PR Takedown

[Scot Cardillo]

I have to remove the stock from my 20ga PR to correct an issue from the factory. I have made a brass pin to drift the sear pin out and have the driver tips (Brownells) ground to the proper width…less .005 in width than the actual screw width & relieved on the edges.

I started taking it down and ran into a snag - one of floor plate screws will not come loose. I loosened them evenly but one of them is in there good. I soaked it with Kroil for a good 15 hrs with no luck and I tried tapping the driver with a small hammer as I applied torque, it’s just not happening.

My game plan is this - I have a Bridgeport mill - I’m going to place the receiver in a leather lined vise..mount the driver in a drill chuck or a collet. With the receiver in a vise and the driver mounted I’m thinking I will be able to apply consistent downward pressure to keep the driver seated proper while I use a strap wrench around the chuck/spindle to convince the screw to loosen. This should give me gobs of very controlled torque and I can take it slow & easy.

Thoughts? Any other tricks to try before going this route?

Here is a pic of the drift pin I made - it has a small lead in taper with edges relieved so it doesn’t catch any sharp edges. The taper should also help to engage the second sear easily as it is driven through.

* Reference - on my PR the sear pin measures .109 - I made my brass drift .107/.108

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[Dean Romig]

Austin Hogan recommended this very procedure many years ago. It never failed him on the most stubborn of screws.

[David Holes]

They make a driver that is hammered and it turns when hit. Used them on motorcycles years ago. Used one on a lifter 2 years ago worked great.

[Greg Baehman]

It sounds like you've got it all figured out Scot.

Verfying your planned method of removing the stuck screw a gunsmith posted the following on foxcollectors.com forum:

"There is only one safe way to remove a really tight screw without messing up the head. You need a drill press. Unplug it before you do anything. Do NOT plug it back in until you are finished with the gun. This trick will work with any gun.
Find a bit from a screw driver set and fit it nicely to the slot in question. Chuck the bit up in the drill press. Again, the drill press is NEVER TURNED ON. Once the bit is chucked up tightly, place the gun with the slot in line with the bit. Now lower the bit into the slot by using the handle on the drill press you would use to lower a drill bit into work. Once the bit is in the slot, keep good pressure down on the bit, take the chuck in your hand while maintaining the downward pressure on the bit, and turn the chuck counterclockwise. If it will not turn, you may need to put a pipe wrench on the chuck. I have never ruined a screw or failed to remove a stuck screw with this method. Again, the drill press is NOT plugged in, this all happens manually.
PS. Two people make this a much easier process if an extra set of hands are available."

What is the problem that you're trying to correct?

[Brian Dudley]

The bit in the mill/drill press is a very good route of all else fails. Worst that can happen in that scenario is that you break the bit.
The challenge at times can be holding the frame good and tight in the right spot.

Other than what you have done, I cannot recommend anything different. Sometimes they pop free just when you think you are out of luck. And sometimes you just hope not to push it too far.

[Scot Cardillo]

Gentlemen, thank you..

Holeshot until you mentioned it I had forgotten about those impact type drivers. Haven’t used one in yrs but seem to recall they do work well..I’ll have to check those out as I don’t have one.

No real surprise that others have used the technique utilizing a mill or a drill press as it seems it would be very effective. As w/most things related to gun work, rigidity is everything and I suspect the set up will offer a nice degree of control as well.

Brian you’re right about the possibility of a tip breaking. The Brownells tips seem to be about as good as they get so far as I’m aware..I’ve only bent thinner ones..but the point is, they bent. A shattered tip could do very bad things, instead of applying constant downward pressure I think it may be better to lock the spindle in place while keeping an eye on it…good call on that. I had to grind the tips width down a little but it was ground at low speed generating virtually no heat.


Greg, thanks for sharing the message from the other board

The problem w/the gun..

when I close the gun there is an audible (and annoying) ring coming through what seemed to be the locking lever. Although it may sound petty it really bugs me as it’s not what I’ve come to expect out of a well made gun & this one is a keeper.

I’m only speculating on what the problem is b/c I’ve not had the gun taken down to verify.

Once I removed the trigger guard I took notice that the underside tang screw was not very tight…tapping on the end of the tang sure enough causes the harmonic. I tightened it down a bit and it never went solid..didn’t want to over tighten but gave it a little more while eyeing the topside where as you know the screw is exposed. It begins to protrude above flush as I tighten and also wants to draw the upper tang down a bit. Appears to me a little bedding is in order..

[Mike Franzen]

Another option that has worked for me is to warm the area around the screw with a heat gun or hair dryer on low heat setting. As the metal warms up and expands around the screw it makes extraction easier. Just be very careful you don't apply too much heat and warp or damage any surfaces. Let us know the outcome.

[Brian Dudley]

The Brownells bits do break. I have broke a lot of them. The good thing is that they are warranted for life. If you break one you just call them up and they will send you replacements.

And, when using a drill press, you don't want to turn the machine on. You just turn the head by hand.

[scott kittredge]

soldiering iron on the screw to heat it up 1st than try turning it,

[Joe Bernfeld]

Sounds like the drill chuck should work fine. I have a hand impact driver I use on my motorcycles and it works great, but you'd probably have a hard time having one of the bits it comes with fit the Parker Repro. screw well enough.

Your brass drift looks beautiful, but I should tell you that I've always used a finishing nail with the tip filed flat and it works fine. The sear pins come out pretty easily.

The top lever on my 28 ga. Repro. rings when I close the gun. I just think it's due to the narrow piece of metal vibrating. I can't see how it could be stopped. I ignore it.

[Greg Baehman]

Once you get the areas bedded Scot, please let us know if that fixed the ringing issue.

[Scot Cardillo]

Mike & 10 bore - I did actually put a hair dryer on the area w/no success but I didn't heat it up all that much..has worked well for other projects, especially using the tip of an iron as 10 bore suggested.

Joe - I hear you on that (an overkill drift pin)..fact is I can make one up in all of about 5 minutes & the pin can be kept w/the gun for future maintenence so I don't mind the extra effort at all + I'm a big fan of bronze or brass for gun work.

Taking it one step further - another thing I like to do with drift pins which are intended for exposed pins w/a rounded end such as the Parker. When making the drift pin I drill a center hole in the tip..this provides for much more surface contact with the pin that you are driving and avoids flat spots on the pin as well.

I mounted the receiver up in the mill and it worked perfectly - it took very little turning the chuck by hand to nudge the screw loose. Once removed the screw threads had a hint of corrosion & of course the gun has been setting untouched for many years so..

Greg - got everything apart and it is hard to tell whether a little bedding is going to work..if I get any in there it sure isn't going to be much so I'm going slow and having a good look at everything. In any case I will be sure to update any progress and of course whether I'm successful.

One thing I did notice is that the entire interior is bone dry. No aged oil or anything.

I hope everybody had a nice Christmas

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[Dave Suponski]

Scott, Nice work. Machinist huh? I can tell by your language. When reassembling the gun do not lubricate the single trigger mechanism if the gun is so equipped.

[Scot Cardillo]

Thanks Dave - yes, I am a Machinist..still haven't finished this project up w/the holidays and all..not convinced a bedding job will do the trick.

[Scot Cardillo]

Finally took the time to get this done

..didn’t have much confidence that it would deaden the vibration entirely but also did not like the flex between the tangs when tightening up the rear tang screw so figured I’d just go to it since the gun is taken down. Although I didn’t take any photos topside, I was very cautious to avoid allowing any bedding to make its way directly behind the upper tang as there is the slightest gap there..as there should be. The inletting of the actioned frame was executed beautifully from the factory having full contact in all the right places offering every bit of support that the design intends.

Results?


Yes it reduced the vibration quite a bit so in a sense it worked..there are 2 additional things that I could do which would deaden it for good..but I’m not going to go to those lengths on it as it’s just not worth it.

There was another element to my curiosity here..I’ve never been inside a Parker before..now that I have (and I’m not sharing anything new here of course) - wow.

I cannot claim experience inside the “real thing”..that said…I just cannot imagine that they are built to any higher degree outside of the fact that the zero tolerance approach was met with the advent of CNC technology + my GUESS that some hands on fitting during assembly was employed during the manufacture of the Reproduction…notice the capital R..it is fitting, these are nice guns.



..Mr. Dudley..thank you for the illustrated primer that you drafted and made available in the FAQ section..it was very helpful and I’m glad that I went into the gun..the internals were bone dry & my shotgun is now properly set up to enjoy for what I hope to be a lot of years to come….pup sure seems to get awful happy when I’ve got it in hand :)

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