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KS7 Carry Handle Removal - First Encounter

319 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  dfariswheel
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Hi Everybody,

Just picked up a KS7. Of course upgrades are in the works and some of the first ones involve the carry handle.
I was removing the mounting screws and ran in to some difficulty. The screw under the carry part was really on there, but the screw on the front was saying no, not coming off.
So after stripping the hex in the screw, I tried using a left handed drill, still no. Then I use an endmill to pop the screw head off, of course that worked. Then I used a pair of needle nose vise grips and some heat, I was able to remove the screw. Cleaned out the threads with a tap.
All in all, not a big deal because I'm a machinist and have the "tools" to do this in a controlled way. If I wasn't a machinist, I'd be extremely annoyed with the gun potentially having to go back to Kel-Tec. The handle shouldn't have to have this much Loctite to where you can't remove the screw. I'm not putting a top pic rail, but many people do and they would be in pickle not getting a screw out.
Anyway, not sure if this is one of those Kel-Tec things, but it's behind me now. :) Here are some pictures of some of the process. I'll post again when I do the modifications.

P.S. Kel-Tec plastic does not like heat, like a flame. It just has to get a whiff and it's not happy.

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They loaded the screws up because people initially were complaining that they were too loose. Lol. Glad you got it out.
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This does seem to be rather problematic....... they sell rails to replace the carry handle, but install the screws so aggressively that there may be difficulty in removing the screws.
This is a difficult situation because if the screws are in tight enough to prevent loosening, they may not be customer removable for a change.

This puts the company in a bad place..... install the screws so they're easier to remove and you get customer complains of loose handles and lost screws, tight enough to prevent that, you get complaints and returned guns with stripped threads and damaged parts.
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It makes you wonder why they don't use star lock washers.
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I would guess that they're going with the "average" customer, who will never remove the stock carry handle, and a small drop of thread locker is cheaper then star lock washers.
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I would guess that they're going with the "average" customer, who will never remove the stock carry handle, and a small drop of thread locker is cheaper then star lock washers.
Yes, probably. Cheaper but less user friendly.
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I just wish they’d swap to torx instead of hex given how frequently the screw heads strip out.

I’ve been seriously considering determining the screw specs and replacing them all.
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The handle mount screws are metric M4x12.
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