Help- stuck action screw

[WoolSocks]

So, I bedded my Winchester 670 yesterday. Went to take it apart today and the front action screw is stuck. Any ideas on how to get it out of there?

[wadu1]

I would put a drop of Kriol on it and let it work in, about 5 minutes. Try to keep excess oil off the wood.

[Crunchy]

Looks like a nickel and a pair of vice grips

[Karl Blanchard]

What did you put on the screw for a release agent?

[WoolSocks]

What did you put on the screw for a release agent?

Wax, but apparently I didn’t do so well..

Going to give break-free a try tomorrow

[Encore 280]

Use a good  hollow ground gunsmith screwdriver to start with.

[JDHasty]

Where do you live?  At this point it’s not a big deal.  You might be out an action screw, let’s try and keep it that way.  If you have room in your freezer, put it in there for a day or so before doing anything more.  When it comes out try and turn it. 

If it’s still stuck, get a can of electrics duster.  Turn it upside down and spray the screw and coat it with dry ice.  Keep freezing it until it either works to break the bond or doesn’t.  If it works, great.  Spray the inside of the receiver too where the hole for this screw is.  Steel has a high coefficient of thermal expansion and epoxy doesn’t.  Sometimes this works. 

If it doesn’t work then drill the screw head and twist it off then drive the screw and barreled action out with a large punch.  If you have a woodworkers vise open the jaws to just larger than the barrel/receiver diameter and drive it down and out with both sides of the top of the stock supported on the wood vise jaws.  If no vise, then make up a cradle to do the same from scrap wood. 


My inclination is you have glued the machine screw threads into the receiver threads, but you might have glued the shank of the screw to the stock.  If the former you might be able to pull it apart once the screw head is off, if the latter if the screw shank is smooth it will usually drive out fairly easily.  If the shank is threaded you might want to have a machinist take the screw most of the way out with an end mill.  If it is a factory screw, it’s probably smooth. 

This is a woodworker’s vise

[JDHasty]

In the future:  Two coats of KIWI NEUTRAL paste shoe polish, buffed between coats or Johnson’s Paste Wax.  Unless you have release agent from Score High or Brownells.   

[birdshooter1189]

I would also suggest putting the screwdriver on the screw, then hit the end of it with a hammer. Sometimes the vibration will crack the bond between the screw and the epoxy to help loosen it up.  Maybe even hit the screw directly, but be careful not to deform the screw head or the stock around it.

After rapping on the screw with a hammer, and maybe doing the "chill the screw" process previously described, I would get a good fitting screwdriver, press hard, and turn until it comes free or the head breaks off or strips out.  If it strips out, then move the the previously described process of drilling/milling off the screw head, then remove the stock, then use vice grips or other means to get the remainder of the screw twisted out of the action. And then get a replacement screw.

I've glass bedded a couple stocks usng JB-weld.  For a release agent I used UNIQUE case lube wax.  I smeared a coating over the entire bottom side of the receiver. I was careful to keep epoxy away from the action screws. This has worked well for me for 2 or 3 rifles now.

[JDHasty]

Before doing anything more, get the scope off the rifle.  This isn't the ideal situation, but unless there is more going on than the screw - it isn't that bad as far as "I glued my gun together" goes.  Don't get impatient.  Good advice on a screwdriver that fits the slot, Magnetip bits are cheap and can be ground to fit.   

[Encore 280]

Preferably a brass mallet or a brass drift between hammer and screw head so ya don't mar the screw head. Be patient.

[chukardogs]

When shocking the screw, make sure as much as that shock goes into the threads, meaning don't lay the rifle in a piled up towel, on a big wooden table, phone book, etc...etc. Protect the barrel with a couple layers of tape and lay the barrel on a large steel surface with an anvil or block directly under the screw and start with a brass mallet but they absorb shock so you may find a midsize ballpeen more effective. If the threaded receiver is a welded U-shaped bracket, good luck because they act as a shock absorber. If it's a steel block welded to the barrel, piece of cake. The shock will centralize in the threads. If all else fails, use a Dremel with a bur and remove the head. If you can use the bur to grind out the center removing the slot enough, you can possibly heat up the surface and break down the temper enough that you could then use a drill bit to remove the head. Good luck   

[wadu1]

As already mentioned, use the correct screwdriver. I follow Mark Novac's Anvil gun restoring videos, he uses a 2 oz and a 4oz ballpein hammers to loosen screws.

[JDHasty]

As already mentioned, use the correct screwdriver. I follow Mark Novac's Anvil gun restoring videos, he uses a 2 oz and a 4oz ballpein hammers to loosen screws.

People show up in my shop with rifles glued together fairly frequently.  I use small ball peen hammers, but have found that a chasing hammer works better.  What I have found even better than either for small screws that are corroded in place is to save the old points for my Starrett Automatic Center Punch and grind them to fit the screw slots.  I would be very surprised if there is any progress going to be made with a four ounce hammer on a 1/4-32 action screw that is glued in. 

[chukardogs]

They actually make a tool that turns to the left when struck specifically for this type of situation. I have used them for removing screws on airplanes but can't for the life of me remember what it's called.