After some head-scratching, I figured out how to clamp the barrel and support the receiver for drilling. Get a load of this Bubba rig:



Drill press table for receiver tang support:



The surface treatment is so hard on this rifle, it took 3 hours of spot-grinding and drilling with 3 different bits to drill the rear hole. It came out 1/32" too far forward, so I installed it with the rear screw, squared and leveled the mount and used the mount's forward hole as a guide:





I snapped an 8-40 tap in the forward hole, so I ground the remains flush with the receiver and pushed it through with a hammer and punch. While I wait for another tap to arrive via snail mail, I thought I'd see how things are shaping up:



There's a burr under the forward scope mount hole that's keeping the bolt from closing - maybe it'll go away when I finish tapping that hole:



I have a low-scope safety ordered, but it may not be what I need with the low mounts. I'm hoping a Buehler safety will show up on one of the auctions - they're kinda rare, though.

I checked the scope alignment at 50 yards and found it pretty good as is. L/R axis is off 2", but is adjustable at the rear mount, so no problem. POA is about 3" higher than bore-sight POI at 50 yards. That's about 1" higher through the scope at 50 yards than dead parallel with the bore, so it's well within a good adjustment range. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Frank