Am I the only one who gets nervous drilling the pin holes? So much is riding on that, it gives me a bit of anxiety. Funny... since my first build my pin holes have been perfect, so I don't know why I get nervous. But I think it's because intellectually I know how important it is to get them right!
Nope. I definitely think about it.
Same with an AR15 lower. The ARs are much harder to drill in my opinion and I sweat those more. I don't really sweat from nervousness per se, it just takes awhile to get through the aluminum with the larger 3/8 hole by hand drilling it and the bit always locks in the hand drill right when it begins to clear and pierce into the trigger pocket. You work through the catching drill bit slowly. You always worry about the bit wollowing out the hardened steel guide bushing because it takes so much time, but every one of mine have been spot on. I could use a drill press and probably have no issues, but that's a mighty rigid bit.
But try ganging up all of your red P80 jigs back to back and then drilling them assembly line style like I did. It's an all or nothing fuck up waiting to happen.
But not really. It's actually less risk over the long haul if you have a group of P80 lowers to build. The P80 holes are drilled in a second or two compared to an AR lower. And I believe it's easier to be consistent squaring everything up one time rather than setting up the press and jigs to square multiple times on separate occasions. I believe you open yourself up for more errors by squaring it up on separate occasions. But, I was definitely thinking about it while drilling each red jig. It was over in about 20 minutes once I started.
For people drilling their jigs with a Dremel station, just focus on making sure your drill bits are squared 90 degrees to the red jig and the red jig is square and flat on the metal table. Tape and seal the red jig up tight like Racer has done. Then test plunge the bit many times for each hole and drill them with the same pressure and speed and you'll be fine. Test drill on the side of the jig if you need to. I think racer probably has some videos showing what he does.
The end result of gang drilling multiple jigs is that the sear coverage for all of the builds with this process was almost identical on mine because the slides all sit at the same height due to the consistent rail location of all the builds. What I did is not for everybody. It has some risk if you do not measure a lot of times before drilling. Or, you're doubting yourself. I would save your beer break for after drilling the holes.
Nifty selection on that etched slide catch. That's a nice touch.
Racer, you truly have all the tools for this gig. All those sanders and stuff look mighty handy to have when doing these builds. I think it will be termed a Conspiracy to Distribute
guns.
ndzperformance.com
