Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Hardened Torx Screw Heads

Snapped a couple screws while mounting scopes. Who currently is making hardened torx or hex screw heads for rings and bases that's worth a sheit?

Obliged.

Looks like the guy in your avatar was cranking down on those screws 😀

FOstelogoy, maybe you just had some low grade screws. In 50 years of twisting gun screws, I cannot remember twisting the head off of one. Reading your post peaked my curiosity. And so, I did a little crude, non-scientific torque experiment with 6-48 Torx head screws. I drilled and tapped a couple of holes in an old steel scope base which I found to be some pretty hard steel when I cut it with a hack saw. With some screws and a 10 to 50 inch pound torque wrench, I attempted to see which would let go first, screw head, screw threads or base threads. With just 3 threads of screw engagement, the threads in the scope base stripped out at just under 30 inch pounds. With a .250 inch (thread length) screw at full thread depth, I was sure the Torx screw head would twist off, At 30 inch pounds all was well. And at 35, no problem. But, when I went to 40 inch pounds, the .250" length of the base threads stripped out. The screw, under a mag loop looked fine, except for a little rounding of the edges of the threads. I might mention that the screw had oil residue on it, so the torque was probably as much as 20 percent higher than what I had the torque wrench set on. I torque my 6-48 screws to 20 to 25 inch pounds, depending on thread depth.
In the descriptions of available guns screws, I have found many of them mention "Hardened" in the description of their screws. I'm sure there are manufacturers that make soft screws. If you want to make sure you are getting quality screws, you might buy them from the manufacturer of high quality Pic rails, such as Murphy Precision. RJ

Probably made in China.....maybe when the dust settles, we’ll start getting quality materials again. I’’ve had problems with the Torx bit breaking (like glass) when trying to torque scope screws.....using a Wheeler torque wrench! memtb

I suspect a low grade set of rings, using low grade fasteners.

Good torx head, as well as Allen head are generally grade 8, that's hard! And, about as high a quality as it gets.

The torx bits that break like glass are usually cheap stuff, improperly heat treated, or somehow missed the annealing process.

Sako screws?

Strange, what brand were they?

Talley


Much obliged gentlemen.

I've got two old school Snap-On torx bits that are broke, didn't think they were on the cheap scale.

Also have one Talley ring screw snap off on me too.

Talley will send a whole set of new screws if you email or call and tell them some broke.
They are hardened, that's why they broke when over torqued.

True, Sako's are soft.

Tikka's supposedly soft as well. Perhaps a bit to much UMMPH?

I thought I was the only one that did stuff like that, often.


mike r

Getting consistent QA on metallurgy & heat treatment on most products out of China is nearly impossible.

A few good sources, that are consistently good, but most take lots of liberties in adhering to spec..........close is good enough.

MM

Try Fastenall for good screws.