Since R14, ACAD has had the ability to construct cylinders without requiring UCS manipulation. Use the CYLINDER command and place the cylinder at the desired location. ACAD will prompt for RADIUS, then ask for extrusion ht. or "C" for center of other end. Enter a "C", then specifiy the center of the other end. You can specify that center using any valid method for specifiying a point, such as key-in coordinate/offset, or OSNAPping to some point, or direct distance entry.
Once the CYLINDER has bee created, SUBTRACT the cylinder from the original solid to produce a hole. SOLIDEDIT can then be used to modify the hole.