Quick Tip: How To Remove a Stuck Gun Screw

It always sounds so easy in the instructions. You remove Screw X from your firearm, and proceed with the project, easy-peasy. But what if that screw won't come loose? Torque it too hard, and the screwdriver might slip and gouge the gun's finish. Or worse, you break off the head of the screw. Relax, Brownell Gun Tech™ Caleb is here to give you stuck-screw-removal skills you can use not only in your gun work but elsewhere in your life. Use this one any type of screw: slot-head, Phillips, Torx, Allen (hex). He demonstrates for us on a stubborn slot-head screw retaining the stock of his vintage Mossberg Model 151 .22 rifle. If you can, secure the gun in a bench vise. That way both of your hands are free.

 

THE RIGHT TOOLS: Use a screwdriver tip that perfectly fits the screw slot. Gun screw slots are cut with 90-degree angles at the bottom, so if you go in with a tapered screwdriver, it's going to slip and a mishap will ensue. Get a set of screwdrivers designed specifically for working on firearm screws, such as a Brownells Magna-Tip® screwdriver set. You want a screwdriver tip that fills the WIDTH and the LENGTH of the screw slot. In a lot of situations, just using the right-size screwdriver will transfer enough torque to motivate the stuck screw to move.

 

TWO METHODS: Sometimes the culprit is a bit of rust locking the screw in place. Dab some penetrating oil, such as Kroil, on the screw head let it sit overnight. This is often enough to dissolve the rust and free up the screw. Applying some heat to the screw may do the job, but it's not an option on Caleb's Mossberg 151 because the problem screw is in the middle of the nicely finished wood stock.

 

IF I HAD A HAMMER: Tapping the top of the screwdriver's handle with a nylon gunsmithing hammer, while you apply increasing counterclockwise torque to the handle often works very well at breaking the screw free. The shockwaves of the hammer taps vibrating through the threads break loose the rust or old thread-locker that have frozen the screw.

 

LAST RESORT - A WRENCH: If the hammer doesn't work, try clamping a crescent wrench to the shank of the screwdriver to give you more leverage. But this is a last resort. The extra leverage risks breaking off the screw head - and then you're really in trouble! Fixing that problem will involve a mill or a drill press. That is a subject for a future video!