Screw Removal

If you have been working guns any length of time you have faced the age old problem of screws that don’t want to budge. One of the easiest things to do is to get impatient, grab the nearest screwdriver available, even if it is the "right" one, and start crankin’. I learned early on in my gunsmithing career to study this problem fully before laying out a plan of attack. Trust me when I say a buggered up screw can be become a worse condition if the improper tact is used.

With the right tools and methods, many of these jobs can be done properly and professionally with a minimum of time and hassle. There will be those few screws that defy all the usual methods and will need to be drilled out. I’ll cover that later on in the article. There are many different scenarios that come into play when tight or "frozen" screws are encountered. Was the screw simply over torqued? Was Loctite or epoxy utilized? Is the screw rusted in?

Was the screw previously bent or warped and is actually wedging parts against each other. Is it under heavy spring pressure? Were the screw or hole threads stripped? Dirt, dried grease or oil, and residue can lock a screw in as well. The occasional warped part or receiver can misalign screws when they are fastened and be difficult to remove. Is the screw actually properly secured for normal removal but the slot buggered up by previous disassembly or tinkering?

These are just a few of the normal reasons we encounter difficult screw removal. Diagnosing The Problem This can be relatively easy or extremely difficult. Let’s look at a few scenarios. Suppose we are removing base mount screws in preparation for disassembly of the firearm as I was engaged in doing recently. The first three came out normally with little effort. The fourth wouldn’t budge with normal force. I noticed the previous three showed no evidence of having any Loctite on them.

No need to apply heat in this case. However a caution is noted here because if a screw hole has been stripped previously, an amateur fix is to apply Loctite or epoxy to secure it. I utilized my small screw jack and the screw came out without further difficulty. Another familiar scenario is with the Remington series rifles. I have disassembled these rifles countless times over the years and only a handful did not have some level of rust on the front threads of the forend screw.

The heat generated in the gas tube block along with the hunting country cold air causes condensation leading to rust. This is a case where heat cannot be applied to the screw to loosen it because of the captive wood forend and have successfully utilized my large screw jack to secure removal. Still another scenario is very old firearms that have not been disassembled for along time. I recently worked an Evans Repeating Rifle made circa 1875 and all the metal screws were rusted in place.

I was able to get several out with the screw jack method and wound up drilling the last two. Study your problem screw and devise a plan of attack before proceeding. Methods Of Removal The very first rule of thumb before removal attempt is to secure the proper parallel driver or bit that fully fits and bottoms out in the screw slot. If the slot is buggered at all you’ll need

to work on it prior to using the driver bit. Ascribe and penetrating oil can loosen up rust and crud in the slot for better observation of your situation. I have a few files to clean up and deepen screw slots. This must be done very slowly and with caution in order not to scratch or gouge the surrounding area of the screw. A thick, glossy type of masking tape around the screw when working on the slot helps prevent damage.

It is extremely important to get a good "first" fit between driver bit and slot before proceeding with force. Heat often needs to be applied to the screw. What is the best way to do this? Again, study the problem. I tend to not want to use a propane torch as the area around the problem screw can be affected by loss of heat treatment if too much heat is used. Extreme heat must also be kept away from wood or plastic products. I prefer to use an electric soldering iron applied to the screw head.

I have a pencil iron with various size tips and also a soldering gun. I like the gun method as it heats up quickly and directs its heat down the shaft of the screw if applied directly to the center of the screw head. It helps to flux the head of the screw and "tin" the soldering tip. I have also utilized a heat gun (hair dryer) in these endeavors with success. Remember, this work can be done without damage to the firearm if you work slowly and carefully.

The customer wants that screw out but not at the expense of his prized possession being trashed! An impact driver with the right size bit can often loosen up a rusted-in screw. Screw Jack Dimensions Now we get to the screw jacks which prompted me to write this article. I have utilized these tools for several decades, work extremely well, and are easily made with scrap steel. I have less than $10 invested in my two screw jacks. The large screw jack utilizes three-foot 3/8×16 threaded rods.

You can vary the length of the rods to suit your own use but have found this length to most of my needs. The two plates are both 5" long, 1" wide, and 1/4" deep and made out of scrap tool steel. 3/8" holes were drilled on each end of the plates spaced equally. The front plate has a 1/2" center hole drilled to accommodate the drag link bits I utilize with it. The back plate has sticky back felt to protect whatever gun part it rests against.

When placing the muzzle end of a barrel against the bottom plate I use a 1/4" threaded brass pilot that screws directly into the center of the plate. This keeps the barrel from slipping off the plate when force is applied to the other end.

Some of the uses I have utilized this large screw jack for include removal of forend screws, buttstock bolts, black powder in-line breach plugs, stuck shotgun chokes, and anything that requires long gun lengths to secure the screw jack properly to execute the force needed to turn the screw or bolt. The small screw jack utilizes two 7-1/4-inch 5/16×18 threaded rods. I have made several screw jacks over the years and this one seems to have the best overall dimensions for most of my work.

The base plate is 5-7/8"x1-1/4"x1/8" and is covered with sticky back felt to protect the gun part it sets against. The top plate is 6"x5/8"x1/2" and has eight 5/16" holes drilled in it with 9/32" spacing between the holes. The two rod holes on each end are 7/16" from the plate ends, edge to edge. These plates were made of scrap tool steel on hand. The purpose of the multiple holes is to properly locate the driver bits on various dimension gun parts as each screw cannot always be centered on the screw

jack. Force is applied to the driver bit with ratchet wrenches, ratchet extensions, and breaker bars of either 1/4", 3/8", or 1/2" size. I often use step adapters to go from one size of extension to another depending on how much mechanical force/advantage is needed. For the quarter-inch driver bits, I utilize a bit holder with hex head insert driven by a quarterinch socket. The holder bottoms on the top plate to exert the force on the screw slot as the wing nuts are tightened down to execute force on the top plate.

With the large screw jack the drag link bits go right into a 3/8" extension. As the screw or bolt loosens and backs out, you must release pressure on the plates through adjustment of the wing nuts on the threaded rods. Properly planned out and executed, this screw jack system works extremely well. Drilling Out Screws This ultimate method can go south fast if done improperly. A small pilot hole must be drilled in the very center of the screw head to start.

I normally do this with a small center drill if the screw is soft enough. With super hardened screws I use a small carbide drill. It’s extremely important to keep the drill from walking all over the screw head! When necessary, I use drill bushings in a secure drill jig to do this work. Once you have the pilot hole properly started, switch to a slightly larger drill bit less than the diameter of the screw shaft.

Drill far enough into the shaft to insert the proper size screw extractor and attempt to turn the screw out. If it still won’t budge you’ll need to use a size bit that will drill almost to the hole threads. Selecting the right size drill is critical to avoid messing up the hole threads! At this point, what’s left of the screw should either come out with the proper size screw extractor or the thread should be easily collapsed with ascribe.

To use penetrating oil or not has to be decided on a case-by-case basis as some unwanted slippage can result. Whether you use ordinary gunsmithing screw drivers, screw jacks, or the drilling method, as soon as the screw starts to turn out, I use penetrating oil down into the screw shaft to enhance removal. I make no claims on cornering the market on difficult screw removal, only that these methods described here have worked for this gunsmith over the past 46 years.

I hope these instructions will save all of you the many hardships I went through while learning this process. I close with a sort of humorous anecdote. Many years ago, a young man came into my shop with a gun that had several buggered up screws, asking if I thought I could get them out and how much it would cost. I told him I could probably get them out and the cost would be commensurate with the difficulty of removal.

I got them out fairly easy and did not charge him much when he picked the gun up as he didn’t appear very affluent. He left a happy camper. About a month later he shows up again with two more guns with buggered up screws. I again was able to get the screws out fairly easy and it cost him little pocket expense. I figured he was simply a kitchen table guncrank working his way through a learning process and gave him a few pointers.

Low and behold, he shows up around six weeks later with four guns with buggered up screws. It was high time to get to the bottom of this enigma! I asked him what the deal was with all these guns with buggered up screws he

was coming up with. He didn’t want to divulge anything, so I refused to take in these latest four guns without a truthful explanation. He relented. Come to find out he was getting these guns from three other gunsmiths in two outside counties Learn Gunsmithing While Driving Gary Smith wanted something more. He was stuck, stuck driving a truck to keep a roof over his head, but still not earning enough money to pay his bills and stuck spending all of his time away from home, his wife and his family.

While he was in this seemingly impossible situation, Gary ran across something online about how he could learn gunsmithing through the American Gunsmithing Institute (American- GunsmithingInstitute.net). "I said, ‘let’s do it.’ I’d been tinkering with guns for years, so I started out on the pistol course. You know, you get a lot of wait time while you’re out driving your truck someplace and they were charging "their" customers high dollar while letting me do all the work.

Needless to say, I took in the four guns for work, but in the middle of Timbuktu. In the evenings I’d watch DVD’s and each week I’d look ahead at the index to see what we were going to cover. I’d say, ‘I’ve got a gun like that,’ so I’d take it along with me on my semitruck and at night I’d be tearing guns apart on my bed and putting them back together while I was watching Bob on the DVD," said Gary. Gary continued to gradually learn the art of gunsmithing in the cramped confines of his semi-truck bedroom.

He’d always been mechanically inclined and tinkering with guns fascinated him. After he finished the shotgun part of the Professional Gunsmithing Series, he decided it at a much higher price for removing the difficult screws. The gravy train had come to a screeching halt in this gunsmith’s shop! AG was time for something more; it was time to see if his new skills would really allow him to succeed.

So, with a smile on his face and courage in his step, he turned in his resignation to the trucking company owner. "I told him, ‘I’m going to start my own business." And he did. It’s called Precision Guncrafters (PrecisionGuncrafters.com). Because of his hard work and determination, Gary no longer fixes guns in the cramped confines of his semi-truck sleeper. He now works from his shop at home, which is located on a seven and a half acre lot in the outskirts of Bowling Green, Kentucky. AG