Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing A hint that may serve some of you well.

redneck. i have stopped the use of fingernail polish...but why is it worse?

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Inquiring minds want to know.

Because heat won't loosen it.. At least, even with red locktite, heat will allow removal.. Fingernail polish anchors 'em and 9 times outta 10 the only way to remove 'em is to drill/mill off the head(s), remove the base - then mill/fill off the stub and drill out the remaining stub and then chase/repair the threads in the receiver..


A few years ago, after a couple base heads broken off upon removal attempts at a local store (and they couldn't figure out why) I asked what they'd used to anchor the screws. When he replied "fingernail polish" I told him to quit using that crap unless he wants to pay me $40/hole to remove the stubs/chase the threads..

Guess what? They quit usin' that crap... Now they have a new(er) clerk who, I found out a few days ago, was usin' that same stuff and (of course) a screw head broke off on a brand-spankin' new rifle and he couldn't remove the remaining stub.. When I couldn't make it budge either I called him up and asked what he used. "fingernail polish", sez he.. I told him then and there to quit using that damned stuff on firearms and leave it for his wife...

Then I had to mill off the top of the stud to within .002 of the receiver, center-drill the stub, finish drill with a #31 (6-48 screws) and then chase the threads with a tap..

Cost him $40... If he'd have used even Red locktite, the cost would have been about $5-10, tops...

They use it again, they're gonna pay - again...

Mickey,
Here's a tip that's worked VERY well for me, using a hex bit for a powered driver, use one of those rechargeable impact drivers and put some weight on it and give the trigger a little 'burp' in the stuck screw. I've fought with some base screws in the past and one day I noticed my impact gun sitting there from a little construction project... It works as slick as anything I've ever tried and the screws will back right out. I've drilled off enough screw heads to know what a pain it can be, but this really works!

I'd never heard of a battery powered impact wrench. I'll check 'em out. Many thanks! Do they resemble an ordinary cordless drill? Found them in price all over the place.

Mickey, I took off the back wheels of my 150 Massey Ferguson with one of these. I really like it. miles

impact wrench

I got to thinking (dangerous I know) but he might have been talking about a hammer drill that is used to drill cement. miles

I have loosened fingernail polished screws with acetone. With its low viscosity it works its way into the threads and softens the lacquer. But since acetone evaporates so quickly it's drip, drip, drip on the threads for maybe 20 minutes or so. Too much time for a gun shop but feasible for a hobbyist without much machinery.

Amatuer here with a trivia question.

I had heard a long time ago that regular bar soap would do the same as fingernail polish or LocTite. Is that true? I never tried it.

A lubricant lessens friction between the threads so more of the torque goes to pre-stressing the screw. Most torque figures are given for dry threads so if you use the same value for lubricated threads you overstress the screw and threads.

For small screws in non-critical applications I shouldn't think soap would help, you can easily overstress tiny screws without it.

Should note that Henkel says Loctite acts as a lubricant and adjust torque accordingly.

If you are going to use Loc-tite on stuff you have to pay attention to the color and what it is meant to be used on. Great stuff if used with care. Loc-tite 222 is the stuff to use if you feel it is needed on small screws with fine threads (under 1/4"). #242 is the blue and a little more aggressive but still removable. Of course nothing beats paying attention to properly torquing fasteners by size, with or without the use of a locker or sealant. The red stuff is removable with heat and prayer (or cursing!) and can be a pretty serious locker if it was applied clean to close tolerances.

Don't forget the receiving material - i.e., some receivers are aluminum.. Attempting to torque screws to familiar specs will thoroughly strip the threads in aluminum receivers.. That's another can o' worms I run into from time to time - the local store that, um, forgets... Yes.. And it's only to be used in very rare cases IMHO..

I guess the proper term might be impact driver. Mine is a Dewalt 18V driver as part of one of those multiple cordless tool kits. We used it mostly for putting in sheet metal screws for the roof tin when I was building my shop.

http://www.factoryauthorizedoutlet.com/dewalt-heavy-duty-14-4v-1-4-cordless-impact-driver-kit

it would be this one, only 18V.

I've had a Craftsman 19.2v cordless impact wrench for several years but I never would have dreamed of using it to remove scope base screws. If I can break a bit with just my old hands I would think that the impact wrench would destroy them with ease.

I've had some base screws, even just the allen head ones that already had started to round out, just pop right out with that little driver. It was a last resort for me, and now it tends to be the 2nd resort...if it doesn't come out easily by hand, I pop it out with that imact and it hasn't failed yet (knock on wood of course).

Mine is a 1/2 inch drive but I can get some reducers that will let me use 1/4 inch bits. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

You refer to yours as "that little driver" but mine will take the lug nuts off my tractor. Is it too big? I see Dewalt makes a 1/4 drive impact wrench.

It may be too much, the little drivers I'm talking about are pretty small ones with just a small socket for the hex shank hand tools. They'll take any of the standard screwdriver bits from Brownells and such. I'd be a little leary of a powerful lug impact wrench.

Ya think....