To mount a pull on a drawer front I drilled the two holes, then realized that the material thickness was slightly greater than the length of the machine screw, so a counter bore was required. Didn't want to attempt to temporarily plug the hole, so first drilled a hole through some scrap, clamped that to the inside and used it as a guide.
For the remaining drawers I didn't bother with the guide, but instead first drilled a pilot hole, counterbored the inside, then drilled out the pilot hole to the finished size. This was all done freehand with an electric hand drill. While drilling out the pilot hole I wondered whether the bit would track (I was using brad point bits). Apparently they did. Is that common or did I just get lucky?
Presumably it's well known, but a neat trick I came up with to avoid splintering out the backside of the drawer front when drilling the original hole is to put scrap behind it and then wedging it against the front using a stick slightly longer than the distance to the back of the drawer. It's quicker than clamping and can be done with the drawer in the cabinet.