DYI Fixing Buggered screws and soft Italian screws

Virginia Gentleman · October 25, 2015, 02:11:37 PM

I hear a lot of moaning about buggered screw heads and how "soft" Italian screw heads are and that they are easily damaged. For any screw, the fix is so easy a 5 year old kid could do it. Put the buggered screw in a padded vise (sometimes I just hold it with padded piliers), then get out a small ball peen hammer. Using the round and flat sides of the hammer, tap the metal slowly back into place, it will take lots of soft hits (never slam hit the screw!) but you will be surprised how fast and well the metal goes back into place. It will not be perfect, but enough so that you can do one of two things. Either use 320 and then 600 grit sandpaper by hand wrapped on a small file to re-polish the screw head and then clean up the screw slot and polish the head with either a single direction or with rounded strokes to a final polish. The other method after cleaning up the screw slot with a jewler's file and sandpaper, is to then chuck the screw with tape on the threads in a variable speed drill. On the lowest setting run the screw on some 320 then 600 grit sandpaper to a fine polish.....DON'T OVER DO IT, you just want the surface restored to a nice polish. Next take a propane torch, heat the screw to a dull cherry red, just until it gets to that color to avoid warping the screw, and then dump it into used motor oil. Do this outside in a metal container and wear protective eye and hand protection and have a metal lid for the container with the oil as the screw may cause it to smoke or catch fire. BE SAFE. Take the screw out and it will need to cool for a few minutes before you wipe the oil off. It should be a blue, blue black or black color when you wipe off the oil. The head should be hardened too. I have used this method on screws for years or after the polishing, put them in molten nitre bluing salts and left them there for over 1/2 hour and the effect is similar, with a irridencent blue. Restoring buggered screws that are beyond the cosmetic clean up are another matter, what we do with these is weld the head back up, shape, polish and cut a new screw slot with diamond files by hand. Try it you will be surprised how easy it is to fix buggered, soft or damaged screws.

Coffinmaker · October 25, 2015, 03:08:27 PM

EXCELLENT!! An Excellent method to "fix" soft Italian screws. Over 20 years of "smithing" guns and 16+ years of smithing CAS guns
from our Italian sponsors, I've learned the most important thing we can do, is use screwdrivers that are hollow ground to actually "fit"
the screw slots. The other problem is most have never actually learned the correct way to drive or remove screws.

DO NOT RELAX. DO NOT break your attention. ALWAYS maintain lots of "down" pressure on the screwdriver. As soon as you relax your
driving pressure, the screwdriver will "cam" out and bugger up the screw. When that has happened to me (it will happen to you too), I
then tap the top of the screw back to shape.

I am however .... lazy. Not only that, but in the past, the time taken to "fix" a single screw is to expensive. I resorted to the simplest
method I could find. I ordered a quantity of the the most often buggerd screws. When I really messed one up, I just replaced it. Most
screws used in our guns run between 2.50 and 3.50. If it cost me 8 to 10 dollars in shop time, replacing screws becomes cheaper and
more efficient. For certain applications, I also ordered hardened screw sets. I don't always suggest hardened screws. I'd rather bugger a
screw than the threads in an expensive frame.

Coffinmaker

Virginia Gentleman · October 25, 2015, 06:22:17 PM

Coffinmaker: Your advice on the right kind of screwdrivers is of course how to avoid buggered screws in the firstplace, but many people will either use the wrong ones or put "too much English" behind their effort to unscrew them, resulting in buggered screws. For the hobbyist, the time saved in not having to wait for the internet order to come in the mail may be more important than saving a few shillings.

Older screws on original guns where the value of the screw is of consideration, then fixing the screw makes more sense.

Jubal Starbuck · October 26, 2015, 09:37:56 AM

I have used a wooden clip clothespin with the spring in it to hold screws for tapping. Sometimes I file a groove for the screw and insert the screw from the side, then put the clothespin in the vise and tap away with a small hammer. Works well for me.

Regards,

Jubal Starbuck

Coffinmaker · October 26, 2015, 11:37:26 AM

virginia Gentleman,

Absolutely. I sometimes found myself working on older, or custom made guns where no replacement screws were available. Unfortunately,
the usual scenario was someone brought the gun into the shop with "I tried to fix this." You could immediately tell the firearm had been attacked with the usual "Sears" kitchen screwdrivers and the screws often buggered almost beyond repair. Then you have no choice.
Of course, when that happened, I simply passed the cost of the time taken to get the screws out, and re-conditioning the screws on to
the customer. Most, have no idea just how much a set of screw slot files cost.

"Good afternoon Sir (or mam), nice gun there. Do you own a Dremel?? Really?? That's nice as I'll just double your estimate here."

Coffinmaker

Virginia Gentleman · October 26, 2015, 03:40:29 PM

It is true there are a lot of people who have no clue to get the right kind of hollow ground screw drivers. I think that is more of the problem often than the screws being "too soft" plus Uberti and the other Italian gunmakers seem to employ an 800lb silverback gorilla to tighten down the screws. LOL! Fixing them is cheaper to the average hobbyist than ordering new ones from VTI or the importers, plus it allows them to get some gunsmithing skills.