Can You "fill in" holes in a receiver.

salzo

Just got a great deal on an Ithaca shotgun. The fellow I bought it of of drilled these hideous holes that go through the receiver to the barrel, which has dimples in it. It then has removable screws that when you screw them in, will fit into the dimples in the barrel. He did this 'cause he mounted a scope on the barrel, and someone told him that the barrel has a little play, and this would effect the zero on the scope. The screws are supposed to keep the barrel stationary.
I hate these screws. They are ugly, and I want to do something to fix this eyesore. I want to return the receiver to its original condition, that is without holes. Is it possible to have these holes filled in, so that I no longer have to look at that eyesore?

"The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal governmentare few and defined, and will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace negotiation, and foreign commerce"
-James Madison

jonk

What I'd do is file off the screws flush with the metal on both sides and blue them.

"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf

sealyon

Hi Salzo, Find someone good with a tig welder to fill the holes. Then you have to file the weld down very close to flush. Sand it down the rest of the way using progressively finer paper. When it's down flush and smooth it needs to be polished and blued. Lot of work and cost---Make sure it's worth it to you before you start. If you do it make sure no weld gets inside the receiver or you'll have to gring and polish the inside too.

v35

The principle of the screws and dimples is a sound idea for a scope mounted Ithaca 37 with rifled barrel. You could replace the ugly screws with neat, slotted head setscrews flush with the receiver and Loctited.
Incidently, before you can take the gun apart you have to first remove the big bolt under the butt plate and take the stock off.

captkirk3@dslextreme.com

v35 has made the RIGHT call! You bought it knowing full well what it looked like...Clean it up with flush screws and live with it...Welding on the reciever is at the very least a wrong call...The reciever is a Cast and hardened reciever and when you start welding on it you will tend to get hard spots, which can possibly leads to Fractures in the casting...Live with it...best...

Captain Kirk, Tech Staff

cpermd

Stick and MIG will not work usually.
This may be the first time the Captain and I disagree.
A TIG weld will fix it.
cpermd

JIM STARK

Most of the Ithica SKB's I've seen have Aluminum receivers... That takes a special talent... Seen it done and it works... Had to get a crack in a Browning Twelvette fixed..It wasn"t pretty, But it shoots good..

sig-man

Are you close to Va.? I will tig weld the holes for you for nothing,I have been tig welding for 20+ yrs. and work in a machine shop where I have welded on everything from 1911"s to remingtons and even an old spencer carbine, not to mention the stuff I get paid for.

R.I.P 45, 28, 3

J.L. Hood

salzo--you can try this and see how it suits you. It is a slight modification to what jonk suggested. Set the receiver up in a drill press level and plumb. Take a machinist's countersink and just "kiss" or touch the holes to give you a teeny-tiny flat just a few thousandths wide at the top of the hole.Then run in a soft screw (steel) and cut it off with maybe a diameter of the screw, or less, sticking up. Peen the stub of the screw until it's about flush with the top of the receiver and dress it off with a file and polish it to where it is flush with the surrounding metal. Put a little touch-up blue to it and you're done.
Carefully done the holes will be almost invisible. The reason for the countersink operation is to give a smooth uniform surface at the top of the hole which helps conceal any vestige of the threads.