Stuck screw

[ShtrRdy]

That looks like a fresh cam out in the picture - I’d stop and take it to someone.

That was from my first attempt at getting the screw out. I didn't realize 50%, or more, of the notch was filled in with some hardened gunk. I've since scraped out the gunk making the slot in the screw deeper.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Thank You to everyone who has replied with suggestions! I'm going to first try some more Kroil application along with heat. If that doesn't work I'll see if my friend with a drill press will let me try that approach.

In your pic, It looks like you can see residue of possibly loctite, So the soldering iron trick would be necessary if it has some kind of thread locker on it. You would need to leave it on there until you see a little smoke coming off of it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I've done a fair amount of work on these. Even for a basic cleaning, I charged more because of how many parts there are in them. It takes about twice as long to assemble and re assemble and that's after you know what you're doing.

The drill press method it the stuff though. A mill is even better but either works. Get good quality, hollow ground gunsmithing bits.

 

[shoobe01]

Note that you can get hollow ground BITS, as in just the end vs a screwdriver. Can get sets and the individual ones are cheaper than screwdrivers. I have gone to this broadly because they do break and wear out, in all sizes and drive types, tossing a bit is less painful than

The other thing being cheap means is that you can take one that's over-sized and grind to your exact size needs. For tough issues like this, exact sizing can be very helpful. For stuck things, press-fit tight can really help both break it loose and avoid damage.

The hammer-driven impact drivers as above have a different shank size but should come with some hollow ground bits. If not, or not the right size, note what that fit is before ordering more.


One note for whatever penetrating oil you use, make sure it can penetrate. Gravity is more powerful than capillary action. Brace or even clamp to keep the head of the screw upright. You'd be surprised how many put the oil on then lay it on the side. I can see half of it drip off the action. Need to give it a chance.

The oil won't hurt anything, feel free to go put more on an hour later, but yes give it overnight to do its work.

 

[AccelR8]

I have made hollow ground screwdriver bits from Allen wrenches. Ground on a Wilton Square Wheel grinder and a small contact wheel. You can get exactly what you need this way,

Some of those hollow ground bits you can buy are pretty good. Some of them are brittle and break easily. Scratch a gun in a heartbeat. Buy good ones!

I have an impact driver I got from the Snap-On man probably 40 years ago, or more. It has a 3/8” square drive just like a ratchet has, and I have some sockets that are 3/8 drive and take hex shank bits. This is the way to go. Over the years I’ve worked with guys who had the cheaper drivers, Vessel comes to mind (from England I think). They were not so good.

When I worked at GM we had these things called Ultra Torch, which were butane fueled and could be used as a soldering iron, a heat-shrink tubing shrinker, a little blow torch and so on. GM loved to put high strength thread locker on screws with little Torx heads. Breaking a Torx driver is not such a big deal but stripping out a Torx head screw can be a real problem. Matching up a tip for the Ultra Torch with the screw head (maximum contact area and heat transfer) and a minute or two could get a lot of heat into the screw, fast. Or use it as a pin-point flame.

Incidentally just yesterday I had a stuck screw in a gun. It was definitely going to break my screwdriver bit. The screw was kind of down in a little well. I propped it up and filled the well with Kroil. This morning the Kroil was gone and one hit with the impact driver loosened the screw. No gunk or dried oil, I guess it wasn’t stuck so bad.

This is the good impact driver:

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