Help With Seized Screw

[miketuite]

Hi,

I just acquired a nice BSA No.5 MkII, and I can't remove the rear trigger guard screw. I've tried tapping with a bronze hammer, dousing it with penetrating oil, warming it with a hair dryer and plain ol' brute force. It won't budge. Adding to the problem is that the slot in the screw head is very shallow. A screw driver blade can't stay it in when it's twisted.

I can't think of anything else to try. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd appreciate hearing it.

Thanks,

Mike

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

I have dealt with one or two where the rear trigger guard screw has seized in but Armourers don't do *****-footing around. We take the brute force option second. An impact driver will either break the screw or break the seizure. If it an ex Malaya gun then the seizure witll be between the trigger guard and the screw and not the body thread. The rest is simple but you will need a new screw. If my memory is correct, then it's the same as the No4 foresight protector screw

Someone keeps deleting the word 'puussy' from before the -footing around. Am I missing something?

[duggaboy]

ddrill the screw out with a small, very hard bit, then apply as much heat to the screw as possible, like a soldereing gun and try to place a smaller screw into the hole you drilled and try to back the screww out or at least move it .

[Fred G.]

Depending on the angle of the slot. you can take a needle file or jewelers file that is called a knife edge and file a deeper and wider notch. The file is shaped like a knife blade in cross section and will have a narrow edge that fits right into the slot and will do the job. Then you can put the torq on it with a good screwdriver blade that fits tight and deep. Any displace metal on the head can often be taped back into place with a small hammer and a wide head drift punch, then you can file the excess and smooth it over with emery or the file and then the emery, then cold blue it.

[Mk VII]

I suppose you did slacken the front guard screw off first.
Could you get a Dremel tool into the back of the guard and cut the screw into two parts and get it out that way?

[miketuite]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your help. I've learned a lot from your responses. I had a breakthrough (get it?) the other night. I used a penetrating oil liberally, then put all my weight into the screw driver to keep the blade from slipping out of the slot, turned it and out came the screw with very little resistence.

The interesting thing is that there didn't appear to be any rust on the threads. I supposed the oil could have desolved it, but is it possible the screw was just over-tightened?

Thanks again,

Mike

[Peter Laidler]

In Malaya we found that the screws rusted into the trigger guards. However, we weren't quite as gentle as you were.............................