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I need to re-tap the tang sight screw holes in a second model 1873. Does anyone know what the modern tap equivalent is for these holes. The previous owner of the rifle forced some random screws into the tang holes and totally buggered them up. So much so that they won’t thread the original screws.
Any help would be much appreciated.
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I checked around and can’t find any tap that would work but I have a friend that might know. According to the my book it would be a 9-32 thread.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
you might be best off to go to a 10-32 as I can’t seam to find any supplier with a 9-32. and if the threads are buggered up your most likely going to need to go larger. Retaining the thread pitch will make it much easier to rethread possibly without having to drill.
Bob and Mark,
I appreciate your efforts to answer my question. It’s a testament to your passion for Winchester rifles that you take the time to try and correctly answer an obscure question like mine. I’m going to procede slowly to make sure I do what is correct – it may seem silly to some, but I want to do what is right for this 130+ year old rifle.
If you have any further advise, please don’t hesitate to provide it.
If It was my gun I would make a tap but I have a lathe and mill. You can have custom taps made but for just one use its a little pricey I would expect. You could make a thread chaser out of a long screw that is already tapped.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I got thinking of a metric tap and a 4.5mm x .75mm tap would have the same diameter but the threads per inch is more like 33.9
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I’m going to experiment with a 10-32 and 4.5x.75 mm taps on scrap and see if either is a reasonable substitute. I’ll report back.
Thanks for the help…
I just tried a 10-32 nut on a new 9-32 screw and its a little loose but will hold as long as the screw is good and you don’t overly tighten it.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
1873man and Mark W – the 10-32 tap worked perfect. Because of the thin wall of the receiver at the tang sight location, I only plunged the tapered 10-32 tap in partially. This allowed the tang sight filler screws to thread in tight.
Thanks again… Much appreciate the help.
BrightBoy
For my part you are most welcome.
I was once told the greatest craftsmen are the ones that know how to fix the greatest mistakes with the least amount of evidence.
I have spent my life it seams trying to figure out how to fix something that just doesn’t want to be easily fixed. As a result I have collected up a little bit of experiance. Now if I only had enough sense to keep myself out of trouble I think I would be set.
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