Hello gunsmithing friends, I bought a 11.5 colt barrel & want to attach a new front sight base to it. The barrel has been drilled already & separated from  its FSB long ago. But I bought a new FSB & I’ve seen a ton of videos on drilling new FSB & virgin barrels, but zero videos on drilling a new FSB with a barrel that has already been drilled for a FSB & separated.

Am I crazy? Can this be done? Is something a lay person can do? Do I need to take this to a gunsmith?

I’m thinking I can do this at home with the drill press.

Advice? Thoughts?

Barrel:
Attached File


New FSB:
Attached File

Just send it to John Thomas at retro arm works, work will be 100% perfect

I was hoping to avoid shipping it out. But I’ll look into it.

Mount barrel vice.
Put 1/8" drill bit in chuck.
Position rear pin groove against drill bit with quill lowered, lock vise/barrel in position.
Put fsb in position, with handguard cap in place, being double sure that the gas ports line up.
Jig fsb securely in position, This works with some clamps and imaginative thinking. Or just use clamps and shims
Double check gas ports alignment and that fsb is square
Drill rear pin hole
Ream hole from right to left with 2/0 taper reamer

Remount barrel in vise
Position front pin groove against drill bit as before
lock vise/barrel in position.
Put fsb back in place
Install rear taper pin firmly enough to hold everything in place
Double check gas ports alignment and that fsb is square
Drill front pin hole
Ream hole, again from right to left

Here is a post from the Retro board posted by Shade00 who did something very similar.

Joat

Thank you.