Don't be this guy!

Londonshooter

Londonshooter

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
62   0   0
Location
SW Ontario
I posted here rather than the gunsmith forum because it is Joe shooter with a drawer full of vise grips and Princess Auto drivers that does this kind of thing.
Best bet is to send it to a pro. I do my own strip and cleans but if you aren't experienced just don't. Not on engraved and timed pins unless you have experience most importantly, but also a padded vise, hollow-ground drivers that exactly fit (and you also grind your own), magnifying headlamp, dental picks to clean slots, and several tricks up your sleeve for those ones that won't budge. Just don't. If a person wants to get started with gun disassembly then they might try buying a totally wrecked gun for cheap and practise on that. Pay a gunsmith or find a gun hobbyist to loosen the ones you can't get and then learn from that. TBH there are two wood screws holding the butt plate on this gun and I can't get them. Claudio might have to show me a new trick. I used multiple deep creep applications, and heated the heads with an iron. Won't budge even a degree. Put a washer over them and got the washer hot to warm the metal around the head. Nope. But I didn't bugger the slots.
10.jpg11.jpg
 
Oh man. What a great bunch of advice John. So so true. I dont have the patience for it so I learned early. I have other things i do to relax. And over the last 20 years have seen so many messed up nice guns. It’s a shame.
 
Buggered screws are a shame but they are easily repaired or replaced so for me, while I do find them somewhat frustrating and disappointing when I come across them, I see them as an opportunity to get a good deal on an otherwise wonderful firearm. BTW, another thing to try is put a proper fitting screw driver in the slot and smack the screw driver with a hammer (driving the screw straight down), then, first try to turn it clockwise before turning it out (counterclockwise). The shock of hitting the head of the screw will sometimes break them free. BTW, if you are going to try this, use a screw driver slightly narrower than the screw head lest you nick the countersink with the screw driver corners.
 
Last edited:
Ordered a "gunsmith" quality screwdriver set made in USA to work on some ,luckily they were so bad I did not even try them sent back and off to the guys that know how to do it. On all my American built no issue British and European no chance..
 
Next tool on my want list is a milling vise for the drill press. For parts that fit a person can chuck a driver in the drill press and hold the part in the milling vise. Lock the depth tight and then turn the spindle by hand to loosen the bolt or screw. The milling vise will make holding drivers better and safer during grinding as well - better than my wood jigs I'm sure.
I'm retired and part of my plan is to spend my winters playing with guns. So this year that's what I did.
I'm building a workshop that will let me do that kind of thing at the hunt camp. Maybe finish some barrels I have been planning to do. I don't really have a good place to work in town.
The gun in the photo is a new-to-me Francotte. It and the German hammer I posted are two 16 gauge fixer-uppers that I bought just for the fun of cleaning them up. The Francotte has a lovely but neglected and abused maker's case that I'm pretty excited about.
 
Judging by the condition of an ancient single barrelled shotgun that came down to me, a barn gun, I fear that I must be descended from a long line of screw abusers, but I think most such things are caused by improvisers who will use anything that's to hand to tighten or loosen a screw. And that applies to the tools used too, it was something I had to train myself out of. I remember with particular regret an old musket ball mold I found in the tool box of one of my late grandfathers. It had been overlooked by a couple of generations I'm sure but I recognised it from a movie I'd seen, it looked exactly like the photo below, which is identified online as having been used in 1812. I made some nice lead balls with it but made the mistake of leaving it where others could get their hands on it and the next thing I knew it had been bent out of shape from being used, I'm sure, as an ordinary set of pliers and then it disappeared completely, probably having been broken in two. Why I didn't hide the thing away is strange, maybe, since I valued it and no one else did, but I guess I considered it family property.

musket ball mold.jpg
 
My heart sings with joy when I come across a 163-year-old gun with screws like these. No Bubba went near this Boss & Co.
8prGv36.jpg
 
My greatest "Bubba'd" gun regret is finding a near perfect Lindner Diamond Daly 10 gauge from the late 1890s, when Lindner and his engraver were at the peak of their game. Someone in the past thought it appropriate to cut the barrels (likely originally 32") down to 22" because they wanted a better "grouse gun" !🤦🏻‍♂️
 
A bubba might also be the idiot that slathers oil that saturates the stocks.
Or Bubba Storage who leaves a wet gun in a case. Or Multigenerational Bubbas who didn't oil what they stored dirty in its case these past 100 years. Bubba Barrel Loser. Bubba case loser.
I experienced all of those forms of neglect with my latest two guns.
 
My Westley Richards hammer double had its barrels cut down to 26" at one time.
The barrels however are still regulated well, and it does make a nice fast handling shotgun!
The Westley box lock above it however is a great , unaltered gun, and a fine shooter as well as proofed for smokeless , I also feel very fortunate that I was able to find it on the Intersurplus site!
Cat
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20241016_205109_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20241016_205109_Chrome.jpg
    65.6 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
I have a bad feeling that a lot of very decent guns got their barrels cut for cowboy action shooting.
Messed up screw heads can been cleaned up. I've even built up torn heads with weld so they could be reshaped and refinished. A fine, sharp needle file can be used to recreate the sunburst pattern often seen.
 
Licensed to kill said:
Buggered screws are a shame but they are easily repaired or replaced so for me, while I do find them somewhat frustrating and disappointing when I come across them, I see them as an opportunity to get a good deal on an otherwise wonderful firearm. BTW, another thing to try is put a proper fitting screw driver in the slot and smack the screw driver with a hammer (driving the screw straight down), then, first try to turn it clockwise before turning it out (counterclockwise). The shock of hitting the head of the screw will sometimes break them free. BTW, if you are going to try this, use a screw driver slightly narrower than the screw head lest you nick the countersink with the screw driver corners.
Click to expand...

You're dead on.

Also, I've "heard" not to use oil in order to remove an old screw from wood. Keep it dry.

Water (and some oils) will swell the wood, more or less, and create even bigger friction between the screw threads and the wood.

Some oils will cause a reaction like a "glue effect". Then the screw is really hard to remove...
 
struff55 said:
if you are not capable of hollow grinding your own screw drivers then maybe gun work is not for you
Click to expand...
^^^^ 1000 % ^^^^^^^

I just took on a refinish project for a squad mate. His dad's old SKB (Ithaca) SxS 20 ga. Pretty nice scrolling on the receiver, trigger guard and all the screws ! None of my Forster and other hollow ground drivers I have, would properly fit 2 of those purty scrolled screw heads...first thing I had to do was make a new HG bit to fit !! 20 minutes with my Dremel, needle files and a cuppa joe...no more problemo !


tiriaq said:
I have a bad feeling that a lot of very decent guns got their barrels cut for cowboy action shooting.
Messed up screw heads can been cleaned up. I've even built up torn heads with weld so they could be reshaped and refinished. A fine, sharp needle file can be used to recreate the sunburst pattern often seen.
Click to expand...

Bubba is sooooooooooo fekkin bad !!! The friggen guy has traveled this country for eons...wrecking stocks, barrels, screw heads..anything to do with guns !!! This was / is his main purpose in life...lol


I've needle filed a few screw heads to reshape them...very fine dremel cutting wheel to cut the slot even again in some cases..polished up and hit em with the Oxpho blue..buff again. Looks so much better than the hourglass slotted screw heads !

Clean em up and fix em up so they may live on...Keep up the good fight gents !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom