each other?

My thinking has me welding a rat tail file to a long piece of 5/16ths bar stock and trying to file the channel to allow the ramrod to slide past the mainsprimg of the lock. Any other suggestions?

Having the lock mortise break into the ramrod channel is fairly common. It doesn't cause any problems for the gun so don't worry about it.

Your ramrod hole can be perfectly straight, and the mainspring inletting can still break into the rod hole. Especially with skinny barrels.

How much interference is there? If it is only a little, you can file the mainspring down in width until the ramrod clears it. Being .32 caliber, your ramrod is pretty small already, so tapering the end down isn't much of an option here.

If the interference is really bad, and/or the ramrod hole is really over too far from center, I would plug the hole and redrill it, or cut it down from inside the ramrod channel. Basically routing out the groove from above, if that makes sense. This way I can absolutely guarantee the rod channel will be precisely where I want it to be, without worrying about a wandering drill bit. After the new rod "hole" is cut, a strip of wood can be fitted and glued back in place over the ramrod to fill the slot back up and solidify everything again.

If it is really bad glue a dowel in it and redrill. If everything works when assembled leave it be.

It's bad but I don't think it's bad enough to plug, and redrill. You can definitely see where it wanders when looking at the home from the thimble section back.

I'm thinking the idea of removing some wood from going through via the lock mortice, plus tapering the end of the rod, should do the trick.

Thanks.

You can make a scraper by burring rod and work it over that way.
May be able to make a scraper head and put it on a ramrod to the same end.
Just scrape the side you want to move it toward.
Fast? No.
Effective? Yes

My Kibler SMR kit had a pronounced ramrod hole wander into the lock inlet, there was about 1/32 of wood between the lock inlet and the ramrod channel, not enough room for the main spring to fit without having the ramrod tight against it. I cut into the ramrod channel while inletting for the spring. I made a scraper and made the channel go away from the lock. This was a very early kit, I am sure the precision of the later ones is spot on. I had to do a bit of lock inletting on my older kit. I saw one of the latest Colonial rifle kits the other day, the lock inlet was drop in, no inletting required, none, it was that perfect.

I have a precarve from the P place, their drill really wandered and left me with a 3/8" web at the breech. I thought that was the worst of it until I installed the ramrod pipes and found the ramrod groove wasn't cut straight and has a gentle arc off to the side from the first pipe to the entry pipe.

Bottom line, this stuff happens fairly often for some suppliers. I never got any work from Fred Miller that was't perfect.

I think I've decided I'll work the ramrod hole using the dremel (gasp) on low speed with a round grinder from the lock mortice since that area is open.. One thing I havev is steady hands, and have used the dremel on a lot of areas where I need to remove wood precisely. I have the dentists drill type attachment which makes precise cuts easy. Besides I only need to remove probably 1/16 or so of an inch of material to allow the end of the rod to drop away from the main spring. I plan to taper the rod as well.

Sidney Smith said:

Any other suggestions?

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If the RR/lock do not interfere with each other, don't worry about it. If it is a factory issue, call Pecatonica River and let them worry about it, they are good people.
Flintlocklar

Larry (Omaha) said:

If the RR/lock do not interfere with each other, don't worry about it. If it is a factory issue, call Pecatonica River and let them worry about it, they are good people.
Flintlocklar

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The ramrod channel as it is now causes the ramrod to enter into where the main spring is supposed to sit. I could call Pecatonica regarding, but I don't thinks it's bad enough to warrant their attention. I'm 95% sure I can rectify things enough to get it to work properly on my own.

Putting a little chamfer on the nose of the main spring, AND a chamfer on the RR might do the trick, as might drilling out the RR hole to a slightly larger size all the way down. Just make sure you have enough wood on the bottom of the forestock to accommodate the enlargement. Your RR fit will be a bit loose under there, but nobody sees it anyway.

Stophel's suggestion is still the best one though if you feel you HAVE to do something about it. Or plugging and re-drilling.

I'd rather not mess with the main spring. To me its easier to simply remove wood. I'm at the sanding the outside of the stock stage now. When all that is done I will need to tweak the hole for the sear bar as it's still touching wood a little when it goes in. Once that is done I will ream out the ramrod hole at the mainspring junction.

You're right in that taking ANY metal off the spring will weaken it at least a little.

It would be safer to deal with the RR hole when you have more wood around it to reinforce back side of the cutting action than when the stock is more fully profiled, and the back side is weaker.

Very true. Although I don't have much to sand on tbe stock. I've already rough sanded it. Going to 120 grit now then 220. I'll have plenty of wood left over for working the RR hole.