JST --
I couldn't disagree more, on two counts: 1) From what I've seen, the leading cause of stripped screwheads is ignorant and/or lazy operators who try to use a driver that doesn't fit the screwhead right. A little driver in a bit slot, or vise-versa, doesn't seem to matter much, and it's every bit as much of a problem with slotted heads, Phillips heads, Torx heads, and Allen heads, although in the last case failure to stick the driver all the way into the recess may be an even more common operator error than using a wrong-sized driver. 2) The old-time commercial screwdriver makers not only made long-shank screwdrivers, they made screwdrivers having big tips, short and thick shanks, and beefy handles, and they called these screwdrivers "machinist screwdrivers". SteveM's Federal is representative of the "Perfect Handle" class of machinist screwdrivers (and, incidentally, the very nicest Federal screwdriver I've seen), and there were two other classes of machinist screwdriver, with conventional handles (Bridgeport Hardware machinist screwdrivers were, in my opinion, the queens of their ball), and the all-metal class made by Billings & Spencer, Herbrand, Vlchek, Fairmount, and maybe a few others. Having been unable to readily locate NOS machinist screwdrivers, I've made my own by severely shortening the shanks of reputable-maker square-shank screwdrivers with plastic handles. Their sizes? 1/8 inch tip x 1 inch shank, 3/16 inch tip x 1 1/2 inch shank, 1/4 inch tip x 2 inch shank, 5/16 inch tip x 2 1/2 inch shank, and 3/8 inch tip x 3 inch shank, all with rubber-grip plastic handles. I've been using them since the early 1970s, and I have yet to strip out a screw head with any of them.
John