action screws

[jray57]

Anyone know how I might come about some action screws other than getting them from Savage for 5 bucks a piece plus shipping.

[Richard]

Find you a Fastenal store and get them there. 1/4 x 28 or got to any of the industrial supply houses like MSC, Grainger, McMasterCarr etc.
Richard

[jray57]

The guy at the fastener store I went to said that the type of head that these screws have would be very difficult to find. My ML is stainless but I would use steel if I could find the allen drive screw with the proper head. I thought about maybe using a socket head and grinding a little off the edge so it would be rounded but I think it would leave the socket too thin. What type head do you get on the screws you use?

[Richard]

What you want is a "button head" screw. Still, I see no reason why you can't just use a regualr socket head screw? It should still sit below the level of the stock.
Richard

[jray57]

The front one will. The rear one(I only have two) goes through the trigger guard and will stick up above the recess.

[smokeless77]

What about this low profile socket head screw, like this

www.mcmaster.com/#socket-cap-screws/=8js1nt

[nic58]

I'd just order them from Savage and be done with it......at least you will have the right parts. You'll spend more money on gas driving around trying to find a cheap replacement for them.

[rossman40]

The Savage action screw is kinda a one of a kind screw. If you can even find (I've looked) a low profile socket head 2" long in SS it will have like a 1/8" allen and the head diameter will be like .375" with a head thickness of .132".

If you buy a standard button head it will have the 5/32" allen like the factory screw but a head diameter of .437" or 7/16" with a head thickness of .132 and it will not fit in the Savage pillars or trigger guard. I have bought these in the past and just trimmed them down.

If you get a standard socket head the allen is 3/16", head diameter is .375" but the head thickness is .250" so when you install it in the trigger guard it looks like a button sticking out.

Now when I cut a pillar for a stock Savage the countersink is .390" (25/32") diameter and is .200" deep (it is easy for me, just 2 turns on the tailstock). Now I do cut them to customer specs and I have cut them for standard socket heads but then the countersink is .300". I just cut a set to use the standard buttonhead which had a countersink diameter of .440" and a depth of .200".

Now finding a low profile is impossible. You can cut down the diameter of a standard buttonhead but they are tough. Cutting down the head height on a standard socket head is again tough but you also loose most of the allen recess on most quality screws which is why the low profile and buttonheads use a smaller allen.

If you guys want lower cost screws I can add them to my "Odds and Ends". I'll get a few and see how much time it takes and how much tooling they eat up (18-8 SS isn't the easiest).

[dans]

Been there done that. I wound up ordering one from Savage and paid

$11 and change to get it because they have a $10 minimum.

[boarhog]

I bought several diff lengths of stainless button head 1/4 X 28 screws at Fastenal. Bought some socket head 1/4 X 28 there this morning.

[bigmoose]

dans,

you should have gotten two...................SMILE

[dans]

bigmoose, I was so startled when the lady told me $10 I just didn't think fast enough.

[boarhog]

To follow up on my Fastenal Button head screws, I had to put them in a bench motor, and file the head down to proper diameter. The motor has a hollow shaft and a Jacobs chuck on it. You could do the same with a regular drill, if you can manage to hold it solidly.

[tucker301]

I chuck them in a drill which is clamped in a vise.
With the drill rotating one way and my Dremel running the opposite direction, they trim down quick and easy.