rifle stock screw hole worn out
 

Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

Thanks,
Eric

Eric Bragas wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

What size of thread goes into the hole or is it actually a wood screw?

Can you get to the location to effect a repair I presume? Is it a
visible location so grain matching is/is not important?

General route I would take would be to try to replace a section around
the hole w/ a suitable plug for a new screw hole.

Many other alternatives depending on the details are, of course,
available...

Drill out a bit larger, fill with expoxy, then redrill the hole

John

On 27 Aug 2005 12:39:13 -0700, "Eric Bragas"
wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

Thanks,
Eric

Suggest finding a new "repairman".
"Eric Bragas" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

Thanks,
Eric

Eric Bragas wrote:
Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

Thanks,
Eric

Drill it out and insert a contrasting/dyed hard-wood plug, depending on
what the screw does of course.

On 27 Aug 2005 12:39:13 -0700, the opaque "Eric Bragas"
clearly wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Get a small container of carpenter's glue, a 15/64" drill bit, and a
1/4" dowel. Drill the area about as deep as the screw, glue in a piece
of dowel (sand to fit as necessary; they're usually oval and under
1/4" to begin with), and let dry. Saw, file and sand the dowel flush
to the stock, avoiding the stock other than the repair area so you
don't have to refinish. Now redrill for the screw, and use brown shoe
polish to match the finish if part of the repair shows. ;)


Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

That should fix it for the next two generations' use, Eric.


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On 27 Aug 2005 12:39:13 -0700, "Eric Bragas"
wrote:

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn


This is a very common repair. Any competent gunsmith (or let's be honest
here, even a fairly shoddy plumber) can do a good permanent repair. Like
all gun repairs it needs to be well-done, not just a bodge, because the
strains of shooting it will work most bodges loose.

Any decent gunsmithing book ought to describe this too.

What's a "screw" here anyway?

For woodscrews, insert a wooden plug. This is ideally a similar timber
to the stock and should be old, stable, dry timber. Don't bake the
insert to dry it (it might split the stock if it gets wet again). Don't
use oak (it will stain with iron, and also makes the screw hard to
remove). Walnut is itself a good material. Don't be afraid to enlarge
the hole to get a decent plug into it.

The pre-drill the plug a little to give your screw a start into it.

For parallel-threaded machine screws (which you do sometimes see screwed
directly into timber stocks), then do it properly and insert a metal
nut. These can either be inserts designed to screw into timber, or they
can have a coarse surface and be glued in. I use a boxful of little
brass ones with knurled outers that were originally meant to be pushed
hot into plastic. They hold fine in timber with a little epoxy. Brass is
hard to glue, but the knurling helps.

When gluing screw inserts, check alignment with the screw itself - but
watch you don't glue the whole thing together!

Sat, Aug 27, 2005, 12:39pm (EDT-3) (Eric=A0Bragas)
mumbled:
snip Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed.

WHY can't you shoot it? You neglected to give any details about
what screw hole is worn out. With steel wool as a "fix", my thought is
somewhere in the metal parts - I don't see any reaon a worn out wood
scrw hole would keep one from shooting. Why is it worn out anyway?
Without the missing information, no one can reasonably be expected to
give an appropriate response. So many people ask questions, and then
fail to give enough details for a viable answer.



JOAT
The grass on the other side of the fence is seldom greener. It just
gets more media attention.

In article .com,
Eric Bragas wrote:
Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

Thanks,
Eric


A common method is to drill out the hole so a dowel or better yet, a
plug with face grain at the ends, can be glued in, then redrill for
the screw.


--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

Larry Jaques writes:
On 27 Aug 2005 12:39:13 -0700, the opaque "Eric Bragas"
clearly wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?

Get a small container of carpenter's glue, a 15/64" drill bit, and a
1/4" dowel. Drill the area about as deep as the screw, glue in a piece
of dowel (sand to fit as necessary; they're usually oval and under

So, wouldn't it be better to use a plug-cutter and cut from
the face grain? Otherwise, his screw will be going into end-grain,
which is generally weak.

scott

1/4" to begin with), and let dry. Saw, file and sand the dowel flush
to the stock, avoiding the stock other than the repair area so you
don't have to refinish. Now redrill for the screw, and use brown shoe
polish to match the finish if part of the repair shows. ;)


Please help, I can't shoot til this is fixed. -Sigh-

That should fix it for the next two generations' use, Eric.


================================================== ========
CAUTION: Do NOT look directly into laser with remaining eyeball!
================================================== ========
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Design

Joat offered this link just today:
http://www.mcfeelys.com/subcat.asp?subcat=20.15.4

I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool and
then replaced the screw. I don't think this is going to work long.
Replacing the stock is an option, but I really like this one. What
kind of repair can be done?



--
Ron Hock
HOCK TOOLS www.hocktools.com

Sat, Aug 27, 2005, 12:39pm (EDT-3) (Eric=A0Bragas)
did post, and then left:
I have a rifle with a wooden stock. One of the screw holes is so worn
out that the "repairman" shoved the screw hole full of steel wool snip

I got to wondering if this guy was ever going to return -
apparently not, because he posted a similar post on rec.guns - link
below. There's some additional info, and a link to a picture - which
apparently doesn't work all the time. But, he's got a close of a
semi-auto AK-47 type rifle, and apparently this is a buttstock screw.
I'm thinking that HE was the "repairman", from the way things are
worded. Anyway, he got about the same guidance there, as he did here.
I'm wondering why in the world he would be taking the screw out so often
the wood got stripped.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...9e026765b591c=
386/fe1f4b3eafa336b9?lnk=3Dst&q=3Dgroup:rec.guns+autho =
om&rnum=3D2&hl=3Den



JOAT
Plans? Plans? Don' need no steenkin' plans.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:01:05 GMT, the blithe spirit
(Scott Lurndal) clearly indicated:

Larry Jaques writes:
Get a small container of carpenter's glue, a 15/64" drill bit, and a
1/4" dowel. Drill the area about as deep as the screw, glue in a piece
of dowel (sand to fit as necessary; they're usually oval and under

So, wouldn't it be better to use a plug-cutter and cut from
the face grain? Otherwise, his screw will be going into end-grain,
which is generally weak.

Ideally, yes. But it really shouldn't matter much unless the gun is
tossed around a whole lot. (In which case, why should WE care? ;)


--
"Given the low level of competence among politicians,
every American should become a Libertarian."
-- Charley Reese, Alameda Times-Star (California), June 17, 2003

FYI, JOAT, I didn't buy this new from China, so there's no telling how
many times it was fired before I bought it. The screw hole is worn and
gets progressively worse with each firing. (But thanks for your
skepticism, because I'm sure you know we're all liars here on the web.)

Thank you to everybody for all your help. I still haven't decided if
it's time for me to buy a new stock altogether. I had no idea there
were so many repair options.