Where to buy drills and taps for gunsmithing?

Grainger Canada is a good place. KMS tools. I use to go down to Boeing surplus sale near Seattle but not sure if they have online sales. Uline Canada has them .
 
I’ve tried most of the local supply stores. I’d honestly prefer a starter kit that is gunsmithing specific. Trying to deal with parts guys in industrial stores for gunsmithing stuff is as fun as pulling finger nails with a pair of pliers.
 
flying pig said:
Looking to buy drills and taps for gunsmithing in Canada. Does anyone have recommendations of where to go?
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I get 99% of my stuff from KBC, they carry "precision twist drills" manufactured in Brazil. I use the cobalt drills. Not sure who makes the "KBC House brand" but they are a close second to the PTD drills.
 
Perfect, thank you.

I’ve only ever done one rifle, a reproduction No4T about ten years ago. I got my taps and drills out of the UK for it but I don’t remember where exactly. I’m not scared of cost, just quality. I had to use carbide to get through the bolt channel on the LB No4 I used. It was hard as diamond that thing. I’m sure cobalt would be good for the receiver ring on this one.
sean69 said:
I get 99% of my stuff from KBC, they carry "precision twist drills" manufactured in Brazil. I use the cobalt drills. Not sure who makes the "KBC House brand" but they are a close second to the PTD drills.
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OP, the answers above are all good places to start.

But you've asked a question with a very wide brush.

There are all sorts of sources for "standard" threads, but only a few carry tooling for the odd ball British and other uncommon threads.

I use a company out of the UK, I was turned onto by "Wheaty" Tracy Tools Ltd. traceytools.com

They have the tooling for all different thread designs and all of it is of excellent quality.
 
The 3 most common tap sizes for gunsmithing are 3x56, 6x48 and 8x40 with 6x48 the most used. Buy quality over price. I reccomend Brownell's Inc. in the USA. Dedicated to supporting gunsmiths throughout the world.
 
guntech said:
The 3 most common tap sizes for gunsmithing are 3x56, 6x48 and 8x40 with 6x48 the most used. Buy quality over price. I reccomend Brownell's Inc. in the USA. Dedicated to supporting gunsmiths throughout the world.
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You're right, but when you start getting into different metric and Whitworth threads, common suppliers don't have them and IMHO a lot of the tooling quality isn't what it should be.

I purchase tooling from all of the above suggested suppliers, especially in the sizes you listed, but mostly just use them for cleaning up existing or damaged threaded holes on commercial rifles.

When working on some older firearms, I have often had to make screws because they're not available or just so darned expensive.

Especially older British and some European makes.
 
flying pig said:
Perfect, thank you.

I’ve only ever done one rifle, a reproduction No4T about ten years ago. I got my taps and drills out of the UK for it but I don’t remember where exactly. I’m not scared of cost, just quality. I had to use carbide to get through the bolt channel on the LB No4 I used. It was hard as diamond that thing. I’m sure cobalt would be good for the receiver ring on this one.
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Actually take a peek into the properties of cobalt tooling - they are actually ideal for hardened metals.
 
If it's from Brownell's, CBSA might hang onto it for a while just for fun. I had some taps held hostage for about a month, but I got them eventually.
 
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