A number of screws are inevitably used for tightening flanges in constructing a vacuum system. A theoretical relation between the axial force and the torque exerted on a screw is easily obtained assuming that the friction force generated on the contacting plane is known, however, in practice the friction is influenced strongly by unknown detailed surface condition. It is difficult to tighten optimally and uniformly the flange seals if the screws commercially available have undefined surface conditions and scattered dimensions, and the axial force produced by the screws can not be expected properly. In this paper a scatter of the axial force over screws and the deviation from an expected one, depending on various fastening conditions, are investigated using a variety of M8, the most popular size for vacuum flanges, domestic stainless screws of hexagonal head and standard thread.