Sideways,
I bought one of those little Harbor Freight drill presses a few yrs ago and the small table vise. Firstthing I did was to take my original Omegarugged rod and put the XS rod side by sideon the work bench. Then took a triangle jewelers file and scribbed a mark on the original brass tip on the XS Rod to get the correct length. Mine was about a 1/4 inch past the barrel on my Omega. Unscrewed the brass tip and chucked it up in the drill press in the vertical position. I layed a 32 tooth hack saw blade across the jaws of the vise and lowered the drill press till the mark lined up with the filed reference mark. The press speed was 650 rpm, the lowest setting avail on this little 1/3 hp motor. Cut off the tip by holding in place and putting pressure on the part. Crude but easy! Now the hole in the middle is too small to accept a ballistic tip like the Hornady SST ML. Now take three different drill bits and make the hole just large enough to take the dia of the SST's red tip. DO NOT DRILL too deep and account for a very slight counter sink on the front to debur. If you do drill too deep there will not be enough wall thickness on the brass left to make your taper for the clip inside the Omega's front lug. I rescribed the high spot on the rugged rod to match on the XS rodand took electrial tape and made a wrap for a reference. Take the drill press and lay on its side and use some blocks of wood to level. Chuck up the brass tip and take a bastard file and start the main hard short taper and finish with the little jewlers file. Then make the longer taper toward the front. I finished off the very front last and used three differnt files. Two were very small jewerlers style. Then took 150 grit wood sand paper, just what was laying around and did the finish work. Be very careful of the relationship between the hole drilled, depth and the taper made with the file so you don't make the wall thickness too thin. Took me a 1/2 hr free hand. If you screw up I will bet the TC part # 9413 thread adapter could be turned into one too. The wholeprocess was really easy. Just have the SST on hand to fit check and the rugged rod for quick checks every few minutes and you will be fine...
Hope this explaination is understandable. Easier to show than write.
If you are wondering what that string is below the barrel it is a wind indicator thread that is taped on. Better than wind powder and helped me kill a few nice deer.
SHills
HoleHopper,
I will call TC about that hole the 27th but they may be off for the week. I get in touch ASAP and let you know. I would hold off shooting that rifle for sure till Iget a solid answer.
SHills
New Omega Changes!
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