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Pretty Screwy

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
so about two or three weeks ago I discovered a small screw head in my gun case one day when I was taking my custom 10/22 out to squirrel hunt. I looked the stock and the gun over, but could not find anything missing. I saved the broken screw head, and it was in the back of my mind ever since, and even though I've adjusted scope up and down 1/2" a couple of times since, I never made the connection. Friday I completely disassembled the action for thorough cleaning of the entire gun and bore. before I did so, I shot it a few times and again the gun was off a little high. I adjusted and was back in the bullseye. I don't clean the bore of this rifle after I have it shooting good before squirrel season until the season is over. I wanted to see how dramatic of an effect a sparkling clean bore would have on accuracy. (trying to find out my own answer to that ever vexing rimfire quandary "to clean or not to clean?") after I put the whole thing back together I noticed this

pita.jpg

it became obvious why gun would not stay zeroed. how I overlooked that is beyond me, but I grabbed hold of the scope and was able to pull the scope mount off of the receiver on the back end where screw was broken. I tore the gun apart again and removed the scope mount from receiver just hoping there would be some of the threads sticking out enough that I could get a hold of it with vise grips. no such luck, of course. after considering the alternatives and a quick internet search I decided to try to extract the remainder of screw from the receiver myself. I'm not a machinist, but I do have a cheap drill press and I was able to rig up a way to clamp the receiver solidly and squarely in place upside down and remove the remainder of screw from the bottom side (inside top of receiver) by using a regular right hand drill bit. by coming up from the bottom side, I was doing the left hand drill extraction maneuver in reverse. I got everything lined up as best I could and went really slow. bit did not quite make it completely through the screw when it broke loose and backed out as planned. I'm calling it a miracle. this is a Tony Kidd machined aluminum receiver, so any straying of the bit while drilling could have easily damaged the threads in the soft aluminum. probably should have taken to a gunsmith, but it worked out.

I put this gun together four years ago, and it has been a fabulous squirrel rifle. why this screw would break now is a mystery to me. now I need a new screw. I don't have a clue about what is standard size. this is a T 15 Torx flat head and measures 3/8" long and o.d. of the threads is 5/32" as reported by my micrometer.

pita 2.jpgpita 3.jpg

any of you gun gurus know where I can find these locally? or where I can get them online?
 
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"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
Jamie, do you have a fastenal store near you? If they don't have it they might be able to order one in.... They have millions of fasteners at their finger tips...


 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
yes, there is one about 15 miles from me in Mt. Vernon, but I hadn't thought of them. good idea, though. There is a mom and pop hardware store that seems to always have stuff like this. I'll try them first since I'll be in their neighborhood working most of the week. I'm pretty sure this is a #6-32 x 3/8" machine screw, which should be a pretty standard little screw. it should be gettable. I sent an email to Kidd asking if they would sell me the set of screws that came with the scope base and receiver. will cost more to ship them than they are worth, though. hoping I can get them locally. Even Home Depot might have them, I dunno.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
no, I don't think it's an aluminum screw, but it is possible. I can't say for sure, but it seems too heavy to be aluminum. now that I think about it, it did seem like the drilling went easier than I thought. I had a good sharp drill bit, but this is certainly not a hardened steel fastner. I installed them myself, I used blue thread locker and did not tighten them more than snug. I don't have any way to gauge the torque, but I knew I was screwing into aluminum and was careful to not risk stripping. my theory is that the screw was damaged or defective/cracked when I put it in. it broke exactly at the bottom of the head, above the first thread. three seasons of hard use finally caught up. probably never know for sure.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
no, I don't think it's an aluminum screw, but it is possible. I can't say for sure, but it seems too heavy to be aluminum. now that I think about it, it did seem like the drilling went easier than I thought. I had a good sharp drill bit, but this is certainly not a hardened steel fastner. I installed them myself, I used blue thread locker and did not tighten them more than snug. I don't have any way to gauge the torque, but I knew I was screwing into aluminum and was careful to not risk stripping. my theory is that the screw was damaged or defective/cracked when I put it in. it broke exactly at the bottom of the head, above the first thread. three seasons of hard use finally caught up. probably never know for sure.

Stick a magnet to it. Reason I'm bringing it up is, steel and aluminum don't get along (I'm sure you know this). Going into mom and pops might be easy, but I think there's more to this then just matching sizes. Also, someone just had a problem on here, those screws might be two different sizes.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'd get them from the manufacture to be sure I had the right stuff. That's just me though.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
screw stuck to a magnet, so it isn't aluminum. any time I'm on a wild goose chase like this, I tend to be less than optimistic. I'm sure I can get these from Kidd. at least I cannot imagine why they would not sell them to me. proceeding with adequate caution otherwise. I was hoping that somebody here could tell me "that is such and such size and get them here". I'm in no hurry. I decided to put some new glass on my baby since I'm back to square one with getting it dialed in again. new scope not here yet. I have until next December to get my shit together. :)
 

antiqucycle

Junior Member
506
36
East Ohio
Grainger is another industrial supplier you can try. Home Depot does carry a better nut and bolt section than Lowes. But Menards is far superior in stock.
My guess the screw just barely got loose from bumping the scope and was made in China of lousy scrap ateel. d
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
I did find these screws at local hardware store (Roush Hardware in Westerville. surely all you central ahians know of it) they are hex heads not torx, but the same in every other way. they are black oxide coated "alloy steel". I'm not sure what "alloy steel" really means, but these will work. Better still is that Kidd is sending me replacements screws free of charge. being that they were so quick to send them to me for free, makes me wonder if they have had this request more than a few times. I was tempted to tell my whole story, but figured it was a waste of my time. I'm still extremely pleased with all the parts I got from Kidd and their customer service has always been, continues to be, A+.