I own a DM Lefever crossbolt that had absolutely perfect screwheads when I bought it. I was certain the gun had never been disassembled from the time it was built in 1902.
A couple years after I bought it, I was reading an article about these guns in Double Gun Journal. The author of the article was now retired Oregon Gunsmith Keith Kearcher. He had some photos of one of these guns in a partially disassembled state to show the innards. The serial number seemed strangely familiar. I checked my gun and was very surprised to find that this was the same gun shown partly disassembled in the DGJ article.
I looked even closer for any sign that the screws had been turned. Nothing! I learned that day that a good gunsmith with good tools and good technique can remove and re-install screws without marring either them, or the surrounding wood and metal. There is no reason to accept anything less, and no excuse for buggering a screw myself.
