Loctite on Scope Base & Ring Screws?

[Rat Rifle]

Last fall I thought, maybe I don’t need the Loctite. The last target in a 2 day match looked like a shot gun pattern. The 20 MOA rail had come loose. It was torqued to speck with a Fat Wrench. Only slightly less disappointing than a DQ.

I have gotten Loctite on the barrel threads. Heat from a hair dryer loosened it right up. That’s why I use the smallest amount applied from the tip of a toothpick. Minimizes any problems.

 

[butchlambert]

Well, the 338 RUM I'm building will have Alaska Arms bases-19mm CZ, 8-40 screws, bedded and 638 green Loctite. The 30mm Alaska Arms CZ rings have recoil lugs built in to interact with cut outs in the bases. I will use blue Loctite and torque the rings.

 

[sdean]

No need for loctite on my Fclass Panda or Viper rails!!!

 

[DShortt]

My experience has been that if the base/ bases and the action are bedded then no Loctite is necessary. A torque wrench in inch/lbs has undoubtedly saved me a plethora of problems. As for Loctite on the rings? I've never found that necessary.

 

[jackson1]

As has been alluded to there are different types of Loctite for different purposes. Use the correct version for your application. Don't always use Loctite, but for a hunting trip or competition, it is cheap insurance..

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Those that have mentioned to run a tap into the action holes and get everything cleaned up is the most important thing to save a lot of headaches no matter which way you go on the thread-locker.

 

[wedgy]

As mentioned clean all holes and screws with carb cleaner as they are covered in oil and loctite won't work. I recently has a factory installed 20 MOA rail come loose, drove me crazy trying to figure out what was going on. I torqued the screws when I got it but they came loose anyway. When I took the rail off there was a ton of oil between it and the receiver. I usually bed and/or pin my rails and upgrade to #8 screws for hunting guns but this was just a steel shooting rig. I will do them all correctly in the future so I don't have to do it again.

 

[wkdickinson]

I Loctite base screws, but never ring screws. I agree with running a tap into the screw holes on the action and then spraying them out with brake-clean.

 

[KY_Windage]

I stay with the #6 base screws my actions come tapped for. I clean them and the holes well (partial Q-Tip soaked in carb-cleaner twisted into the holes repeatedly), then install with blue Loc-Tite (242). That means I will have to hold a propane torch-heated nail against the head of the screw for 3-4 minutes if I ever want to remove it, but I like that. (My soldering iron is too slow.)

I use red Loc-Tite for many things on guns but would recommend against it for small screws, as it will take a lot of propane to melt it and there is simply no need -- blue is more than adequate.

For ring clamp-to-base screws I leave them bare (and clean -- no oil). I want to be able to check them every now and then without dealing with thread-locker. Takes me only a second to verify they are still tight, and they always are!

For ring cap screws I sometimes use purple Loc-Tite, as it is "reusable," they say, and I find it is at least a couple of times. It does not "set up" so you don't have to worry about destroying a screw trying to remove it without heat. It is just sort of a thick paste that helps keep small screws from vibrating loose. Great stuff.

 

[butchlambert]

To each his own. I believe each rifle needs to be treated differently. That is why I chose the components that I did for the 338 RUM.
I'm getting ready to mount a scope, rings , and bases on one of my 40X RF. I will probably use a Kelbly rail and 2 screw rings.

 

[Daddymac]

Purple 222 is the only way to go, secure enough to hold rings and bases on anything you would hold to shoot but easily removable with regular hand tools with no heating, grunting, or cussing required.

 

[nmkid]

Blue loctite for the base and women's nail polish for the ring screws. From a .338 to a 20 Practical I have never had a screw or base come loose in over 40 years.

 

[fatelvis]

I wonder why Leupold uses the blue "nylok" on the screws they send with dual dovetail rings? Is it very similar to the blue Locktite? I do know that I've been told by more than one to never use the red Locktite.

I think that blue stuff that Leupold used is similar to VC-3. It's not a thread locker, it less aggressively stops screw movement.
I use blue Locktite on bases and nothing on ring caps.

 

[EOD Rob]

I the same as a few others. I use Blue on the the base and nothing on the rings. Then torque all to specs.

 

[drano38]

I installed a picatinny rail on my Bat B this week, and used Purple 222. Ring mounting screws and cap screws will be dry.

 

[Artisan]

Do you use Loctite on base or ring screws when scope mounting? Or just torque to recommended settings?

Last time I removed Loctite screws, the rifle was in a vice, vertically mounted, me standing on a 4"-Breaker-Bar, jumping up and down.

 

[KY_Windage]

I the same as a few others. I use Blue on the the base and nothing on the rings. Then torque all to specs.

You can easily get to all the ring screws to check them now and then. You can't get to the base screws without removing the scope and rings. EGW recommends their bases be installed with blue Loc-Tite.

So the question becomes, why wouldn't I use 242 on base screws?

Too lazy to hold a torch-heated nail against each of the screw heads for 3-4 minutes?

Just like to live dangerously?

Can't afford Loc-Tite after buying a jug of H1000 on GunBroker?

Seems like a small price to pay to make sure screws you can't readily check haven't vibrated loose from all that recoil.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Just a torque wrench. Make sure it's on in/lbs, not ft/lbs. Ask me how I know...

 

[EOD Rob]

You can easily get to all the ring screws to check them now and then. You can't get to the base screws without removing the scope and rings. EGW recommends their bases be installed with blue Loc-Tite.

So the question becomes, why wouldn't I use 242 on base screws?

Too lazy to hold a torch-heated nail against each of the screw heads for 3-4 minutes?

Just like to live dangerously?

Can't afford Loc-Tite after buying a jug of H1000 on GunBroker?

Seems like a small price to pay to make sure screws you can't readily check haven't vibrated loose from all that recoil.

Wow Windage, sorry to insult your intelligence! This is the way I have always done it and it seems that I'm not the only one!!! I'm sure like most of us like minded people, we can all afford Loc-Tite, but have had no need to do so for this application. "LAZY", I'm far from being a lazy person (17 yrs in the Marine Corps should tell you that), however I do not like the idea of putting a torch or anything heated close to something that I do not need to.
One should look at their own issues, like using EGW bases and rings before attempting to be little someone for their practices! Sound to me like you have your own issues!
By the way, I have never used H1000! Sorry Bro! and I don't buy from GunBroker!

 

[KY_Windage]

Wow Windage, sorry to insult your intelligence! This is the way I have always done it and it seems that I'm not the only one!!! I'm sure like most of us like minded people, we can all afford Loc-Tite, but have had no need to do so for this application. "LAZY", I'm far from being a lazy person (17 yrs in the Marine Corps should tell you that), however I do not like the idea of putting a torch or anything heated close to something that I do not need to.
One should look at their own issues, like using EGW bases and rings before attempting to be little someone for their practices! Sound to me like you have your own issues!
By the way, I have never used H1000! Sorry Bro! and I don't buy from GunBroker!

I was merely stating why I agree with what you are doing -- using Blue Lod-Tite on bases.

As far as heating the base screws before trying to wrench them out, it has been my experience that NOT doing that can result in a screw-head getting twisted off, or a tool being bent, and especially if the yahoo before me used red Loc-Tite or similar. My torch heats the nail above the base (to glowing red) and the heat travels thru the screw and melts the Loc-Tite. Any Loc-Tite. Then the screws easily extract.

Usually I toss extracted screws to keep from having to spend the time to clean them up, but even if I need to reuse them the heat does not hurt them at all.

It is a great trick, with only the tiniest bit of risk involved. And I'm sure that a guy with "EOD" in his name is not afraid of tiny risks. But in any case, thank you for your 17 years. I only had to do one year -- as the father of a young Marine in Falusia.