Action Holes Full of Epoxy

Wayne Shaw

Wayne Shaw

Active member
So I get this Panda that was glued in. I use an iron and pull the action out. The person that glued it in at least had the fortitude to plug the hole for the bolt release, but not the 3 action screw holes, they are full of what looks like JB Weld.

I can drill out the center and try to pick the holes clean, then chase them with a tap, but wondering if someone has a better way?
 
Wayne

I would set it up in the mill drill them out then use a propane torch on what's left. As soon as it starts to smoke a little the epoxy should crumble. Work it over with a pick of some kind. You'll probably want to run a tap in afterwards just to clean everything out.

Dave
 
Wayne, I took a used Panda apart and found the same thing. I used a pencil tip soldering iron to heat the epoxy in the holes and picked it out with a dental pick...worked great.

Good shootin'. -Al
 
Things you will need for this;
-a 1/4-28 straight flute BOTTOM tap in good condition
-a bench or floor drill press
-something to act as a male dead center, like a countersink tool or a small tap that has a male center on one end
-small toolmakers or angle vise, don't need no big heavy Kurt or such
-a sheet of wax paper to put between the vise and the drill table

Set the action up in a vise and drill out the center epoxy with a 0.210 or so tap drill.

Set the action up in the unclamped small vise, on the wax paper just so the vise can slide. Then put a center in the drill spindle, a 60-82 degree c-sink tool will work. Put a short tap handle on the tap, you don't want to be able to apply a lot of leverage on the tap. (and you don't want a T-handle here), just a small tap wrench.

Then by holding light down force on the tap you should be able to wiggle the tap back and forth till it cleans out enough epoxy to engage in the metal. Keep light down force on the tap till it gets to the bottom of the threads.

I've never done this before on and action base but it works great to clean out scope base screw holes.
 
Or you could just drill a small hole in the epoxy and use a small easy out and "unscrew" the epoxy plug
 
Heatgun.... if the stuff was applied correctly originally you'll play hob getting the residue clear without heat. Most guys degrease with methyl ethyl ketone or trichlorethane before gluing in, that JB SHOULD be righteously bonded. It should not scrub off the metal. But heat will melt it easily.

I used to worry about epoxy until I found out about heat. 250-350degrees and the stuff melts, mop it up with paper towel. I now use epoxy and superglue as temporary holders as well as permanent bonding, with epoxy I heat it up and wipe it off when I'm done, with superglue it's a small sideways knock that pops it loose.

Heatguns are currently on sale at Harbor Freight if you're into free market buying.

al
 
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