Note the slot in the top of this bushing. This allows it to be screwed into the threaded frame.

To help secure the bushing in the frame, a staking tool is used to spread the inside rim of the bushing. Another way of looking at this is to think of it as riveting the bushing in place. The staking tool is placed inside the grip frame and centered in the bushing after the bushing has been fully seated.

A punch, extending through the bushing on the opposite side of the frame, is placed on the staking tool and struck with a hammer. This flares the inside end of the bushing. Generally it works quite well, and the bushings stay firmly in place.

Most bushings never come loose and are held quite securely by normal staking. However, if you ever have to replace or reseat a bushing you can make a minor modification that will make it very unlikely that it will ever come loose. All you need to do is cut or grind a very slight taper on the inside of the grip screw bushing hole in the frame. This taper, which doesn't have to be very large at all, will allow the skirt of the bushing to flare out a bit more when it's staked.

For the taper I use either a half-inch diameter round grinding stone with my Dremel or a quarter-inch diameter round carbide cutter in a pin vise. The stone or cutter are inserted through the magazine well opening and positioned in the bushing frame hole. A few turns with the cutter or just touch with the Dremel stone will do the trick.

You don't want to remove much. As soon as you can see a taper all the way around the inside of the bushing hole, stop. Now just install the bushing and stake it in place as you normally would. A drop of Loctite on the threads will also make it even more secure.

Earlier I mentioned that the bushings have a very fine thread, 60 threads per inch. These fine threads can be stripped with just a modest amount of pressure. Years ago when this happened, gunsmiths would generally solder the bushing into the stripped frame hole. That could be messy and often lead to rusting of the frame from the acid in the flux.

Brownells offers an oversize .255-60 tap to rethread the frame as well as bushings with a matching oversize thread. All you need to do is just turn in the special oversize tap and bingo--your stripped bushing hole is now rethreaded and repaired. Follow this up with installation of the oversize bushing, which looks just like a standard bushing, and the repair is completed.

Another problem that I ran into from time to time was damage to the stock bushing. Generally this came about when the owner took the grips off and spotted the slot on the top of the bushing. If it's slotted, that must mean that you can screw it out, right? Wrong. That slot is needed to seat the bushing in the frame.

But the owner would put his screwdriver in the slot, give it a good twist and more often than not just peel away part of the top of the bushing. Now he was in trouble. The stock screw threads in the bushing were often damaged as well as the end of the bushing.

The inside edge of the bushing hole is chamfered or beveled to allow the skirt of the bushing to expand for a more secure attachment to the frame. It doesn't take much; just a bit of chamfer will allow the bushing skirt to expand, securing it to the frame.