SO I bought new scope rings for my ruger m77 hawkeye and wouldnt you have that the star bit screwdriver I was using broke off in one of the screws holding the top ring to the bottom ring.How do I get it out? Keep in mind that there is a 300$ leupold sitting in the rings, so please be gentle with your responses.Thanks
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Scope ring trouble!!
- Thread starter mniesen89
- Start date
Egads! That's a new one on me.
A few ideas come to mind. One is the fact the bit broke off suggests improper heat treatment—perhaps an initial heat and quench with no draw down—that has left it very brittle. That means only carbide will likely drill it out. A brittle piece can often be shattered or at least loosened by applying an automatic center punch to the middle of it. If that tool is unfamiliar to you, it is a spring-loaded punch that you push down to cock the spring, then as you finish pushing down, lets go with a snap. They have an aluminum bodied one at Lowes that is probably good enough. That shock, however, may not be the best thing for the scope? The scope is designed to take some jolting, and I don't expect it would do any harm, but you may want to err on the side of caution there.
If you shatter the tip or if you maybe just loosen it with a scratch awl or something, one of the small round rare earth magnets at Radio Shack may be able to pick it up out of there?
The other approach involves damaging the screw head, so you'd need a replacement. If the screw is not hardened, with a battery powered Dremel tool on slower speed, you can run a small drill bit into the side of the head and make a hole that lets you stick a sharpened paper clip wire or something like it under the broken tip to pop it out. If the screw is hard, then you want to take baggies and rubber bands and paper or plastic and mask off the gun and scope and go after the screw head with a Dremel abrasive cut-off wheel. You can actually put a straight screw slot into the head, cutting right through the broken tip with that tool. A regular flat screwdriver should then be able to remove it. If the screw is in there tight, apply a few drops of Kroil or PB Blaster to the head and let it sit that way for a day before trying to remove the screw. If the opposite side screw is already tight, loosening it may make getting the broken one out easier.
A few ideas come to mind. One is the fact the bit broke off suggests improper heat treatment—perhaps an initial heat and quench with no draw down—that has left it very brittle. That means only carbide will likely drill it out. A brittle piece can often be shattered or at least loosened by applying an automatic center punch to the middle of it. If that tool is unfamiliar to you, it is a spring-loaded punch that you push down to cock the spring, then as you finish pushing down, lets go with a snap. They have an aluminum bodied one at Lowes that is probably good enough. That shock, however, may not be the best thing for the scope? The scope is designed to take some jolting, and I don't expect it would do any harm, but you may want to err on the side of caution there.
If you shatter the tip or if you maybe just loosen it with a scratch awl or something, one of the small round rare earth magnets at Radio Shack may be able to pick it up out of there?
The other approach involves damaging the screw head, so you'd need a replacement. If the screw is not hardened, with a battery powered Dremel tool on slower speed, you can run a small drill bit into the side of the head and make a hole that lets you stick a sharpened paper clip wire or something like it under the broken tip to pop it out. If the screw is hard, then you want to take baggies and rubber bands and paper or plastic and mask off the gun and scope and go after the screw head with a Dremel abrasive cut-off wheel. You can actually put a straight screw slot into the head, cutting right through the broken tip with that tool. A regular flat screwdriver should then be able to remove it. If the screw is in there tight, apply a few drops of Kroil or PB Blaster to the head and let it sit that way for a day before trying to remove the screw. If the opposite side screw is already tight, loosening it may make getting the broken one out easier.