Stripped threads repair, little info/help needed

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calgarycanada

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Sorry if I'm posting a duplicate thread.

I being over confident idiot, screwed up. When I got my Savage 110 long action 338 lapua, I took factory rail off, cleaned the mounting holes and screws with brake clean. Then I put good amount of blue thread locker on them and torqued to spec(don't remember the number right now). I was so confident that I never re-checked them. They came loose at some point during load development, pulled couple of top threads from the rear receiver holes, damaged the rail(holes are elongated from pounding recoil) and ofcourse wasted components, time and frustration.

Well now that I have told you smart 'I is' :HR:, can somebody please tell me the proper way to repair it?

Two solutions I can think of
First- just run a 8-40 tap through, clean up the threads, use red thread locker, torque and hope the remaining threads will hold new rail on it. I'm little Leary about this.

Second - I drill the rear(damaged) holes to next size, which I believe is drill size 21 and tap to 10-??(32?). Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Also if I go drilling and tapping route, do I have to keep them threads super fine or can I just tap to coarser 10-32?

I have tried calling my gunsmith but haven't received any answer yet. So if you gunsmiths can direct me the right path that'll be great.

Thanks in advance.
 
Contact Savage for warranty?

Loctite is not the automatic 'magic' many think it is.

Get it to a gunsmith for an evaluation on what he thinks it will require to fix it. It may just need longer screws engaging the full length of the receiver thickness, clean, lightly oiled and torqued tight.
 
guntech said:
Contact Savage for warranty?

Loctite is not the automatic 'magic' many think it is.

Get it to a gunsmith for an evaluation on what he thinks it will require to fix it. It may just need longer screws engaging the full length of the receiver thickness, clean, lightly oiled and torqued tight.
Click to expand...

Are you sure that would be covered under warranty? Gun is over a year old anyway, so it doesn't even matter.
I have contacted my smith and left a message yesterday and hopefully I'll hear back from him soon here. I was just wondering what you guys do when you run into this kind of problem, I'm sure it's not one isolated case.

By the way I'm auto mechanic(I'm little ashamed to mention) and I never had any nut or bolt come loose on me after blue thread locker. Of course I work with 8mm and above bolt sizes with foot pounds of torque with no recoil like forces acting on them.
 
If only the top couple of threads are damaged, either the screws had backed way out, or were too short to start with. I would just clean the existing holes, and re-install with the longest possible screws. Bet they would hold.
 
tiriaq said:
If only the top couple of threads are damaged, either the screws had backed way out, or were too short to start with. I would just clean the existing holes, and re-install with the longest possible screws. Bet they would hold.
Click to expand...

The existing screws were not all the way but threads got pulled out when they backed out to the point that they were only on couple of threads and heavy recoil kept banging the rail against them.
I'm gonna try and locate some 8-40 longer screws and see if they hold. Worse that could happen is remaining threads will get damaged, in that case I will get holes drilled and tapped to 10-32.

Thanks
 
Start with overly long screws and test fit then file down the length a little at a time until they just bed down as they bottom out. Then file off about 1/2 of a thread more. That way you're using ALL of what is left. And I would not use red Loctite on something this small. If it does grab like it should then you will likely strip out the slot if they ever need to come out again.
 
Where can I find screws??

Does anybody know where I can find long 8-40 screws? Other than Brownells, $35 shipping (that's what they charged me for a die set, coz it was shipped in milk crate sized box)for $6 assortment screw kit is not very economical.
I checked couple of stores we deal with locally and they don't carry #8 with such fine thread pitch.
 
calgarycanada said:
Does anybody know where I can find long 8-40 screws? Other than Brownells, $35 shipping (that's what they charged me for a die set, coz it was shipped in milk crate sized box)for $6 assortment screw kit is not very economical.
I checked couple of stores we deal with locally and they don't carry #8 with such fine thread pitch.
Click to expand...
How long? I probably have some.
 
option would be to oversize, helicoil, or loctite...
Helicoil is the best method out there for thread repair imho. gunsmith will be easiest since its a very nice gun.
 
I you have a supplier like Brofasco, they may have some of the screws your after, Ive been saved by them a few times in the past.
 
wbaad said:
option would be to oversize, helicoil, or loctite...
Helicoil is the best method out there for thread repair imho. gunsmith will be easiest since its a very nice gun.
Click to expand...

A #8-40 is quite small, I don't think they have heli coils that tiny. And loctite would probably help with a oversize thread. I agree with some of the others that running a tap through to clean up the existing hole and using longer screws cut to fit would work best.
 
I would suggest trying the longest8-40 screw after re-tapping the damaged hole. If you choose to go to a # 10 screw go with as fine a thread as possible. The threads on a coarse thread screw are deeper so the cross section of the remaining metal is less than with a fine thread screw. So fine thread screws are stronger than the same sized coarse thread screw, assuming the same grade of steel.
 
If one of you generous guys, who have some screws, can please PM me that'll be great. I'll take 4 of them. I don't think I need them to be very long, I would say 1/2 ish inch?(probably even smaller) obviously longer is not a problem. Screw head doesn't matter coz I can remove some material from screw heads and some from the holes if I have to.
Thanks
 
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