Frozen screws

[terlou]

Hi
I have an old Pre-1890 Colt black powder SAA with frozen trigger and bolt screws. Tried soaking in Kroil penetrating oil to free but no luck. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

THANKS!

[haggis]

Some things that might work:

1. Fixture the gun on its side where it can't move. Put a properly fitted screwdriver in the slot and tap the screwdriver handle moderately with a hammer while applying downward counterclockwise pressure with your other hand. The vibration may break it loose.
2. Remove the stock(s) and put the entire gun in a large ultrasonic cleaner for a few hours. That may loosen the screws, and it will get your gun very clean.
3. If the first two don't work, fixture the gun on the platform of a drill press. Using a correctly sized bit in the chuck, bear down on the screw slot and rotate the chuck by hand. You may want to heat the area near the screw with a heat gun just before doing this.

I have removed a goodly number of stuck screws by doing some combination of these. I have also had a rare failure where I broke the screw using #3. There's some risk in anything you try.

Buck

[Oyeboten]

Usually one uses a fixture supporting the Revolver in a true horizontal, and, uses a Drill Press to hold a special kind of Screwdriver, so that one may have sure, positive pressure on the Screw, as one Turns the Blade, and this of course has to be an absolutely correctly Ground Screwdriver, to fit the Screw in question.


Sometimes, soaking, then using a correclty ground and right fitting conventional type Gunsmithing Screw driver, one may 'Tap' the Screw driver a few times with a Plastic Mallet, to transmit a small shock to the Screw, and, see if one can loosen it then...and, if this does not work, then one goes to the 'Drill Press' Method of higher direct pressure and torque and support in a special Jig.

[haggis]

OB,

Can't sleep either, huh?

Buck

[rhmc24]

The above reccos are good. A couple more ideas. Be sure you get the kroil into the inside rather than the just the screw slot. The thread is just under the head rather than out on the shank. Heating and cooling rapidly can cause shift in the mating surfaces. Consider heating the gun and quench a couple times then try kroil again. Kitchen oven temp up to a little over 400 degrees can't hurt the gun but may affect blue of the barrel, if any. Color of iron starts changing about 440 degrees and you get blue at 560. By grinding one of the hex screw gun bits to fit the screw head will give most torque using the haggis #3 & Oye methods.

[Slowhand]

Great stuff on how to get physical with some screws. I've done the padded vise thing, B Square screw jacks, the heating and grinding of bits, those things work. I've also had some success in the past with Blaster PB a Penetrating Catalyst available at most local Auto Parts Stores.

[birddogbl]

Yes, pb blaster should loosen it up,great stuff..

[guy sajer]

Update us please ... did you get them out ?

[terlou]

Hi

Impossible to remove these screws by soaking or heating or any of the suggested methods. After 130 years they were really seated. I had to drill them out to replace them. Fortunately the screws are soft and were drilled out successfully. The most import thing to do when attempting this is to get a perfect vertical alignment on the drill press and have the frame well secured before drilling. This is not an easy task since all surfaces of the frame are angular. Also make sure that you have a good drill press before attempting this. After I finally achieved vertical alignment, I used a 1/8" centering bit to start the hole. Then the hole was drilled using the bit for a 12-24 tap. Once the bit barely penetrated the left side of the frame a punch was used from the right side of the frame to force the remaining portion of the screw out toward the left side of the frame. Then the hole in the left side of the frame was re-tapped with a 12-24 tap. Back in business and everything works fine again. The good note is that the screws are fairly soft and drilled out easily. THE MAIN THING IN DOING THIS SUCCESSFULLY IS IN THE VERTICAL ALIGNMENT AND FRAME SECURING.

[telluride]

I've seen a goldsmith do this on a $30,000 watch, it'll raise your heart rate. Glad you made it okay, terlou. That's hard work.