so about two or three weeks ago I discovered a small screw head in my gun case one day when I was taking my custom 10/22 out to squirrel hunt. I looked the stock and the gun over, but could not find anything missing. I saved the broken screw head, and it was in the back of my mind ever since, and even though I've adjusted scope up and down 1/2" a couple of times since, I never made the connection. Friday I completely disassembled the action for thorough cleaning of the entire gun and bore. before I did so, I shot it a few times and again the gun was off a little high. I adjusted and was back in the bullseye. I don't clean the bore of this rifle after I have it shooting good before squirrel season until the season is over. I wanted to see how dramatic of an effect a sparkling clean bore would have on accuracy. (trying to find out my own answer to that ever vexing rimfire quandary "to clean or not to clean?") after I put the whole thing back together I noticed this
it became obvious why gun would not stay zeroed. how I overlooked that is beyond me, but I grabbed hold of the scope and was able to pull the scope mount off of the receiver on the back end where screw was broken. I tore the gun apart again and removed the scope mount from receiver just hoping there would be some of the threads sticking out enough that I could get a hold of it with vise grips. no such luck, of course. after considering the alternatives and a quick internet search I decided to try to extract the remainder of screw from the receiver myself. I'm not a machinist, but I do have a cheap drill press and I was able to rig up a way to clamp the receiver solidly and squarely in place upside down and remove the remainder of screw from the bottom side (inside top of receiver) by using a regular right hand drill bit. by coming up from the bottom side, I was doing the left hand drill extraction maneuver in reverse. I got everything lined up as best I could and went really slow. bit did not quite make it completely through the screw when it broke loose and backed out as planned. I'm calling it a miracle. this is a Tony Kidd machined aluminum receiver, so any straying of the bit while drilling could have easily damaged the threads in the soft aluminum. probably should have taken to a gunsmith, but it worked out.
I put this gun together four years ago, and it has been a fabulous squirrel rifle. why this screw would break now is a mystery to me. now I need a new screw. I don't have a clue about what is standard size. this is a T 15 Torx flat head and measures 3/8" long and o.d. of the threads is 5/32" as reported by my micrometer.
any of you gun gurus know where I can find these locally? or where I can get them online?
it became obvious why gun would not stay zeroed. how I overlooked that is beyond me, but I grabbed hold of the scope and was able to pull the scope mount off of the receiver on the back end where screw was broken. I tore the gun apart again and removed the scope mount from receiver just hoping there would be some of the threads sticking out enough that I could get a hold of it with vise grips. no such luck, of course. after considering the alternatives and a quick internet search I decided to try to extract the remainder of screw from the receiver myself. I'm not a machinist, but I do have a cheap drill press and I was able to rig up a way to clamp the receiver solidly and squarely in place upside down and remove the remainder of screw from the bottom side (inside top of receiver) by using a regular right hand drill bit. by coming up from the bottom side, I was doing the left hand drill extraction maneuver in reverse. I got everything lined up as best I could and went really slow. bit did not quite make it completely through the screw when it broke loose and backed out as planned. I'm calling it a miracle. this is a Tony Kidd machined aluminum receiver, so any straying of the bit while drilling could have easily damaged the threads in the soft aluminum. probably should have taken to a gunsmith, but it worked out.
I put this gun together four years ago, and it has been a fabulous squirrel rifle. why this screw would break now is a mystery to me. now I need a new screw. I don't have a clue about what is standard size. this is a T 15 Torx flat head and measures 3/8" long and o.d. of the threads is 5/32" as reported by my micrometer.
any of you gun gurus know where I can find these locally? or where I can get them online?
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