Sourcing deep hole drilling tooling in the USA is more nuanced than finding a drill supplier. Some manufacturers cover gundrilling only. Others produce dedicated machines but not consumable tooling. A smaller group supplies the full process: gundrilling, BTA, ejector systems, regrinding, and PVD coating from a single U.S. location. This list evaluates the top 10 based on verifiable specifications, process coverage, and support services, not click rankings or unsupported claims.

 

How This List Was Built

Every manufacturer was evaluated against the same transparent criteria. No algorithmic rankings. No unsupported “best in class” statements. Only verifiable product coverage and documented capabilities.

Criteria applied to every entry:

  • S.-based manufacturing or verified U.S. sales and application engineering support
  • Process coverage: gundrilling, BTA, ejector, or specialized tooling
  • Verifiable diameter and depth-to-diameter capability
  • Standard catalog and/or custom tooling development
  • Regrinding and PVD coating availability
  • Industries served with documented applications
  • S. lead time and delivery program transparency

Note: Tool manufacturers produce gundrills, BTA drilling heads, and ejector systems. Machine manufacturers build the equipment that runs those tools. Where a company is primarily a machine builder, that is stated in its entry. Both categories are included because buyers often need to source from both.

 

Top 10 Deep Hole Drilling Tool Manufacturers at a Glance

The table below summarizes all 10 entries across the six criteria that matter most to buyers: location, process coverage, custom tooling, regrinding and coating, and best-fit application.

 

# Manufacturer Location Process Coverage Custom Tooling Regrinding/Coating Best For
1 botek® America Roselle, IL Gundrilling, BTA, Ejector Yes Yes (in-house) Full-process tooling + services
2 Star Cutter Company Farmington Hills, MI Gundrilling Yes Yes Solid carbide precision gundrills
3 UNISIG Germantown, WI Gundrilling, BTA Partial No Integrated machine + process
4 Sunnen Products St. Louis, MO Deep hole + honing Partial No Drilling + bore finishing
5 Carlson Tool & Mfg. USA Pull boring, custom Yes Inquire Large-capacity custom tooling
6 HTT USA Inc. USA Gundrilling (mold) Partial No Mold and die applications
7 Kays Engineering Marshall, MO Gundrilling, BTA (machine) No No U.S.-made dedicated machines
8 Sterling Gun Drills USA Gundrilling (small dia.) Partial Inquire High-precision small gundrills
9 Stegman Tool Company USA Gundrilling Partial No Compact standard solutions
10 Hole Products USA Drilling + sonic tools Partial No Sonic + standard drilling

 

1. botek® America

Location: Roselle, Illinois, USA

Process coverage: Single-flute solid carbide gundrills (type 110), twin-flute gundrills (type 120), indexable gundrills (type 01), BTA drilling heads in brazed and indexable configurations, ejector systems

Diameter range: 1 to 50 mm (gundrilling); 16 to 200+ mm (BTA)

Standard vs custom: Full standard catalog plus application-specific custom tooling. Custom tools are engineered around your material, hole diameter, depth requirement, and tolerance spec.

Regrinding and coating: In-house 5-axis CNC regrinding and PVD coating (TiN, TiAlN, AlCrN) at the Roselle, IL facility. No third-party outsourcing.

Industries: Aerospace, automotive, medical, mold and die, defense, energy

U.S. support: Application engineering team based in Roselle, Illinois. In-house customer testing before production commitment. Short-run qualification drilling available.

Best fit: Manufacturers requiring gundrilling, BTA, and ejector tooling from one U.S. supplier with in-house regrinding and PVD coating under one roof.

 

Why Consider botek® America First?

botek® America is the only supplier on this list covering all three deep hole drilling processes with in-house regrinding and PVD coating from a U.S. location. German-engineered tooling backed by 40+ years of botek GmbH manufacturing history. U.S. application engineers in Roselle, Illinois. One supplier for every process. Shorter lead times. No outsourcing your regrinding.

Explore the full tooling range at the botek® America Deep Hole Drilling Systems page or upload your drawing for an application-specific recommendation.

 

2. Star Cutter Company

Location: Farmington Hills, Michigan

Tools: Solid carbide twist drills and double-contour gundrills designed for superior chip control. Specialty carbide cutting tools across multiple geometries.

Custom: Yes. Engineering capability for difficult geometries and materials.

Industries: Aerospace, defense, automotive, medical

Best fit: Small to medium diameter solid carbide gundrills where chip control geometry and surface finish are the primary specification requirements.

 

3. UNISIG (Entrust Manufacturing Technologies)

Location: Germantown, Wisconsin

Products: Deep hole drilling machines for gundrilling and BTA processes. Application engineering and process integration support. Primarily a machine builder.

Industries: Aerospace, medical, energy, defense

Note: Consumable tooling is typically sourced separately from a tooling specialist. Evaluate UNISIG for the machine; pair with a tooling supplier for gundrills and BTA heads.

Best fit: Shops purchasing a complete dedicated deep hole drilling machine with U.S.-based application engineering and process integration support.

 

4. Sunnen Products Company

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Products: Heavy-duty deep hole drilling systems, honing tooling, bore gauging equipment, and turnkey bore solutions. Covers drilling and precision bore finishing in one workflow.

Industries: Automotive, hydraulics, energy, oil and gas

Best fit: Production lines that require deep hole drilling and bore finishing from a single supplier, particularly in automotive engine and hydraulic cylinder manufacturing.

 

5. Carlson Tool & Manufacturing

Products: Custom tooling development, pull bore operations, and large-capacity deep hole drilling tooling. Specializes in non-standard geometries and high-capacity applications.

Industries: Heavy industry, defense, oil and gas

Best fit: Applications requiring engineered pull-boring solutions or large-diameter custom deep hole tooling outside standard catalog ranges.

 

6. HTT USA Inc.

Products: Deep hole drilling technology and gundrilling machines focused on mold-making applications. Addresses cooling channels, ejector pin holes, and precision blind bores in tooling.

Industries: Mold and die, plastics, injection tooling

Best fit: Mold shops running precision gundrilling for complex cooling channel geometry where compact machine configurations and tight bore tolerance are both required.

 

7. Kays Engineering, Inc.

Location: Marshall, Missouri

Brands: DeHoff, Eldorado, TechniDrill

Products: U.S.-manufactured gun drilling machines, BTA and STS (single tube system) drilling machines. Machine builder; does not supply consumable tooling.

Industries: Aerospace, automotive, energy, medical

Best fit: U.S. manufacturers purchasing domestically built dedicated deep hole drilling machines from an established American builder with recognized brand names.

 

8. Sterling Gun Drills, Inc.

Products: Carbide-tipped and solid carbide small-diameter precision gundrilling tools. Domestic manufacturer known for tight-tolerance gundrill geometry.

Industries: Aerospace, firearms, medical devices

Best fit: High-precision small-diameter gundrilling applications where tool geometry and bore tolerance are the primary specifications.

 

9. Stegman Tool Company

Products: Specialized compact drilling solutions. Long-established domestic manufacturer with a standard tool catalog suited to existing shop setups.

Industries: Oil and gas, general manufacturing

Best fit: Small to medium manufacturers needing reliable standard gundrill tooling with straightforward integration and an established domestic manufacturing track record.

 

10. Hole Products

Products: High-performance drilling supplies, precision tooling, and sonic drilling equipment. Covers both standard precision drilling and specialty sonic equipment in one catalog.

Industries: Environmental drilling, geotechnical, industrial manufacturing

Best fit: Facilities combining standard precision drilling with sonic drilling requirements, particularly in environmental sampling or geotechnical applications.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference Between a Tool Manufacturer and a Machine Manufacturer in Deep Hole Drilling?

A tool manufacturer produces the consumable cutting tools: gundrills, BTA drilling heads, ejector systems, and reground tooling. A machine manufacturer builds the equipment that holds and drives those tools. botek® America manufactures tooling. UNISIG and Kays Engineering manufacture machines. Most production setups need both: tooling from a specialist and a machine from a machine builder.

How Do I Choose the Right Deep Hole Drilling Tool Supplier for My Application?

Start with process match: gundrilling for holes under 50 mm, BTA for 16 to 200+ mm at production volume, ejector drilling for standard machine compatibility. Then confirm regrinding and coating availability locally. A single supplier covering all three processes with in-house regrinding reduces vendor count, simplifies reorder, and shortens lead times. See the full comparison in the gundrilling vs BTA vs ejector process guide.

Industry market reference: The global deep hole drilling machines market was valued at $611.1 million in 2019 and is projected to reach $784.1 million by 2027 at a CAGR of 6.2%, driven by demand in aerospace, automotive, and medical sectors. Source: Allied Market Research via einpresswire.com/article/deep-hole-drilling-machines-market

 

Ready to Work With the Top-Ranked Supplier on This List?

botek® America covers the full process. Gundrilling. BTA. Ejector systems. In-house regrinding. PVD coating. U.S. application engineering in Roselle, Illinois. One supplier. No gaps in the tooling program.

Request a tooling recommendation based on your diameter, depth, and material. Or upload your drawing for a specification from our engineers. Explore the full Deep Hole Drilling System.