98c gun prob.

dontrummer wrote: ok i have a normal 98c no upgrades but one of my bolts is stuck. the one in the forgrip so i cant take it apart. i also stripped it tring to take it out (dont call me stupid). does anyone know how to take this bolt out now. thx.

The easiest first try is to use a little JP Weld Epoxy dabbed in the stripped socket and on the end of the Allen wrench. Insert the Allen wrench and let the epoxy set up over night. This will hold so the screw can be removed, usually.

But if it was so tight that you stripped the socket on this try then the epoxy method may also fail...but still worth a try!. (stop tightening the screw to excess! use only the short leg of Allen wrench between your fingers to tighten)

Several other ways that are relatively easy. A 3/16 drill bit LEFT HAND TWIST in a reversible drill will sometimes bite well enough that it unscrews the screw as you try to drill it out. Even it it doesn't unscrew it, when you drill through the head of the screw it will likely pop off...at which point you take a small pin punch and knock the screw out of the housing.

Also, there is small cutter kit at places like Sears tools that when run in the drill in reverse, bite into the head of the screw and back it out. They are also capable of cutting deeply enough to pop the head off. 

An Eazy-Out is an inappropriate tool in this type of screw removal. To use an Eazy-Out you have to drill a hole down the center of the bolt/screw into which you insert the Eazy-Out. You then turn the Eazy-Out counter-clockwise so it bites and the wrench torque is transfered to the bolt. This can be useful with screws/bolts that are threaded through the hole. But the Tippmann screws go through a smooth hole and thread into a captured nut on the opposite side.

(Easy-Outs are virtually glass hard and glass brittle steel. Even slight bending while using one, particularly on the very small diameter ones, with break them...and then you are really stuck with an embeded piece of steal that is too hard to drill through. That is just educational info about Eazy-Outs and the care required to use them.)

The picture below shows how the use of a left hand drill bit can help to extract the stuck screw. As the caption says, either the reverse torque will unscrew the bolt or it will drill down until the bottom of the head is reached. When the bit drills down that far the head will have been cut off. At that point a small diameter pin punch can be used to knock the screw out the other side (nut and all).

If you don't have a left hand bit, the head can still be removed with a right hand bit. Just select one that is slightly larger than the diameter of the screw (but slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the head...you don't want to gouge into the top of the counter-sink area into which the head is recessed). You are not looking to drill down the length of the screw. You are looking to drill to the point that the shoulder between the head and the shank of the screw is cut through and the head pops off.

If the drill bit cuts just a touch into the shoulder of the hole, it does only cosmetic damage that is completely covered with the replacement screw. Lighten the drill pressure as you get close to the head pop off point so you don't cut excessively into the aluminum shell material.