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We’ve all seen screws that are for a lack of better terms are buggered, mangled and fubar’d.
The screw slot is a mess because someone used the wrong size and wrong type of screwdriver. I see a lot of used guns that show the tell tale signs of some kitchen table gunsmith who used poor fitting tools to do God knows what to the firearm.
Guns with mangled screw slots or chewed up Torx heads are sure sign someone did work on the firearm, and if the quality of the work is anything like the mangled screw heads, I’d give that gun a hard pass. Who knows what other “improvements” were made on the gun.
I know we all have good intentions. You bought a 32-piece screwdriver set for $9.99 from Harbor Freight and you are flush screwdrivers.
Save those Harbor Freight tools for use around the house. Firearms need specific tools to get the job done properly and not deface parts and devalue the gun.
What’s A Hollow Ground Screwdriver?
A hollow ground screwdriver has a tip that is even across the flat. Your Harbor Freight screwdriver is shaped like a wedge.
A hollow ground tip allows the blade to fit into the screw slot with no wiggling when you apply pressure to turn the screw. Firearm screws generally have unique slots sizes.
A standard wedge shape screwdriver will slip out of the slot as pressure is applied and that’s when the bugger happens.
Phillips screw heads are another example. Apply some torque to the screw head and if it is stubborn and you are using an ill fitting screwdriver head, the driver will cam right out of the slot. That screws buggered.
Screwdrivers For Gunsmithing
The best money I ever spent was on a cased set of Pachmayr bits and a driver handle with a magnetic tip. That set helped to disassemble some stubborn guns and not muck up the screws.
Pachmayr doesn’t make that starter set any more, but Lyman, who owns Pachmayr, has the Lyman Master Gunsmith Tool Kit, which has all the tips you could ever need. A great starter set is the Wheeler Engineering 36 Piece Screwdriver Set, which is less and $20 and will handle most of your needs. Brownells offers full sets or sets specific to gun manufacturers.
For instance, if you work on Marlin or Winchester lever-action rifles, Brownells offers a set just for these lever actions. Or if you work on S&W and Ruger revolvers they have a set specific to your needs.
Real Avid Master Grade Gunsmithing Driver & Bit Set
My current go-to set of screwdrivers is the Real Avid Master Grade Gunsmithing Driver & Bit Set. Not only are there 83 hollow ground tips in standard and metric sizes, it comes with two driver handles.
Both handle have magnetic tips, so tips don’t fall out. The large handle driver has a built in flash light which sounds gimmicky but is actually useful especially in the shop when the over head light is blocked. It is equipped so you can add what Real Avid calls a force assit, a smaller screws, that acts like a small driver or can be attached to the larger driver handle for more leverage when you need to gorilla a stubborn screw.
I wish I had a dollar for every scope or red do I’ve ever mounted. A torque driver is a valuable tools for anyone mounting a scope.
The Real Avid set includes a torque driver. Dial in the desired foot-pounds and you are good to go. A torque driver like this is invaluable when mounting bases and rings. I’ve seen some rings with screw heads that looked like they were installed with a drill bit and not a Torx bit. A stripped screw head and be a real headache to remove. When mounting scopes you don’t want to over tighten the screws.
Dial in the manufacturer’s spec and can be confident the optic will stay attached to the rifle. The Force Asset small drive also attached to the torque wrench in the event you need more leverage.
Real Avid driver also have a free spinning cap so you can apply downward pressure while easily rotating the driver.
All the bits are held in a hard plastic case, so it is easy store. And when a tip falls into the black hole under your work bench you can buy replacement tips.
Don’t Get Screwed, Choose the Right Tool, For the Right Job
Firearms are investments and you don’t want to ruin your investment by mangling screw slots.
You want to save yourself from aches with stripped screws. Invest in proper screwdrivers for guns.
Skip the Wheeler and go with the Lyman Master Gunsmith Tool Kit for driver bits. The smaller (below T-20) torx bits (AKA ‘6-lobe bits’) in the Wheeler are prone to deform more easily if you run into a difficult screw, or over time with use, and the Lyman are made of a harder material and don’t deform easily and last longer.
Lyman here too.
Interesting short…
https://youtube.com/shorts/Kv-WcKjuJqY?feature=shared
Real Avid = Real Chicom = NO
I’m with you! I bought some very nice Grace tools during the pandemic when there was nothing else on the shelves.
“The Real Avid set includes a torque driver. Dial in the desired foot-pounds and you are good to go.”
Really neat trick in dialing that in, since the torque driver in that set is only calibrated and graduated in inch-pounds. I guess you could dig out the calculator and do a conversion though.
😁
If your playing with Pietta arms make damn sure your screwdriver matches the slot of the screw precisely.
Pietta has some of the softest screws I’ve ever fucked up and it dont take much to do it.
( please Fix that Alfonzo)
A friend of mine is eccentrically overboard meticulous about his gunsmithing tools. Tools and pride make the difference. You could never tell he had ever touched them, only in the fact they were fixed and 80% better then ever before.
I on the other hand think a rock, two pair of visegrips, couple of screw drivers, file( don’t matter what size) and a whole lot of luck and cussing works just as well and is much cheaper.
ps.
If your screwdriver head doesn’t exactly match the screw slot have someone twist on the screwdriver shank with the vise grips while you bang on the top of the screwdriver with the rock.
Leave a comment. I did.
Tune in next week, same Bat channel same Bat station.
How do you keep a Pollock in suspense????
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I’ll tell yah tomorrow
I discovered gunsmithing screwdrivers (bits to be more precise) several years ago and purchased a kit. They make a world of difference in a positive way.
Good solid advice. I have the wheeler equivalent of that avid set and the quality and utility of purpose made gun tools has repaid my investment many times over. Good bits make for easier smithing for sure!
I came across a used 22 years ago that had an odd sized screw head. I could not find a flat head bit that was the right dimensions so I used a bench grinder to alter the dimensions of a bit that I set aside for use solely with that gun.
Some time later I noticed that the slot in the screw was cut on a radius. The original intent as far as I can tell was for a penny to be used to remove the only screw necessary to field strip the gun.
Coin-slotted takedown screws were common on commercial rifles up into the 70s. This was done on the assumption that an average user in the field would be far from his toolbox but was likely to have pocket change.
I guess we need debit card-slotted takedown screws now since people gave up on cash.
Good advice, good pictures.
Pity the proofreading stopped about halfway through, roughly when the Real Avid set was introduced. It became very jarring to read.
So is Harbor Freight ok or not?
“Witner to the left of me
Sadowski to the right
Here I am stuck in the middle with you”
Gee, a lot can change in a week.
Mar. 31 … “Harbor Freight Gunsmith Tools – a budget friendly kit for Weekend Gunsmiths”
Apr. 4…” What’s wrong with this picture? – buggered screws, probably used a $9.95 set of screwdrivers from Harbor Freight”
Dont buy cheap China made mystery metal tools. Buy quality that will last and you can pass down to your children.
I have observed the quality of Chinese products have deteriorated in the past 5 years.
Cheap Chinese punches do have one good use: making custom tools. Like a cupped punch for a pin with rounded ends, or a V-notch to get the magazine release out of a Desert Eagle.
If you bugger a few along the way, you’ll only be out a few bucks, and won’t have to sacrifice your good stuff.
I have observed the quality of Chinese products have deteriorated in the past 5 years.