KarateHottie93
Member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2017
- Messages
- 386
So I've been messing around with my S&W TRR8 a lot lately...just trying to figure out what setup works best for me. The other day I had the idea to take the top rail off for the first time and go try out the brass bead sight. What would soon follow, I'm just gonna blame entirely on whoever owned the firearm previously.
As it would turn out, said previous owner put red Loctite on the top rail screws, and also torqued them wayyy too tight. I bought it from a pawnshop and have no ties to the person so I found all of this out the hard way. Three of the screws came out fine. It took a lot of effort and some heat but they came out. The second screw though...my first hex bit snapped off inside of it. Fortunately, I was able to get the piece out. I then sprayed penetrating oil down in there and let it sit for an hour. I went back, added a little heat, and tried again. Same thing happened. These were really high quality hex bits too. This time though...the broken off hex bit wasn't coming out. I had lost all way to apply any level of torque.
I had four options. 1: Send back to S&W, wait forever, and pay for repairs as I'm not the original owner. 2: Find a competent gunsmith and pay an absolute fortune. 3: Drill into the screw myself and risk destroying the Scandium barrel shroud. 4: Cut a flathead into the screw, sacrifice the replaceable rail a little, and pray I can at least get torque on it after said and done.
I went with the last option. I cut a flathead into the screw will my Dremel. It wasn't gonna budge. I used more penetrating oil and applied more heat. Still nothing. All it was doing was stripping my makeshift flathead, and I was running out of surface area with every move. Then I took the engraving tool and cut it into a Phillips head. Still nothing. By that point, I had already scuffed up the rail a bit so I decided to just grind the head off. At least then I'd be able to pull the rail off over it and have something to grab at with vice grips. As I was grinding away, I noticed how clean my makeshift flathead from earlier was starting to look. Plus I was hoping that the vibrations from the rotary grinder could have broken it loose a bit, but I knew it was a long shot.
Feeling lucky, I stuck my flathead bit in a really nice pair of Milwaukee vice grips, applied as much pressure as I possibly could, and turned like you wouldn't believe. I heard the loudest pop of my life. I Immediately yelled GD because I was positive the screw had just snapped off down in the gun. I went to lift the rail off and it was still stuck on there. At that point, I was happier than I've ever been in my entire life because I realized the screw had broken loose.
The firearm it's self took no damage whatsoever. The rail most certainly did though, as you can see. I also included a picture of the screw after everything. I have a new rail on backorder with S&W so I'm just gonna refinish this one in the meantime. Sorry to post a novel just to ask one simple question. Is there a durable spray paint anyone can recommend? Just need it to hold up until my new rail comes.
Also, I'm aware I possibly could have avoided this with a bit more patience from the start. I'm happy with the result though. The last picture is of it right now with the plugs in. That little tiny chip about half an inch from the sight was there when I got it lol. He was probably trying to rack the cylinder with the old sight on belt technique and it slipped.
As it would turn out, said previous owner put red Loctite on the top rail screws, and also torqued them wayyy too tight. I bought it from a pawnshop and have no ties to the person so I found all of this out the hard way. Three of the screws came out fine. It took a lot of effort and some heat but they came out. The second screw though...my first hex bit snapped off inside of it. Fortunately, I was able to get the piece out. I then sprayed penetrating oil down in there and let it sit for an hour. I went back, added a little heat, and tried again. Same thing happened. These were really high quality hex bits too. This time though...the broken off hex bit wasn't coming out. I had lost all way to apply any level of torque.
I had four options. 1: Send back to S&W, wait forever, and pay for repairs as I'm not the original owner. 2: Find a competent gunsmith and pay an absolute fortune. 3: Drill into the screw myself and risk destroying the Scandium barrel shroud. 4: Cut a flathead into the screw, sacrifice the replaceable rail a little, and pray I can at least get torque on it after said and done.
I went with the last option. I cut a flathead into the screw will my Dremel. It wasn't gonna budge. I used more penetrating oil and applied more heat. Still nothing. All it was doing was stripping my makeshift flathead, and I was running out of surface area with every move. Then I took the engraving tool and cut it into a Phillips head. Still nothing. By that point, I had already scuffed up the rail a bit so I decided to just grind the head off. At least then I'd be able to pull the rail off over it and have something to grab at with vice grips. As I was grinding away, I noticed how clean my makeshift flathead from earlier was starting to look. Plus I was hoping that the vibrations from the rotary grinder could have broken it loose a bit, but I knew it was a long shot.
Feeling lucky, I stuck my flathead bit in a really nice pair of Milwaukee vice grips, applied as much pressure as I possibly could, and turned like you wouldn't believe. I heard the loudest pop of my life. I Immediately yelled GD because I was positive the screw had just snapped off down in the gun. I went to lift the rail off and it was still stuck on there. At that point, I was happier than I've ever been in my entire life because I realized the screw had broken loose.
The firearm it's self took no damage whatsoever. The rail most certainly did though, as you can see. I also included a picture of the screw after everything. I have a new rail on backorder with S&W so I'm just gonna refinish this one in the meantime. Sorry to post a novel just to ask one simple question. Is there a durable spray paint anyone can recommend? Just need it to hold up until my new rail comes.
Also, I'm aware I possibly could have avoided this with a bit more patience from the start. I'm happy with the result though. The last picture is of it right now with the plugs in. That little tiny chip about half an inch from the sight was there when I got it lol. He was probably trying to rack the cylinder with the old sight on belt technique and it slipped.
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