Sunday, August 28, 2022

Quarter Inch Hand Impact Driver

If you mess with guns long enough you'll eventually run into a stuck screw. In the past I've been able to free some of these screws by soaking with Kroil, but other times I've had to drill them out using my milling machine and extract them with a screw extractor.

Another option is a hand impact driver that takes 1/4" bits commonly used in gunsmithing screwdriver sets. I bought this one from Amazon:




I've never used one of these before and it did not come with any instructions for changing which way it rotates. Naturally, it came setup to turn right, when I needed it to turn left. A minute of googling lead me to this short and informative video from Down Under:



The small driver I bought doesn't have the separate coupler shown in the video, but by clamping the narrow part in my vise I was able to change the direction of rotation.

I used the driver today to loosen the mainspring screw on my 1992-vintage Uberti 1851 Colt Navy percussion revolver, which I detail stripped for the first time. (Better late than never. Even though it was full of sludge, because it was oil soaked there was no corrosion. I don't recommend this, for the record.)

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