Go with the dowel however. Once you've cut the new threads, remove the screw and soak the hole with thin super glue. Give it lots of time to dry (overnight). Then flush with a drop of water and blow dry. This will soak into and harden the wood threads. Not impossible to strip but then, neither is steel.Thank you everyone. I am going to drill it out and use a dowl. I am building this gun for a friend and didn't want to do a fix that could fail sometime off in the future.