Screw Removal Assist

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Last Post 25 February 2025
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Aaron posted this 06 February 2025

Well keeping with the "Tank" association, I attempted to remove the 3 plug screws in a Ruger MkIV Target pistol. As you can imagine, it didn't go well. Apparently Ruger now WELDS these rascals into the receiver and one needs a teeny weeny tiny allen wrench to snap off while trying to remove the screws. All three are now rounded out and no "normal" tool will remove them.

I don't know if they make and EZ-Out bit this small and even then a machine shop is called for to make the precision drilling needed to remove these screws. A Dremel tool simply is not in the cards here.

Any suggestions folks to remove these screws with rounded out flats?

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

screws

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Justin.P posted this 07 February 2025

Use a cheap sacrificial hex key, stick it the screw and heat the hex key with a torch and let the heat sink into the screw. Then use a really good hex key to remove it. You can also heat them with a soldering iron if you have a biggish one. Don't use the heated hex key for anything other than heating. The heat treatment of the steel is janky after you put the torch to it.

Sometimes driving a Torx head driver into a buggered up hex will turn you into a hero. Other times it just improves your profanity vocabulary.

They do make hex drive extractors. Just for these situations. But you still need the heat.

Not all hex keys are created equal, many are pretty soft and weak. There are others I'm sure, but my Wiha brand keys have been fantastic. Not magic, but darn good.

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sluggo posted this 07 February 2025

I am pretty sure this is the guy that tightens the smaller screws at the ruger plant.

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Bud Hyett posted this 07 February 2025

If you have a solid drill press with a heavy base, you can drill them out with left-hand twist carbide drills.

Heat them to 350 degrees or with a fine-tipped soldering iron as suggested above.
Be very careful, carbide drill so not break, they shatter. Wear good eye protection.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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Hornet posted this 13 February 2025

For future reference, one trick from ages ago was to put a fairly well fitting driver bit (or screwdriver) in the screw and whack it a little with a small hammer. The shock from the impact can loosen up locktite, nail polish or light rust enough to loosen things up and allow removal. Had to do that last summer with a 50 year old Contender barrel to scope it. Those 1/4" hex drive bits work well for this.

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mm93 posted this 07 February 2025

Left hand bits and my Weller soldering gun to get heat pinpointed and not heat the surrounding areas. This has always worked for me on stuck screws and bolts, and often the lefthand bits catch at some point and just unscrew the offending fastener. I also use a drill press and my machinist's vise to ensure everything is lined up and perfectly vertical to the drill bit. Plus it keeps both hands free of the parts I'm drilling.

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RicinYakima posted this 20 February 2025

Errors are out there, as I bought a new 77 in the 1970's in 250 Savage. Except they had chambered it in a .243" barrel. Blew primers with factory loads. Almost sent it back, but a Ruger collector paid me almost twice what I paid for it to put in his collection.

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MP1886 posted this 24 February 2025

Ruger's quality had dropped to a real bad level. Buying one of their single actions is playing the roulette wheel. To get an idea how bad their singles actions have gotten hang around the singleactions.com forum from Proboards.

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MP1886 posted this 24 February 2025

Ruger's quality had dropped to a real bad level. Buying one of their single actions is playing the roulette wheel. To get an idea how bad their singles actions have gotten hang around the singleactions.com forum from Proboards.

Unfortunately, I have to agree. My own experience qualifies this. And BTW, the new black plastic grips on their Single Action revolvers are real skin eaters. My 45 Colt, 357 Mag, and 41 Mag will leave blood on the grips when shooting them without a glove on. The sharp and prominent edges at the grip/frame interface at the rear of the frame will skin you for sure. The grip edges are sharp. My 41 will bleed you where the grip strap meets the rear of the frame. There is a noticeable edge there where the surfaces are not completely smoothed and joined. Just sad really that Ruger expects us to absorb this quality degradation with no complaint. Perhaps the younger generations make no complaints since they have no comparative experience?

Aaron I have to agree with you. Some of the other things wrong with the New Model Single actions is Ruger's transfer bar system. Before you think I'm not for safety, which I am for, they designed it wrong. No longer do you put the hammer in half cock to release the cylinder bolt, you just open the the loading gate. What's wrong with that?? For one there are lots more parts added to the gun. For two you now get a bolt scoring line around the cylinder which the old models did not do. For three on the old model when you rotated the cylinder one click the chamber was lined up to the loading gate to load or unload. Not so on the new model. Taurus just released a new single action called the Deputy. It's a beauty. It has the transfer bar, but Taurus engineered it to load like the old model Ruger or the old Colts and that is half cock it and open the loading gate. In addition for more safety Taurus incorporated a cylinder pin with two notches on it. One is the normal position for when shooting the gun. The other is you push it in further and it blocks the hammer as we've seen on some other single action manufacturers. You can barely notice it. Yes Ruger has slipped. One fellow got a single action from them where the cylinder wasn't square with the frame, or the frame wasn't square. That one had to go back to the factory. You mentioned some of the other things that have been wrong. You can better believe those plastic grips can tear up your hand like a rasp file!!

Many people are turning to the Italian Colt copies and they have come a very long ways since the early model. Ubertis have forged receivers and are rated for all the magnums. Both Uberti and Pietta have beautiful case hardening. Ruger's case hardening is a chemical done one. The nice thing about the Italian single action is the price. Much cheaper then Ruger. One of the companies even has a model with three cylinders! The cartridges for them all have a very similar caliber that is compadible with the bore and groove of the original chambering. That would be 357 mag, which will shoot the 38 Special also, a 9mm cylinder, and a 38 Super cylinder. Uberti I believe even has a model that is chambered for the 38 Super marked such on the barrel.

You won't see me buying a new Ruger anything!!

MP

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fc60 posted this 06 February 2025

Greetings,

It is possible that the screws have a thread sealant (LocTite).

You can try a Metric allen key or, perhaps, a Torq key that would be a snug fit in the cavity.

Either way, you need to heat the body up to weaken the thread sealant.

Strip the gun to the bare bones and put the barrel/receiver in the kitchen oven at 350F.

Then try to insert the key and loosen the screws.

Yes, they do make small EZ-Outs. I used one recently to remove a 3mm screw.

You want to do the drilling on a proper milling machine. A drill press might get you by if you have the receiver clamped in a vise.

Cheers,

Dave

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Aaron posted this 18 February 2025

Have the barrel back from the machine shop. They managed to get the plug screws out without damaging the threads. The screws did in fact have RED LOCTITE on them. Unbelievable quality control brain fart by Ruger. Actually, my previous Ruger, a 357 Magnum NMBH would not fire. I wonder how it was "test fired" at the factory.

I think the Ruger brand has had a significant and staggering quality reversal. I will no longer purchase a Ruger firearm. The Italians are doing a better job with their reproductions and front-line guns. The Japanese (Miroku) are producing SUPERIOR quality rifles - far better than Winchester ever could. At least the Italian and Japanese, and Brazilian guns fire and you can get the plug screws out.

Hey Ruger.....a $2000 Marlin 336 and lousy quality will bury you. Start looking for another line of work guys. Bill Ruger is rolling over in his grave for sure.

IMHO of course.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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linoww posted this 19 February 2025

The last couple of Ruger single action revolvers I purchased needed a bit of work to make them shootable. For example a 45 Colt with cylinder throats of .448!

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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Aaron posted this 06 February 2025

It is possible that the screws have a thread sealant (LocTite).

Highly likely they used industrial strength, permanent, Ruger Special Lock Sealant designed to frustrate customers.

I will take the receiver to a local Tool & Die machine shop and pay the going rate to have those screws removed. Dang.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Aaron posted this 07 February 2025

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will visit these guys to have them removed.

JMK Tool & Die

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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shjoe posted this 07 February 2025

as suggested, a fine tipped soldering iron and a reversing drill with a left hand drill bit may work. best regards

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shjoe posted this 07 February 2025

years ago before loc-tite, i remember using a drop of mercurochrome to rust lock screws in place

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OU812 posted this 07 February 2025

Heat will turn the cured Loctite into a thin easy release syrup. Rounded loose fitting allen keys can cause problem. Grind off rounded edge.

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Justin.P posted this 07 February 2025

Why would Ruger use permanent Loctite on screws that are meant to be removed?? I assume you mean the three on top of the receiver. I have removed those to put a scope mount on them on a Mark IV. Even if you mean the rear sight screws, those should not be permanent. I would call Ruger and ask them. I think somebody goofed.

I don't think is would have to permanent, even Blue can be tough to get moving when it's on tiny screws.

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sandwman posted this 13 February 2025

The machine shop should not have any issue removing the screws without damaging the threads. They might have to order a drill bit because they probably don't mess with screws that small. But again, they should be able to get the screws out and clean up the existing threads.

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Aaron posted this 19 February 2025

However with the proper fitting wrench the screws could have been removed.

Apparently not. And for the record, the screws were NOT the size specified in the Ruger owners manual (5/64). They were half that size and the size was not imprinted on the wrench that fit the screws. I believe I experienced torque -vs- surface area conflict with some soft screws they found on the workshop floor and glued into this receiver. It was absolutely crap work. PREVIOUS quality from Ruger was fantastic. Current quality from Ruger is diminished.

And now I can add $125 to the price tag for this pistol to unf@ck the mess I bought from Ruger. Most folks would have had to send the gun back to them, then wait 6 months to get the work done and their pistol back. They could have done it right the first time eh?

And don't forget my recent 357 NMBH that WOULD NOT FIRE. At All. Any ammunition. Factory or handload. I had to mill .020" off the hammer face to allow the hammer to fall far enough to hit the transfer bar properly before the hammer face hit the frame. This was after ordering a new transfer bar because "certainly" the original one was too thick? Anybody need a transfer bar? I have an extra one now.

Finding a decent, qualified, TRAINED gunsmith in the Raleigh area is hard to do. Most do what I can already do and most don't have the patience or experience to correctly diagnose a problem and correct it. A dremel tool and a pork chop biscuit does not make a gunsmith.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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Aaron posted this 19 February 2025

Wouldn't a soft alloy (<10) fix problem with leading. My Blackhawk had similar problem. So I opened the cylinder throats slightly. Soft alloy would have fixed problem without opening throats.

I changed the forcing cone angle to improve accuracy with the cast bullets. I didn't have a leading issue. With a 20:1 binary alloy or with Lyman #2 alloy, there is no leading. Bullet lube changes with pressure as well. NRA 50/50 for the Lyman #2 or heat treated wheel weights on the solids, and SPG or Paul Matthews Supreme+ on the softer 20:1 alloy for hollow point bullets. Bullets are sized to cylinder mouth diameter in every case. Proper bullet size, lube, and alloy cure leading - not forcing cone angle.

You may have "cleaned up" a rough cone and stopped lead scraping with a rough cut cone. Some of my Italian reproductions have forcing cones that look like they were mottled and pitted. I re-cut the cones to clean them up and polished them with lapping compound. Some of the cones cleaned up with a lap and no cutting. The Italian ones that is.

I put 11 degree cones on my hunting revolvers to get the best accuracy I can with them using cast bullets.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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