Why would pre-19 have buggered sideplate screws

[Al W.]

I was the kid always taking things apart. In my case I also reassembled them and didn't have parts left over.
Now its my job.
I buy used so I always take them apart first thing after I unwrap them. I bought a couple of S&W's from the 50's that had never been cleaned. Did they need to have that plate taken off ? Yes they did.
No damage done.
Nice and clean now.
Just buy the right drivers or grind a set for your Smith from a driver you have around . Grind it right and you can use it safely for ever.

 

[sandspur6]

I used to make a good living putting S&W revolvers back together for all the young Navy pilots from the local base. They would buy them, take them back to the BOQ and proceed to take them all apart, apparently just to see what was inside them. The local gunshop knew to tell them to put all the parts back in the box, along with a 20 dollar bill, and take it to me. Ahh, the good old days.

 

[chief38]

Anyone STILL not understanding should take a good look at a new slotted screw under magnification. You will see straight walls on the screw slot and a taper on the Blade. Standard Screwdrivers are not straight walled, they are tapered, soooo the only true contact between the two is at the very top of the slot and that is not a proper fit 98% of the time.

Gun Smithing Screwdriver Bits are straight walled and hollow ground to make them that way. A properly fitting hollow ground Bit will contact the slot the entire way down unlike a regular screwdriver does as they are tapered and can only contact the very top, or most of it. Regular screwdrivers just cam out and bugger up screws - plain & simple! IMHO - standard screwdrivers should be discontinued in favor of hollow ground ones for any slotted screw usage. Even the so called high end brands like Snap-on and Mac are no match for Brownell's Hollow Ground Screwdrivers IMHO. At this point my regular screwdrivers (Snap-on, Craftsman, Yankee, Mac, etc.) are used mostly as paint can openers, scrappers or ground into hollow ground screwdrivers for specific uses. I do have a few dozen left in my tool box but never ever use them on anything I really care about.

As a "Tool Nut" I am really surprised that the Tool Company's have yet to figure this one out! Today they have all sorts of fancy screw types like Torx, Square drive, Posidrive, etc, with great percentage of contact, so WHY are the manufacturers still making crummy and poor fitting screw drivers?

For some of the more handy guys here...... it only takes a moderate amount practice to re-grind standard screwdriver blades into Hollow Ground ones. Just don't over heat them which will ruin the temper! Practice on some cheap ones first until you ge the hang of it and then you will have some really good ones!