There isn't too much I can contribute to the gunsmithing forum, but somewhere along the line someone explained to me how to repair buggered screws so I thought I could share this. Obviously, it is easier to simply replace a buggered screw, but there are those occasions where they just are not easy to find.
Here is my starting point:
The first step is to hold it against something solid, and then gently tap it with a hammer. The goal is to push as much of the metal back into the original position on the head of the screw as you possibly can.
Here is my result after hammering.
Unless you are better at it than me, you will have at least a little bit of "flashing", for lack of a better word, that remains above the original profile of the screw. There isn't really any alternative but to use a small file to carefully remove it. Use a small file because you don't want to accidentally file too much of the screw away.
This is the result after filing.
You now just need to refinish the screw to match the original finish. I don't have a fancy bluing tank or anything, so I do it the old fashioned way. I use this product to brown the screw first. It takes several days of applying a coat and then letting it set.
Next, you boil it in distilled water to turn the brown into blue. Here is the finished screw. You can achieve a deeper blue by doing more coats of the browning solution, but this is from an old gun and I wanted to match the worn finish of the gun.
Close up comparison of the buggered screw and the finished repair. If you are a perfectionist you can also use a file to true up the sides of the slot while you are at it, the eye won't be able to detect a slot that has been enlarged a little bit. I didn't do that on this screw though.
Here is my starting point:
The first step is to hold it against something solid, and then gently tap it with a hammer. The goal is to push as much of the metal back into the original position on the head of the screw as you possibly can.
Here is my result after hammering.
Unless you are better at it than me, you will have at least a little bit of "flashing", for lack of a better word, that remains above the original profile of the screw. There isn't really any alternative but to use a small file to carefully remove it. Use a small file because you don't want to accidentally file too much of the screw away.
This is the result after filing.
You now just need to refinish the screw to match the original finish. I don't have a fancy bluing tank or anything, so I do it the old fashioned way. I use this product to brown the screw first. It takes several days of applying a coat and then letting it set.
Next, you boil it in distilled water to turn the brown into blue. Here is the finished screw. You can achieve a deeper blue by doing more coats of the browning solution, but this is from an old gun and I wanted to match the worn finish of the gun.
Close up comparison of the buggered screw and the finished repair. If you are a perfectionist you can also use a file to true up the sides of the slot while you are at it, the eye won't be able to detect a slot that has been enlarged a little bit. I didn't do that on this screw though.
