Smith and Wesson Revolver Bits?

haon8 · December 15, 2012, 11:52 AM

Hey all, back in September I bought my dad the following Brownells Magna-Tip set for his birthday:

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...300-50854.aspx

We've been collecting various firearms for almost 20 years now and he's never had a real screwdriver set. I was going to get one of the other, slightly larger sets, but they didn't have them in stock at the time. Anyway, when I was researching the sets, I read that many of the older S&Ws have thinner screwdriver slots and most of the standard bits that come in sets don't fit them. I found the following link for an S&W bit set which is supposed to fit these thinner slots perfectly:

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...406-42598.aspx

At the time I didn't order them because I didn't actually think he's be working on any of our Smiths (I don't think he had a need to). Recently he's said that he might be looking to do this, however, so I ordered the bits this morning as a holiday gift for him. I was hoping you guys could give me a general idea of which of Smith's revolvers actually have these thinner screws (I'm at school now, so I can't go look at them myself). Were they manufactured like this in a certain time period, or was it dependent on the model? Our collection probably has around 15 Smith revolvers now, so I was just wondering if there was any way to pinpoint which of them require these bits.

Thanks!

jepp2 · December 15, 2012, 10:25 PM

Quote:

I was hoping you guys could give me a general idea of which of Smith's revolvers actually have these thinner screws

My response my not really help you.

My experience is that S&W revolvers do not have "thinner slots". Tear down a Browning A5 shotgun and you will learn about thinner slots.

If you find that you have the correct width driver tip, but it is slightly too thick you can always grind it thinner. I have a stone mounted on a metal shaft that was sold by Brownells years ago just to grind their Magna-Tip bits. When I just checked, they still sell it link

I have the full Magna-Tip screwdriver set I bought from Brownells in the 80's. I use at least 3 different bits on side plate screws. So I don't see how 1 bit is going to do them all. When they changed to plunger yoke screw, they made the screw head larger.

1 bit may take off the grip screw, but it will not on a M617-6 since that is a acorn head socket cap screw. It also will not on any S&W's that came with the Hogue type grips where the screw comes in from the bottom of the grip.

So without knowing the vintage and grip types it is not possible to answer your questions. But I have never had to modify any of the bits in my set for S&W screws. But I have a much wider range of sizes than you do.

But the bit set you ordered are certainly a great start! But to be able to work on all 15 of your S&W revolvers, you may have to add a few bits.

haon8 · December 15, 2012, 11:50 PM

Alright, thank you. My dad and I are certainly no gunsmiths, and the type of disassembly we do on our guns rarely go beyond breaking down for cleaning and the occasional grip alterations. The interest that my dad has in grinding his own bits is about the same level as he has in reloading his own ammo, in that he'd love to if he had enough time to do it. As it is, the set I got him is probably as much as he'll need for such casual use. If there ever comes a time where he wants to buy a grindstone or the $300+ Brownells set, more power to him.

drail · December 16, 2012, 12:04 AM

If you are absolutely interested in not deforming any screws you need to buy oversize bits and grind them to fit. The bit needs to fill the entire width of the slot and be hollow ground so that all of the torque is applied to the bottom of the slot and not the top. If the fit is not perfect then don't apply any torque until it has been ground to fit that screw.

haon8 · December 16, 2012, 10:52 AM

I know that in a perfect world, we'd keep a bunch of standard hollow bits and grind them for different screws as we need them. But like I said, our needs just aren't that extensive. If we were doing so many alterations and various (dis)assemblies then we would undoubtedly grind our own bits, but that's just not what we need. Brownells sells a huge number of sets, and people continue to buy them and post good reviews, so the pre-ground bits must be useful enough for many people.

December 15, 2012, 11:52 AM	#1
haon8 Member Join Date: July 12, 2011 Posts: 30	Smith and Wesson Revolver Bits? Hey all, back in September I bought my dad the following Brownells Magna-Tip set for his birthday: http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...300-50854.aspx We've been collecting various firearms for almost 20 years now and he's never had a real screwdriver set. I was going to get one of the other, slightly larger sets, but they didn't have them in stock at the time. Anyway, when I was researching the sets, I read that many of the older S&Ws have thinner screwdriver slots and most of the standard bits that come in sets don't fit them. I found the following link for an S&W bit set which is supposed to fit these thinner slots perfectly: http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...406-42598.aspx At the time I didn't order them because I didn't actually think he's be working on any of our Smiths (I don't think he had a need to). Recently he's said that he might be looking to do this, however, so I ordered the bits this morning as a holiday gift for him. I was hoping you guys could give me a general idea of which of Smith's revolvers actually have these thinner screws (I'm at school now, so I can't go look at them myself). Were they manufactured like this in a certain time period, or was it dependent on the model? Our collection probably has around 15 Smith revolvers now, so I was just wondering if there was any way to pinpoint which of them require these bits. Thanks!

December 15, 2012, 11:50 PM	#3
haon8 Member Join Date: July 12, 2011 Posts: 30	Alright, thank you. My dad and I are certainly no gunsmiths, and the type of disassembly we do on our guns rarely go beyond breaking down for cleaning and the occasional grip alterations. The interest that my dad has in grinding his own bits is about the same level as he has in reloading his own ammo, in that he'd love to if he had enough time to do it. As it is, the set I got him is probably as much as he'll need for such casual use. If there ever comes a time where he wants to buy a grindstone or the $300+ Brownells set, more power to him.

December 16, 2012, 12:04 AM	#4
drail Junior member Join Date: February 2, 2008 Posts: 3,150	If you are absolutely interested in not deforming any screws you need to buy oversize bits and grind them to fit. The bit needs to fill the entire width of the slot and be hollow ground so that all of the torque is applied to the bottom of the slot and not the top. If the fit is not perfect then don't apply any torque until it has been ground to fit that screw.

December 16, 2012, 10:52 AM	#5
haon8 Member Join Date: July 12, 2011 Posts: 30	I know that in a perfect world, we'd keep a bunch of standard hollow bits and grind them for different screws as we need them. But like I said, our needs just aren't that extensive. If we were doing so many alterations and various (dis)assemblies then we would undoubtedly grind our own bits, but that's just not what we need. Brownells sells a huge number of sets, and people continue to buy them and post good reviews, so the pre-ground bits must be useful enough for many people.