doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thin screwdrivers?

I just got a Brownell's Thin-bit screwdriver set. They are very thin, but not thin enough for some screws on my Grulla or my Lebeau. I am aware that they can be ground thinner, but does anyone know of a set for sale anywhere that has thinner bits than those? The thinnest ones in the set are .020"
TIA. Joe

Joe, I doubt that you can find anything thinner than .020". You may as well resign yourself to grinding. Some gunmakers seem to take pride is seeing how narrow they can make their screw-slots. Makes one want to strangle them.
nial

You might try a set of watch repairer's screwdrivers. They can be picked up quite cheaply. The set of 8 that I have go from 2mm. to 0.7mm. Lagopus.....

Hello Lagopus,

I believe they are talking thin, not narrow.

JC

I have the Wheeler Engineerng 72 pc set and am more than happy with the different selection of widths and thicknesses.
From what I have read about the European guns is that the screws are thinner in the slot area than most of the American guns.
I have recently acquired a Greener circa 1892 and wanted to look inside to inspect everything. Found the bits that fit the narrow slots and could not break some of the larger bottom reciever screws loose. So left them alone.
I don't know what they used to do the job, but ater this many years it is possible that moisture worked it's way to the threads. Might need some pentetrating oil and try again.

Lads, whenever I need a certain sized driver I consider it expendable and grind it to fit the slots. German guns have notoriously thin slots so I might use the driver only once. A better way of going about it is to buy oil hardening drill rod (Cheap from Enco.com) and form your own bits with the belt sander or Dremel Moto-Tool. Heat treat them once ground to proper shape by heating cherry red with a propane torch and quenching in any kind of oil (I use drain oil from my car). Draw the temper to a straw color or light brown, requench and you are set. Keep a bunch of such bits near your drill press where you can chuck them up and hand turn the subject screw out by using the quill feed. A cheap, easy way to make a bunch of unique bits. Chopperlump

Brownells sells a little grinding wheel that fits in the drill or drill press. They are extremely easy to use at slow speeds and will do the job you want.

Lenard

You will have to grind them. I just purchased some buffalo horn turnscrews and had the fitted to the individual screw.

I thought that you might be after some smaller drivers for inside the locks. Lagopus.....

Brownell's sells, or used to sell, a set specifically designed for the A-5, along with the caveat that they weren't warrantied against breakage. Some of the A-5's I've had apart leaned toward very thin slots. You might try a set.
Jim