Hollow Ground Screwdrivers???

[bassoneer]

I had read on this forum several times that you should use hollow-ground screwdrivers to remove the 686 side screws. I am using the Mother's Mag polish and working on a good shine and wanted to remove the screws first. So...I went to several stores looking for hollow-ground screwdrivers. Northern, Home Depot, Lowe's, Gander Mountain...Gander had "gunsmithing screwdrivers" that didn't look so hot, and after the fact I realize they were not hollow-ground. Well, nobody knew what hollow-ground screwdrivers meant. This was the time for Wikipedia...didn't get much help there. Finally, I saw a picture of one on an obscure web site. Now that I see it, I understand fully what it is, and why you would want to use it. I successfully removed and reinstalled the screws without incident.

For those that don't know, the hollow-ground screwdriver, from what I've found out, have a little curve on each side at the tip, concave in. This leads down to a sharp and flat tip that is inserted in the screw. It engages more of the screw slot and not just the tip of the screw, making gouges and slips (and boogered up screw heads) much less likely. I did finally find some at Home Depot for $5 that worked great...the Home Depot guys didn't know what I was talking about.

Later, B

 

[bassoneer]

I had read on this forum several times that you should use hollow-ground screwdrivers to remove the 686 side screws. I am using the Mother's Mag polish and working on a good shine and wanted to remove the screws first. So...I went to several stores looking for hollow-ground screwdrivers. Northern, Home Depot, Lowe's, Gander Mountain...Gander had "gunsmithing screwdrivers" that didn't look so hot, and after the fact I realize they were not hollow-ground. Well, nobody knew what hollow-ground screwdrivers meant. This was the time for Wikipedia...didn't get much help there. Finally, I saw a picture of one on an obscure web site. Now that I see it, I understand fully what it is, and why you would want to use it. I successfully removed and reinstalled the screws without incident.

For those that don't know, the hollow-ground screwdriver, from what I've found out, have a little curve on each side at the tip, concave in. This leads down to a sharp and flat tip that is inserted in the screw. It engages more of the screw slot and not just the tip of the screw, making gouges and slips (and boogered up screw heads) much less likely. I did finally find some at Home Depot for $5 that worked great...the Home Depot guys didn't know what I was talking about.

Later, B

 

[Joni_Lynn]

I got the full set of screwdriver tips and a driver from Brownell's. They work pretty good and there is a S&W set of bits available as well.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/...rch.aspx?c=69&p=4794

 

[Ernie L]

For those that don't know, the hollow-ground screwdriver, from what I've found out, have a little curve on each side at the tip, concave in. This leads down to a sharp and flat tip that is inserted in the screw. It engages more of the screw slot and not just the tip of the screw, making gouges and slips (and boogered up screw heads) much less likely. I did finally find some at Home Depot for $5 that worked great...the Home Depot guys didn't know what I was talking about.

Trying to explain something like this with out pictures really makes you appreciate the skill needed to write such things as service manuals. Keep your day job ..snort chuckle and guffaw

 

[bassoneer]

Trying to explain something like this with out pictures really makes you appreciate the skill needed to write such things as service manuals. Keep your day job ..snort chuckle and guffaw

My day job is writing service manuals...

Ha...I had to wait until April 1st to write that! Later, B

 

[H Richard]

The full set of Wheeler Engineering gun-smithing screwdriver bits and driver handles from Midway is excellent, and includes the special tool for removing the rebound slide spring in S&W's.

 

[donaldw870]

Originally posted by Joni_Lynn:
I got the full set of screwdriver tips and a driver from Brownell's. They work pretty good and there is a S&W set of bits available as well.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/...rch.aspx?c=69&p=4794

I think I have this same set, but the smallest bit has a blade thickness of .030". This fits most sideplate screws of most of my S&W revolvers. Some of my revolvers have sideplate screws that it doesn't quite fit in, however.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know the correct blade thickness for these smaller sideplate screws? .028"? .025"?

Does anyone know the blade thicknesses of the screwdrivers that Brownell's lists as S&W screwdriver sets? http://www.brownells.com/aspx/...ue&c=69&p=4794&ps=10 I just don't want to spend money on tools and shipping just to get duplicates of what I already have.

Thanks,
-Donald

 

[DCWilson]

Originally posted by donaldw870:


Does anyone know the blade thicknesses of the screwdrivers that Brownell's lists as S&W screwdriver sets? http://www.brownells.com/aspx/...ue&c=69&p=4794&ps=10 I just don't want to spend money on tools and shipping just to get duplicates of what I already have.

Thanks,
-Donald

I have the four-tip S&W set marketed by Brownells. I just miked my tips and got these measurements: .021, .023, .032, .041. This is a little rough because the hollow ground tips are NOT completely parallel. They're just not as wedge-shaped as non-HG screwdrivers.

The number three tip (.032 in my measurement) fits sideplate screws properly. The smaller two will also go in, but are undersize for the slots.

DCW

 

[garra]

Actually the tip of a hollow ground screw driver is wider at the tip than it is a few thousands back from that point. The idea is to have the leading edges of the tip grip the very bottom of the screw slot where the verticle and horizontal edge meets. That is what gives it the bite to not cam out under pressure. A side view of the tip is almost like looking at a triangle, you want that angle to have a great bite to catch the bottom edge of the slot. That is why you need so many different screwdrivers to match different sized screws for the best fit.

When I started working for National Cash Register as an apprentice in the sixties, we were taught how to hollow grind all our screwdrivers to prevent buggering up the screws.

regards,

 

[donaldw870]

Thanks for the replies and information. I'll have to measure mine that are supposed to be .030. -Donald