Forend Spacer

[henry1]

Noticed my forend spacer screws are striped out on the .243. Should i put some jb weld on it or just get longer screws? Anybody know what size they are? What would cause these to become striped out? Thanks.
H

[cwlongshot]

Two ways I have fixed stripped holes in wood.
 First is kinda cheating, but works. The second is the correct way.

1. Get some tooth pics. Break to length of the depth of the hole. Insert and assemble.

2. Get some hard wood dowels roughly 3-4 times the diameter of the hole. If in doubt get a bit bigger. Get a drill ever so slightly larger than dowels. Drill out stripped holes at least twice there length. Cut the dowels to just a bit longer than the depth of those holes. Using good wood glue, completely coat the dowels and insert in holes. Let dry at least 24 hours, sand the dowels flush with surface. Give it at least one coat ( A Couple is better) of polyurethane or your choice of sealer/finish. Now re-mount the spacer and call it good!!

 Good luck,

 CW

[quickdtoo]

There's a neat fix for stripped holes in the FAQs. 

Tim

[henry1]

Cool thanks for the help fellas! I appreciate it!
H

[Hofs01]

I use golf tee's for the filler

[NFG]

I've used 1/4" glue dowels you can find in any hardware store that have a spiral or straight grooves cut in them then drill and tap the hole so the epoxy glue has something to fill in...

just plain hardwood dowels with or without the grooves and with or without tapping the hole...

Yeah...those extra long, extra fat golf tees left over from my golfing days work great...

aluminum and steel rounds with and without turned grooves and with or without tapping the hole then drilling and tapping the metal rod for use with a machine screw...plus longer and usually the next size wood screw, sheet metal screw or a long screw with the head cut off and a nut substituted.

All the methods have been used for different applications.  I think the easiest for the NEF is just a one or two size larger screw about 1 1/2" long depending on how bad the OEM hole is stipped out, plus using a countersink to enlarge the svrew head dimple to fit the screwhead flush.  Drill a pilot hole for the long screw half the diameter of the screw so the screw threads will cut into the wood rather than compress it.  The wood has to go somewhere by the screw displacing it...and the half size pilot hole also guides the screw rather than the wood grain grabbing the screw.

If you are careful you can use the screw head protrusion to take up slack and tighten the break open action and to also keep the headspace gap more uniform.  Some judicious filing of the screw head to match the curvature of the receiver also helps then a bit of polish with 400 WD sandpaper and a dab of gun grease.

[henry1]

Thanks a bunch guys! I really do appreciate it!
H

[cwlongshot]

SO, what did ya do and how did it come out? 

 CW

[henry1]

Well cw i took a metle spacer off of a forarm that i wasnt using and put it on the .243's forarm and put some different screws in it. It locks up a lot better than it did. I have also put in a different rubber washer and sanded the forarm down so that it isnt touching the bbl anymore. Havent shot it yet. Was supposed to go this eve but a friend of mines basement flooded and so i was helping with that. Im impressed with how well it locks up now though.
Henry.