Part of a screw recently fell out of my 71 year old 1912 Winchester. After removing the bolt I discovered that it was 2/3 of the firing pin re-tractor screw. By slipping a single edge razor blade between the retractor and the slot in the bolt I was able to remove what I thought was the rest of the screw. The replacement screw arrived today and it became apparent that the tip of the old screw is still in the bolt.



What's left is quite a way down this hole and is below the surface of the keyway that the retractor fits in so I am going to have to remove it from the left side of the bolt where the screw goes.

I am unable to move it using the edge of a small screwdriver so it appears to be in pretty tight. I am assuming that my next step would be to clamp the bolt in my drill press and drill it for an easy out but I figure that there is only 1/8" of screw left at the most and I have never tried removing anything this small before.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions I would appreciate any help.

I would recommend getting some practice drilling into small confined areas and extracting small screws before attempting this. Or, send it to someone who is experienced in doing this type of stuff. If you insist on doing this yourself, you will first need to square up the hole with the quill, and then machine a flat to the broken piece to help prevent a bit from wandering off center. I would seriously recommend hiring it done. If you need help, PM me.

Well, drilling the hole and using an easy-out is the first thing that ame to my mind too, but an alternative if you have a friend who has a good mill, is that you might be able to mount it in the mill vice in a position where you could simply use an undersized end mill to very carefully mill it out.

You would have to use a mill tool of small enough diameter to leave the threads of the screw in the hole, which would likely men picking the remaining threads out with a dental pick or some such device after you are done milling.

I hope you have more patience at that kind of repairs than I have as I get older and more crochety.

Ouch! That is not going to be easy.

I had a similar problem that I solved this way. It was on a 'scope mount on a receiver.

I drilled a smaller than true diameter hole down the screw stump. Then hammered a hexagonal bit into it. Like an Allen key shape in the form of a screwdriver end.

As the sides of the stub can't go anywhere it FORCES the hole you've drilled to conform to that hexagonal bit.

Then just simply screw it out.

The other solution is to start out as if you are going to re-tap the hole with a thread. Secure the bolt in a vice or clamp beneath a pillar drill. Use a rod of the screw size to align the bolt.

Then remove the rod, insert a drill and drill down.

Finally use tap and the job should, in theory be "just as it left the factory".

Soak the hole in Kroil and use a left hand drill bit to drill the screw for the easy out. The screw will probably come out when the drill bit starts to bite. This is best done in a drill press with very little pressure on the bit; not a mill as a mill will probably break the drill bit when the screw starts coming out.

I machined the end if the screw flat with a 5/64" end mill but am having a real time trying to drill a 1/16" hole in it for the easy out. This is a seriously hard screw. I have broken two bits and you can't really call what I have a hole. The next size larger easy out won't reach all the way down to the screw stub.

I am going to run over to McMaster-Carr and replace my Home Depot bits with the real thing.

The screw is a #4 so I don't really have a lot of area to work with.

I am going to get left hand bits and give them a try. My drill press only runs in one direction so I an going to use a hand drill which shouldn't be a real problem since I have it faced and and the hole started. Another thing about the drill press is that the slowest speed is 600rpm which is a bit fast for this kind of work. The slower things are moving the more time you have to realize if things are not going right.

When you buy bits, get m8 cobalt. The extra cutting life you get saves you the cost in resharpening time over the life of the bit, and it will cut a lot of hardened steel that hss won't.

At mcmaster, a 1/16" one costs $2.36: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-drill-bits/=k6vkws

dave

Thanks Dave, they are about 20 minutes from here over on Fulton Ind.

I ordered a tap from them a couple of years ago and figured that they would mail it to me but 2 hours later a guy pulled up in a little pickup truck and handed me my tap. I just happened to order on one of the days that they run a route over this way.

I spent most of yesterday evening helping my 20 year old daughter go from platinum blond to redhead and now my hands are red and the bathroom looks like a scene out of The First 48 but after surviving that I am ready to take on anything, even a stubborn screw.

The colbalt drills left handed with a split point and screw lenghth will be the best. If you see a Snap On truck stop him, he will have them.
Good luck, you'll need it. At least you know what there. I've had jobs like this come in, except they will fail to tell me there is a drill, tap and easy out already stuck in there also. Soak it in Kroil and tap it every now and then.

OK, I give up. This is the hardest stuff I have ever tried to drill into.

I am going to have to send it to someone who has way more experience with this sort of thing than I do.

I'll bet someone with an EDM [electro-discharge machining] machine could do it !

I have been thinking about this and the screw really can't be that hard. The two pieces that came out are both well rounded off and the threads pretty well flattened.

If you look at the end of the stub that came out you can see that the bit that is left has sort of a convex end to it. That's the part that I milled flat.
Yep, that is red hair dye still stuck to my hand. I am going to try mineral spirits and if that doesn't work I am probably stuck with it until it wears off.


I am beginning to suspect that the end of the screw may be turning while I am trying to drill it. The threads are just about gone from this one and when I hit it with the mill it may have been just loose enough to start spinning in the hole. I am going to mill a flat on the large part of the old screw and see if I can drill it. If I can the part in the bolt has just about got to be moving.

It's pretty obvious that this part of the screw has been bouncing around in the bolt for quite some time.


I have located a complete used bolt for $95 so I am not going to spend a small fortune trying to get this one fixed.

Try using vinegar to remove the dye from your hands. If that does not work, try cooling oil and a scrub brush.