removing plugs to mount a sight ?

[rebs]

I have a Savage 99 built in 1948 it was drilled and tapped then for a tang peep sight. I put a gun smith screw driver on the plugs and they do not want to turn out. What would be a safe way of removing them without marking up the rifle or the bluing ?

[NoSecondBest]

If it was me, the first thing I'd try is hitting them with a little heat. A soldering iron for a couple of seconds will tell if that's going to work without harming the gun in any way. On second thought, I think I'd put a drop of penetrating oil on it for an hour or so first to see if that did the trick or not before using the heat.

[JT-AR-MG42]

My first try would be to take the butt off to be able to put the tang in a container of Kroil.
The tang sight screw threads are probably tapped through the tang.
Removing the butt and soaking gives the oil a much better chance to penetrate.

Kroil is, by far, the best penetrating oil I've ever used and the only one I would recommend.

After soaking overnight, I'd use that proper fitting screwdriver and try turning the screw,
lightly tapping the top of the screwdriver while turning if necessary.

JT

[PetahW]

.

FWIW, for some rifles, I've found that the headless fillers screws felt like the factory installed them with an impact driver; and I had to resort to clamping the area under a (proper-sized) gunsmith (not "household" or "automotive") screwdriver bit held in a drill press chuck.

The drill press allows a LOT of downward pressure to keep the screwdriver bit in place while turning the chuck (and hopefully, the screw) out by hand (no power).

.

[guncrank]

B-square made a portable tool that did the same thing .
It was called the "screw jack"