No. 5 shoulder pad replacement, difficultly removing long retaining screw

[drweiler]

Just received new/original shoulder pad and retaining screws from Springfield Sporters. Original pad on my Malaysian Police rifle rock hard with strange impressions from storage. Anyway, the original short retaining screw came right out, but the long retaining screw is really stuck in. It will neither turn, nor respond to gentle tapping of a punch from the short screw end. Any tips for getting that rascal out? Thanks, Don

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[Peter Laidler]

You're right there Don, they can be a real pig to remove. They SHOULD be put in covered in lashings of grase XG295 or any grease really because when they go rusty, as surely they will in the jungle, they just rist in place. But whatever you do DO NOT just batter it out and hope for the best because it will drag the wood out with it and if my memory serves me right, thinking back a long time, that is the end of the butt. Use an impact driver to try to rotate it and if it fails........................... They usually turn with an impact driver.

I don't know if these parts are still available but should be simplicity itself to make.

On the later Crown Agents programme, the butts we had were clearly converted No4 butts in all sizes (done on contract I understand by Westly Richards, the famous gun makers in Birmingham) On these butts, the butt plate was retained by two butt bracket screws in place of the nut and bolt.

That's brought back some memories!

[drweiler]

Thanks Peter, hoped you'd have some tips. I'll be gentle, or live with it. Was tempted to pound on that punch. Enjoy the memories!

[drweiler]

As you can see, the original shoulder pad group is still being retained by the stuck long retaining screw, which has no external threads. Cheers, Don

[RobD]

Why not screw back the lower screw 3/4 of the way and give it an almighty wallop with a hammer? Ought to drift the long screw out that way.

[Peter Laidler]

The old rubber butt pads all deteriorated like that with the oil and heat but the later LRC ones, made from a harder neoprene mix were much better. The biggest killer of the butt plates were the wooden cups that the butts fitted into in the backs of the cab of the old Bedford 3 tonners. I seem to remember that they were above the exhaust that ran under the cab and the heat just killed them off........ and the drivers too

[Amatikulu]

While I'm sure I'll be considered a barbarian, I have removed several of these by re-inserting the short screw but only turn it in a few threads. Then I have gently tapped the head of that short screw and driven the long one out a short distance, enough to be able to then remove it.




I see in the few minutes it took for me to type this that RobD gave you the same advice

[drweiler]

I'll give that a try. That's pretty much what I tried to accomplish by inserting the brass punch in the short screw channel and banging away. I'll be a bit more aggressive and let you know how it worked. Thanks RobD and Amatikulu. Cheers, Don

[user1]

Why not screw back the lower screw 3/4 of the way and give it an almighty wallop with a hammer? Ought to drift the long screw out that way

Thats how i got mine out

[drweiler]

Bingo! The 'barbarian' came out in me in the form of a larger hammer. Job done. Thanks all. Cheers, Don