YOUR GUN BENCH MAY NEED AN UPGRADE… HERE’S WHY.

By Avid Admin Bench Tools, Gun Tools, Handgun, Rifle, Shotgun smart-drive Comments Off

Firearms screws and hardware screws are not the same. To correctly and successfully manipulate firearms screws you need firearm specific bits. Not only are Firearm screws typically shallower than standard hardware screws, they also have no taper. Standard hardware bits do have taper making them more general purpose in application and useful on less critical cosmetic surfaces, like your kids bike or something from IKEA. Firearm bits are hollow ground with no taper to completely engage the full bearing surface of the screw giving you a snug secure fit and full engagement which helps prevent slippage and marring. The illustration below shows the difference.

As Mary Clary put it in her article for AMMOLAND, “Some of us made do for years with a $25 generic “gunsmith kit” that we got on sale at a hardware store, but in the repair, take-down and maintenance of our firearms, there were always screws that the bits didn’t quite fit. As such, we are guilty of inflicting unnecessary damage on screw heads and occasionally the surrounding metal. Finally, when my loving husband slipped and scratched the finish on my favorite rifle, I said enough was enough. We needed a professional-grade kit before more screws (and guns) got messed up. When I saw the Smart Drive 90 at the 2019 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, I knew that was the set that I had been looking for for years”.

Smart Drive 90 is an advanced gunsmithing driver set, with not only hollow ground gun bits, but added features from years of insight working on guns. The main driver features a magnetic bit holder, textured rubber grip, jewelers spin top and an integrated 360° COB LED light that provides no-shadow illumination.

The main driver partners with the small “close quarters” driver to create Force Assist™. Force Assist is a proprietary system that allows users to more easily leverage frozen-in-place screws as well as tightening or loosening screws without having to exert excessive grip strength. This smaller driver also doubles as a tapping driver to help break free frozen screws or re-engage stripped screws.

The Smart Drive 90 comes with a comprehensive set of 87 premium black oxide coated S2 steel gun bits. These steel and coating specifications are important because any rust accumulating on your bits over time will impact tolerance and proper fitment. Each bit is engineered to precisely fit gun hardware and designed to fail before damaging small, fragile screws and fasteners. Duplicates of the most commonly used slotted bits are included in the kit, so if or when a failure occurs you will most likely have the replacement right there. Additional replacement bits are available through Real Avid.

Finally, and this is important… The case matters. If you have ever purchased a driver and bit set before, more than likely it hit the floor at some point. Also, more than likely something broke when that happened, like the clasp, hinge or the entire case. Frustrating. The reason we buy these sets is to have an easy way to organize and store the bits and components in one convenient location. Once the case breaks, that feature is gone for good. The lid on the Smart 90, (which in most kits is the most fragile and prone to damage) is made from polycarbonate. For a reference, so is bullet proof glass. Damage resistant to say the least. The base and tray are constructed of engineering grade ABS resin, which is ultra-strong in its own right. The tray tolerances are also very specific to not only organize bits in place, but also hold them snugly should the case invert.