Well now I've done it

[Murf425]

I finished my GPR last night. I just cold blued the parts, and everything except the barrel turned out perfect. The barrel, though, is a bit a splotchy, but I don't really care; this is a shooter, not a decoration. One day I'll build another gun and try to make it perfect, but I'm happy with this one for a first try.

Anyway, the problem:

Like I read about beforehand, I managed to snap the heads off two of the screws that hold the wedge collars in place. They're both on the right side of the stock, so I have 4 screws holding on the left, and one in each collar on the right. With the wedges driven in from the right, it's not a problem...just looks kinda shoddy.
So...any way to go about getting the screw bodies out of there so I can replace them?

 

[50cal.cliff]

Been there done that! Drill with the smallest bit you got along side the broken off screw, this will allow it to loosen some. Take a pair on needle nose vise grips and grab the nubin, and back it out. You may have to dril it on two sides to get it to loosen.
Drill the wallered out original hole to a 1/8" or larger, as long as the plate will cover it the repair will never be seen! Get a piece of of dowel (I prefer to use the hardwood for this type of repair) to match hole size you drilled and fit to length and leave it a little long. Glue and drive dowel in and let it dry thorougly. Take a chisel and cut of dowel end flush. Resit plate and mark hole. This time drill a pilot hole for the screw and it probably won't do that. A good set of gunsmithing screwdrivers is the best investment I evr made.
Good luck and I think you like the looks better.

 

[Murf425]

There was already a hole there...so I don't know why they snapped off. Screws 1-5 went in perfect...6 and 7 snapped off...8 I hosed down with WD-40 and it went in nice and smooth.

Thanks, I'll try your suggestion.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Get some unplated #2 wood screws from here:
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=597&st=unplated wood screws&s=

I bellieve the replacement pack of screws come with 20 screws to the pack, but I could be wrong, I don't remember how many I received.

They will fit your escutcheon plates and shouldn't break off, especially if a proper pilot hole is drilled and the screws are lubed.

I wouldn't trust one of those size 0 screws that come with the GPR kit, even with a pilot hole and lube.

See this chart for a comparison:

http://www.walteranderson.us/hobbies/woodworking/WoodScrewSizes.html

 

[Zonie]

No doubt about it, the little screws that come with some factory kits are really crummy but, for you new builders I'll mention something that is long known to more experienced builders.

Gun stock wood is VERY tough. Much tougher than pine or fir so driving screws into it requires much more force.
To reduce the force needed the screws must have a undersized hole drilled deeper than the screw is long. Some Factory kits don't drill the little hole deep enough so use a 1/16 inch drill to make sure it is.

Try to fill most of the hole with either bar soap or bees wax before you try to install the screw.
Also wipe the threads of the screw with either of these lubricants.

Lubricating wood screws threads before installing them applies to the larger screws as well.

If I happen to have a wood screw that has the same threads as the one I want to use on the gun, I will use it to pre-thread the hole. That way if I mar the head while driving it in, nothing is really lost. After removing this pre-threading screw the quality screws I really wanted to install screw in without needing to use excessive force.

 

[smallmouth]

Murf,

"good builders can fix mistakes -- great ones have learned to hide them!

I really want to amen, Zonie's advice to substitute screws during the building process. You often need to install, check and reinstall what seems like a million times. Bugger a head, and this WILL happen but if its the substitute who cares -- it will not affect the finished product. By the way as you learn more you can go back and revisit some earlier projects and "art" them up a bit. Good luck and good shooting.

Sirjohn