Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Help with removing screw with stripped head.

Can someone please tell me how to remove a screw with a hopelessly stripped head from the barrel band of a Marlin 336. It is pretty badly buggered and I can get no purchase with a flathead screwdriver. All of the screw extractors I have seen look too large, and I am hesitant to spend the money on something I am likely to only use once.

It's not causing any problems other than looking ugly, but it bothers me. Any help appreciated.

If nothing else you could drill the head off. Fairly easy.

Thanks for the tip. Excuse my ignorance, but it seems that would just make the problem worse. The threaded portions would still be out of reach inside the stock. Am I missing something? I'm away from the gun now. It would probably help if I could see it.

The barrel band screw is inside the stock? hmmm

Yeah I was thinking that the barrel band joined at the bottom and you could drill it and just pop it out.

Looking at the schmatics it passes through one side of the forestock and between the magazine tube and barrel and then back out the other side. Although from the schematic it looks like it might go over the top of the front stock. Sorry. I maybe should have waited untill I could look at the rifle to ask for help. But it is sort of eating at me. I do appreciate the assistance.

If you click on the above pic it is sorta big enough so that the screw is visible and it appears to go right through the middle of the forearm. It's too small to see the strippage however.

You can get some pretty small screw extractors for a couple of dollars that will pop it out, no problem.

Thanks. I will head to the hardware store when I get a chance and check them out. The ones I have seen before seem to be a bit large, but there may be smaller ones available at a more specialized store.

The newer Marlins have 2 screws in the fore end cap one from each side. It may be possible to drill the head off then remove the other screw and gently pry the cap over to drilled off screw. There won't be much of a stub to get a hold of but it may be possible to grasp it with a pliers and turn it out. Come to think of it the older Marlins have 2 screws also or at least my 1936 does.

I have seen a thing advertised on TV. Maybe others can help identify it.

It has a sort of left hand drill and a left handed bit that starts in the hole in the screw head and will remove most screws, or so the advertisment claims.

It is used in a hand drill. IIRC, they are about $15.00. If it works as good as the advertisement shows, it would be well worth the money.

I have never had much luck with a screw extractor, as discussed in the first post. I have always ended up with the screw still stuck, except now it has a broken screw extractor in it.

Here is what you are probably working with, taken from the Midway site:

It's amazing that such a tiny thing as a screw can be such a source of aggravation. I'm not sure if my dad did the damage before he passed the rifle on to me, or if I did when I was young and dumb, and yet to discover the importance of using the correct screwdriver.

Just drill a hole in the end of the screw head, and use a variable speed drill going nice and slow with a screw extractor, and it'll work like a charm.

If you have a Dremel and a cut-off wheel that worn down to a small enough diameter, you can cut a new cross slot and use a screwdriver to back the screw out. You have to be careful you don't cut into the barrel band, but if the easy stuff fails you can try this before drilling the head off.

If you have a drill press that you can reverse a left hand drill
will remove a screw so fast it will scare you. Don't try to free
hand it.
Good luck!

I's sceered. I don't have a drill press, or a dremel. I might just learn to live with it. Thanks for the help though.

Find a friend with a drill press. Chuck up a screwdriver bit and use the down feed to keep it in the slot,,,turn the chuck by hand usually they will come on out.

This will usually work