The bolt stop screw is a real thing, as noted by the headcount earlier. It is, as far as I am aware, the only wart on the rifle. I currently have three. I've looked at the stop screws under magnification, and they are significantly variable. The part was designed poorly, and then some are machined much worse than others with circumferential grooves right at the "snap here" stress riser corner.
Fortunately, you can deal with it by having your smith machine a small shoulder bushing and putting a properly manufactured M3 screw through it. He'll have to do a tiny bit of inletting on the stock to clear the bolt head, but it will be rock solid.
Would also be possible to drill and tap it to M4 and just sleeve the screw, making it even beefier.
Good info, thanks for posting that. I seem to remember people asking about possible upgrades here, but don't recall anyone that's done it.
I don't have a Howa/Vanguard but it looks like the factory screw has a shoulder for the bolt stop to pivot on, whereas a 700 uses one of the pins holding the trigger in place.
So, that solution moves the impact force, which normally goes from the left bolt lug hitting the stop and into the screw, to the bushing and into the receiver, correct? Instead of taking the impact, the screw now simply keeps the bolt stop from migrating laterally to the left.
