4) Safety lever screws loose during shooting
- Disassemble the safety mechanism, clean everything thoroughly with a degreaser,
apply Locktite blue to all threaded surfaces. Reassemble (and hope you never have to take it
apart again). Quit putting oil on the safety mechanism interface in the upper surface
of the slide (the oil leaks directly onto the screw threads).
Contributed by Pete W.
Here's one more solution :)
On the problem with the safety screw coming loose...on my old 357 I first
cleaned the parts thoroughly and tightened down the screw to what felt like a
good hand tightness. I then used a spring loaded metal punch with a small tip
to place a "start" dimple on the safety lever right next to the end of the
screw head's notch and then used a slow speed on my Dremel tool to drill and
then hand tapped for a 4-40 set screw (I forget the length...just long
enough to go the thickness of the lever and not protrude enough to scratch my
finger. I think I recall grinding it to length in a pin vise). When properly
done the set screw creates a catch for the screwdriver notch on the screw,
keeping it from turning while the set screw is in place. I just used rubber
cement or fingernail polish on the threads of the set screw to keep it from
coming loose. The first time I did it, before it replaced the lever with the
newer extended model, I tapped the hole so that it didn't quite catch the
screw notch good enough so I used a hex-cap screw instead of the headless set
screw and used a drop of rubber cement to make a cap on the head of the set
screw to avoid scratching my thumb when operating the safety.
Worked for me through several 1,000 rounds. Just check the set screw and
maybe re-glue it after each cleaning session.
Contributed by Steven L Ayola.