I was digging for gun parts and came across this tool I made sometime around 1996. I had just about forgotten I had it until this recent rediscovery.

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At some point, several years after purchasing my last Browning SA-22, I discovered that the stock had loosened from the receiver and the result was a gun that was just about impossible to shoot accurately - the barrel and action were free to twist in my hands. I made the tool pictured above out of 1/8" Strap steel and tightened the nut at the back of the stock, the one surrounding the magazine.

Here's a photo of the nut I'm referring to.

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After repairing the rifle, I remember coming across a reference to this loose stock condition in one of the gun magazines of the time period. The author admonished his readers from attempting any repair on their own, and instead insisted that repair of this condition required return of the gun to a factory repair facility.

Mine has fired literally thousands of rounds in the 23 years or so since I tightened the stock. It has never jammed, and continues to be a very accurate .22.

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Maybe I was just lucky?

Anyone else ever had this happen to your Browning SA-22? If so, what was your remedy?

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

I have had the stacked leather washers work loose in the handle of an old Marble’s knife. There was a nut like that on the end of the stick tang, which protruded past the nut, so the driving tool had to have two prongs. I used needlenosed pliers. A lot of motorcycle clutches use similar nuts, which probably have a name that I don’t know. Sometimes you can buy the tool, sometimes you have to make it.

I used to run Jawa motorcycles. One of the old shop manuals had a section with drawings so you could make all the necessary special tools.

My short answer to your question would be “no”.

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I believe the two pronged tool you describe is commonly referred to as a spanner.

Thanks for posting.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Wait, wouldn't a large, flat bladed screwdriver have worked just as well?

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You have a standard blade screwdriver with a 3/4" wide blade tip that's 1/8" thick? That almost deserves its own post.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

42 years as a mechanic. Mostly on heavy trucks and equipment. Lots of really odd ball stuff too. I have a bunch of home made tools in my box. Some are just plain weird. But they work.

If its stupid, but it works. Then it ain't stupid.

Believe it or not, I do have a screwdriver that is that wide and approximately that thick at the tip.
The shaft is 3/8" diameter and close to 18" long though.
I have a phillips that matches it - they came as a set. IIRC I got them at Harbor Freight.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

You've certainly got me beat! This is the largest screwdriver I own.

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As you can see, the screwdriver is over 15" long, shaft diameter is 0.441" and the 1/2" wide blade is 0.073", or approximately 1/16" thick.

You have got a monster there! I would love to see some photos!

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Nice Browning! Been thinking of getting one. They still make the SA22.

“Spanner” is just the British term for any kind of wrench. While the special tool for these fasteners could be called a spanner, so could your common crescent wrench (adjustable spanner) box-end wrench (ring spanner). The correct term might include either “spanner” or “wrench” but would need some other descriptor to clarify what kind. Or, it could be a completely different term.

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Not in jail.

Hi Marsh,

You are correct about the British usage for the term "spanner", and I was quite aware of it when I posted earlier. While the British use the term rather loosely, as you noted, in the U.S. I have seen this term applied to wrenches specifically intended to bridge across obstructions with at least two contact points.

Thanks for posting.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

The term for the tool you are describing is a "pin wrench" or (I needed one for my Norton's front brake) "pin spanner".


pin wrench - Google Search

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I always take precautions

The Wheeler Engineering set of screwdrivers includes a couple different 2 prong spanners, may or may not be the correct size. Being an old aircraft mechanic, modifying a tool to work better was commonplace.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Here in the USA we have single pin spanners, two pin spanners (many boat gas caps use these) and hook spanners. I have chucks that use single pin and hook spanners. I like the OP's tool because it has a guide to keep it centered as opposed to a screw driver, which can shift and bugger up something. You gotta love ingenious folks.

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Foster Positivity.

D_Brown
I have this very issue with my Belgian SA-22. It still shoots amazingly accurately, but the twist is there, and it bothers me a lot. This may inspire me to do something about it. Thanks!

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

If you start out with a piece of 1 1/2" X 1/8" strap steel as I did, keep in mind that the tip will need to be thinned a little to fit into the groove of the nut. In my case, the 0.130" thick strap had to be thinned to 0.103", or about 27 thousandths total to form a good fit.

Best of luck if you decide to proceed with the repair.

ETA: While it may be obvious to most; I should add that a Crescent Wrench will be necessary to provide the required leverage.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

I agree that the tool is ugly, but in function it's beautiful. Everybody that tinkers with guns, fishing reels, cars etc., has homemade tools that work and do the job well.

The Browning is beautiful.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

A beautiful Browning like that well deserves you spending another half hour or so to take the tool you made and refine it a bit. If you really want to get into it - you could even make a wooden handle for it! The LAST thing you'd want to do it scratch or mar the screw or stock!

Working on old motorcycles, I’ve had to make numerous pullers, pushers, case separators, etc. Spending big bucks for an obscure factory tool to use once? Not in my shop!

Guns, I remember making a pusher fixture to sit in a drill press (used as a light duty press) to work a burred firing pin out of a CZ v45 slide.

Some of those Browning attachment assembly nuts and the same style on Winchester 63/1903 get messed up by people tightening or removing/re-installing using needlenose pliers.

Sometimes a few minutes spent on making a simple tool can mean the difference in a neatly done job and a Bubba presentation piece.

I've got more than a few home made tools for such things. Never things of beauty, but they work nicely and save time and damage to the part(s).

Great looking Browning SA22!

I once tightened my 67 Belgian with a nickel.......Filed to fit. Held with pliers...Hasn't needed it since.......I like your tool.

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