Screwdrivers for guns?
- Thread starter Guyon
- Start date
George Stringer
Staff Alumnus
Guyon, Brownells, www.brownells.com will have what you need. George
Unkel Gilbey
New member
If you have access to a grinder, you might be able to 'sharpen' a screwdriver for your own purposes. This is a practice that nearly all gunsmiths must use, and it ensures that you will have a screwdriver that fits your screws exactly!
If you wish to undertake this on your own - take your time. If there is a color change in the metal as you go, you've lost the temper of that piece, and it will not work like you want it to. Especially if you are cinching down scope or sight screws. Another thing to keep watch of is a cheap, chrome plated screwdriver. Usually when you get past the plating, you'll find some really soft metal which will distort at the first application of torque.
Personally, I'd practice getting the shape right with the cheapie, and then go for the finished product on the better quality tool. I'd also consider using drill rod for my customs jobs, a dicarded old screwdriver handle epoxied on, and then your never need to look back.
Good Luck,
Unkel Gilbey
If you wish to undertake this on your own - take your time. If there is a color change in the metal as you go, you've lost the temper of that piece, and it will not work like you want it to. Especially if you are cinching down scope or sight screws. Another thing to keep watch of is a cheap, chrome plated screwdriver. Usually when you get past the plating, you'll find some really soft metal which will distort at the first application of torque.
Personally, I'd practice getting the shape right with the cheapie, and then go for the finished product on the better quality tool. I'd also consider using drill rod for my customs jobs, a dicarded old screwdriver handle epoxied on, and then your never need to look back.
Good Luck,
Unkel Gilbey
Gunslinger
Moderator
I'm cheap. I purchase cheap (over size) screw drivers (turn screws to the bucks up crowd 
) and then form them to fit the task. Any time I have spent money on high dollar screw drivers invaritably I will have a job that I will not have a screw driver fit the slot the way I would like and wind up making one any way. Now, after having made my own over the years it is rare that I don't have just the right size.
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Gunslinger
I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
) and then form them to fit the task. Any time I have spent money on high dollar screw drivers invaritably I will have a job that I will not have a screw driver fit the slot the way I would like and wind up making one any way. Now, after having made my own over the years it is rare that I don't have just the right size.------------------
Gunslinger
I was promised a Shortycicle and I want a Shortycicle!
Gunslinger
Moderator
I was typing as Uncle Gilbey was posting. 
I also can't spell Gilbey. Double. 
[This message has been edited by Gunslinger (edited October 05, 2000).]
I also can't spell Gilbey. Double
. [This message has been edited by Gunslinger (edited October 05, 2000).]
I guess I, too, have to 'fess up. Like most smiths, I always recommend a nice set of hollow ground screwdrivers. Then I grind cheap screwdrivers to fit, just as others do.
There is one trick, though, that will help in some situations. If dealing with a really tight screw, a ground screwdriver will break and an unground one will jump out of the slot, battering up the screw.
The trick is to pad the drill press table, and put a stub screw driver into the chuck.
Then, bring the chuck down and turn it until the screwdriver blade goes into the screw slot. Then hold the chuck down and turn it. The chuck gives a lot more leverage than a screwdriver handle and the drill press handle keeps the blade from jumping out.
Using a nipple wrench instead of the screwdriver, it also works on tight or rusted nipples in old percussion revolver cylinders.
Jim
There is one trick, though, that will help in some situations. If dealing with a really tight screw, a ground screwdriver will break and an unground one will jump out of the slot, battering up the screw.
The trick is to pad the drill press table, and put a stub screw driver into the chuck.
Then, bring the chuck down and turn it until the screwdriver blade goes into the screw slot. Then hold the chuck down and turn it. The chuck gives a lot more leverage than a screwdriver handle and the drill press handle keeps the blade from jumping out.
Using a nipple wrench instead of the screwdriver, it also works on tight or rusted nipples in old percussion revolver cylinders.
Jim
Over twenty years ago I bought a Chapman Gun Screw Driver Kit. It was a well made and expensive set at the time.
Boy, was that one of the best investments of my life, and not just for firearms. Not a single peice has ever failed or deformed. Since it was made for guns, it usually has bits that fit most common gun parts that you need to dissemble for cleaning and maintenace. The only trouble is that you can always use a few more sizes than any set has from time to time for particular problems and the only way to solve that is to make your own as a true professional would. I don't, but some do.
If I didn't already have a set, I would just bite the bullet and get the very best set offered by Brownells. It might be a pain in the wallet rigth now, but in the long run it would be one of the best investments you will ever make, and not just for firearms.
[This message has been edited by Herodotus (edited October 06, 2000).]
Boy, was that one of the best investments of my life, and not just for firearms. Not a single peice has ever failed or deformed. Since it was made for guns, it usually has bits that fit most common gun parts that you need to dissemble for cleaning and maintenace. The only trouble is that you can always use a few more sizes than any set has from time to time for particular problems and the only way to solve that is to make your own as a true professional would. I don't, but some do.
If I didn't already have a set, I would just bite the bullet and get the very best set offered by Brownells. It might be a pain in the wallet rigth now, but in the long run it would be one of the best investments you will ever make, and not just for firearms.
[This message has been edited by Herodotus (edited October 06, 2000).]
http://www.dillonprecision.com - Dillon's offers the Chapman screwdriver set.
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"If there be treachery, let there be jihad."
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
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"If there be treachery, let there be jihad."
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
If you are a serious tinker or amateur smith get the Brownells Super Master set for about one hundred bucks. Bite the bullet-- the set will be more expensive next year...
I bought the big set as a Christmas present to myself and use it on my collection at least once a week if not more. The bits are ground to fit most American and foreign rifle screws and also includes Allen and a Philips or two. The bits are replaceable if broken or lost. No more buggered screws...
I bought the big set as a Christmas present to myself and use it on my collection at least once a week if not more. The bits are ground to fit most American and foreign rifle screws and also includes Allen and a Philips or two. The bits are replaceable if broken or lost. No more buggered screws...
Gunslinger
Moderator
Night before last Terri and I went out to a local master gunsmith in the area that I am doing a joint Ruger project with. (I say master because this man served in the army during WWII. After the war ended and we left troops there to rebuild some troopers were offered the opportunity to learn a trade while waiting for orders to return home. He served an apprenticeship with an "old world" gunsmith and then returned to Europe to train more after ETSing. But I digress......)
Remembering this thread the subject of screw drivers came up. I was in awe as he proudly displayed his screw drivers. He is a machinist and makes manying of his own tools. His screw drivers were all marked 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, etc...The first number denoted the width and the second the thickness. While I'm oooing and awwwwing over his screw drivers Terri starts honking the horn. She was waiting in the car in the cold with the wolf in there with her.....an unruley wolf after waiting so long.
All of this brings me to my point...finally. Only true gun nuts would have such a fascination with screw drivers that they have lengthy conversations about the relative merits of which are better and standing awestruck while a fellow gun nut shows of his screw driver collection.
Remembering this thread the subject of screw drivers came up. I was in awe as he proudly displayed his screw drivers. He is a machinist and makes manying of his own tools. His screw drivers were all marked 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, etc...The first number denoted the width and the second the thickness. While I'm oooing and awwwwing over his screw drivers Terri starts honking the horn. She was waiting in the car in the cold with the wolf in there with her.....an unruley wolf after waiting so long.
All of this brings me to my point...finally. Only true gun nuts would have such a fascination with screw drivers that they have lengthy conversations about the relative merits of which are better and standing awestruck while a fellow gun nut shows of his screw driver collection.