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Easy-out tool for very small broken screw

11K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  gcrank1 
#1 ·
Does anyone make a very small (smaller than the #1 that comes with most 5 or 6 package kits that you commonly see) easy-out tool ?

I have a front sight base screw on which the head has been broken off and I need to get the shank of the screw out of the barrel.

Thanks.
 
#4 ·
Those little #6 screws aren't really a good fit for easy outs. About the best way I've found to get one out is to put the barrel in a good vise on a drill press table. Use the smallest drill bit you can get to drill a hole in the center of the screw. If the screw isn't flat, you won't be able to start the bit in the center so you may need to file the top down flat very carefully. Then use a very sharp center punch to get a starting point.
Once you are successful with the tiny hole, drill one slightly larger- large enough to barely get a small allen head wrench in tightly if you tap it in lightly with a small hammer. Once it is lodged in the screw you should be able to turn the screw out.
If this doesn't work, keep drilling with successively larger bits until you get to just the base of the threads so you don't screw up the threads in the barrel material. Then use an appropriate sized bottom tap to remove the rest of the material.


Don't ask me how I learned this trick....

Bob
 
#5 ·
Very small screw extractors are a dance with the devil. They are likely to break off - leaving you with a super hard thing stuck in your barrel. Now you are really stuck as that broken remover is 10x harder to remove than the offending screw.

This is one of those instances where a gunsmith or machinist is worth their weight in gold. Often they only charge a very small fee for removing a broken screw or bolt... It's worth every penny!
 
#6 · (Edited)
Very small screw extractors are a dance with the devil. They are likely to break off - leaving you with a super hard thing stuck in your barrel. Now you are really stuck as that broken remover is 10x harder to remove than the offending screw.

This is one of those instances where a gunsmith or machinist is worth their weight in gold. Often they only charge a very small fee for removing a broken screw or bolt... It's worth every penny!
Yes, I know, but unfortunately this is Bedford, Va. and the nearest gunsmith that I would trust to look at my gun (might less work on it), is about 100 miles down the road - one way - just one of the many rewards of living out in the sticks !!!

Thanks.
 
#7 ·
Can you use a Dremel or a die grinder to carefully grind a slot into the head and then back it out with a hand-held impact driver (the kind you whack with a hammer)?

Another thing I have sometimes gotten to work is to drill a hole into the center and hammer a small allen wrench head into the hole... Then turn it back out.

But if it's really stuck good - any chance it got loctited into the hole? The only way to get that stuff loose is a LOT of heat - then it will back out with firm, steady pressure.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Can you use a Dremel or a die grinder to carefully grind a slot into the head and then back it out with a hand-held impact driver (the kind you whack with a hammer)?

Another thing I have sometimes gotten to work is to drill a hole into the center and hammer a small allen wrench head into the hole... Then turn it back out.

But if it's really stuck good - any chance it got loctited into the hole? The only way to get that stuff loose is a LOT of heat - then it will back out with firm, steady pressure.
Truckjohn:

Yes, I think there is a good likelihood that it was loctited or glued into the barrel. Because the other screw in the base which did NOT have the head broken off came out of the barrel very easily after my soaking with Kroil, but it was so gummed up with glue (and yes, believe me I tried to clean it up but it was a lost cause). I have since ordered and received 2 replacement screws from Numrich. But I can't get one of the new screws into the front hole until I get the broken screw out of that front hole.

See this link to better understand my thoughts about folks who insist on gluing screws into guns. Sorry, if you might be one of them. But those folks need to remember that someday, them or someone else may just possibly want to remove those screws from the gun.

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158951

Thanks.
 
#11 ·
With small screws, it's generally better to try and get a Center punch in the center of the screw, and than use successively larger drill bits, till you are just slightly smaller than the thread diameter. Than run a Tap thru, of the correct pitch.

Easy-outs and other Gizmos don't like to play well with small screws.
 
#14 ·
So, no easyout available for your small screw. Looks like you will be drilling ???
MY POINT, if you are drilling, use the LEFT HAND DRILL BIT, there is the chance
if will grab the screw and back it out. Drilling with a right hand bit is tightening
the screw. ... Just asying OHH, what did the guy on the video say to do about
screws that are too small to use a easyout???
Jack
 
#16 · (Edited)
Too bad some people use the WRONG Thread Locking Stuff.
But it is what it is. Heat will be Required to break down the bond.
It is absolutely imperative that the hole drilled into the screw stub be in the center!
A left hand drill bit gives you a chance it might unscrew while drilling, a std drill bit has no chance of that at all.
The trouble with tapping something into that hole is it spreads the screw tighter to the sides.
If the hole is not perfectly centered and you have to go to bigger bits (hoping to be able to pick the left over screw threads out) you will eventually be drilling the gun threads on one side and wrecking the original drilled and tapped hole.
This is best done in a mill, NOT a bench vise with a hand drill; even a drill press is iffy unless you can rig it more like a light duty mill.
The top of that broken screw is best leveled off with a small end mill, indexed and started with a center drilled with a (duh) Center Drill NOT a std twist drill.
Basically, if you dont know what Im talking about in these comments you are likely in over your head in attempting this. This is real gun smithing.
 
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