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Locktite on Bases, Rings, and Rails?

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Do you put locktite on all the screws? I just took my rifle back because everything backed out and fell off the picattiny rail. The gunsmith said I should get better rings and bases. When he bore sited it, he only put locktite on the screws going from the rail to the receiver, and the screws on the rings. The giant knob screws on the bottom of the bases holding them to the picattiny rail he said shouldn't get any locktite. Well, after adjusting my scope a bunch of times at the range, I noticed it was rattling around a lot again, so I tightened them down as best I could and tried again until they loosened up again. It's only a cheap scope, but I should be able to get the rings to at least hold it securely. This thing has really been babied so far, but I need something that can take extreme abuse. What do you recommend?

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High Exposure, you'de be a good one to ask: Although no one think of what I'm doing as being considered hard or abusive until they actually say everything that happens, I need something heavy duty, like a probably what you'de use in combat for a scope and rings. Is there anything else I should do besides Blue Loctite?

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High Exposure, you'de be a good one to ask: Although no one think of what I'm doing as being considered hard or abusive until they actually say everything that happens, I need something heavy duty, like a probably what you'de use in combat for a scope and rings. Is there anything else I should do besides Blue Loctite?

Brother, it all depends on how much you want to spend.

 

What kind of rifle?

What kind of optic?

Do you need MOA built into the mount?

 

I am not the most knowledgable on scopes and mounts, I only have 1 scope, the rest being RDS. Vlad G or some of the precision guys may have a better take. Personally, I prefer levers over knobs for optic mounting - ADM, LaRue, etc... (excluding ARMS, fuck that guy).

 

I did just pick up an ADM Recon Mount for my Vortex Strike Eagle. It's a one piece mount with throw levers. Very nicely made and affordable.

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Right now I have the worlds cheapest scope (a 3-9 Simmons) on a 10/22 takedown. I don't mind spending quite a bit more on the optic, it's just that I get frustrated when everything falls apart without me abusing it yet. I don't need 1/2 moa out of this thing just enough to shoot coons 50 to 75 feet away from a near vertical angle in the dark with a small light and be able to take a serious pounding when I use my rifle as an impact weapon. Since the rifle's stainless, a similarly finished optic and rings would be awesome. I'm not a big fan of red dots, or nightvision, or anything requiring batteries because my only experience with one, the on switch was so loose it kept getting bumped on and when I would take it out of the case the batteries were always dead.

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Heh, you might have gone a bit too far with that pen, it was the first thing I noticed about your rifle.

I see you never had your light fall off your rifle in the second room of a house during an entry for a barricaded person. ;) Besides all the disapproving looks from the team leader, it made it really hard to see the bad guy.

 

It's a lot faster to look at all the little blue marks to make sure they line up than it is to find all the correct size wrenches and try to tighten them all up.

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Right now I have the worlds cheapest scope (a 3-9 Simmons) on a 10/22 takedown. I don't mind spending quite a bit more on the optic, it's just that I get frustrated when everything falls apart without me abusing it yet. I don't need 1/2 moa out of this thing just enough to shoot coons 50 to 75 feet away from a near vertical angle in the dark with a small light and be able to take a serious pounding when I use my rifle as an impact weapon. Since the rifle's stainless, a similarly finished optic and rings would be awesome. I'm not a big fan of red dots, or nightvision, or anything requiring batteries because my only experience with one, the on switch was so loose it kept getting bumped on and when I would take it out of the case the batteries were always dead.

I don't know what to tell you on scope choices. I never researched anything for a 10/22, let alone stainless .22 scope rings. Sorry Amigo. Check the Rimfire sub-forum. Guys there will probably have really good info for you.

 

As far as a RDS, you need to buy quality. Get an Aimpoint PRO and you will get 50,000 hours (over 5 years) of constant on battery life. The optic probably costs more than the rifle, but "buy once - cry once".

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It is a quality thing, quality mounts have carefully machined threads, and fit better and have more contact so they don't rattle loose as much.  Blue loctite ( Loctite 242 I believe) is designed exactly for that purpose, securing screws under vibration and/or impact.  Always use it on scope mount screws.  Red (271) has no place in guns, if you need a high temp thread locker that needs to hang on for a good long time then use rockset. Green has some uses, for things like mounting barrels and other specialized uses.

 

Spend extra money on good mounts, they will outlive your optics. I have cheap red dots mounted in mounts that are more expensive then the optic.  Buying a good mount could mean you might use for the next 20 years with other optics. I like ADM, Larue, Warne and more recently Aero which is what I have on my race rifle.

 

That said, you are mounting it on a 10//22 and an inexpesnive scope, so spending $200+ on a mount is silly. I like the Burris Zee rings for classic rifle rings, they come with a polymer insert that does a nice job centering the scope without lapping or other crazy stuff, and they should cost about $45 for a set.

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I see you never had your light fall off your rifle in the second room of a house during an entry for a barricaded person. ;) Besides all the disapproving looks from the team leader, it made it really hard to see the bad guy.

 

Oh don't misunderstand me, I get it, its just that you marked some screws that could completely fall off an not matter, so I kinda appreciated the commitment.

 

I've had a barrel nut come loose on me mid match once. I was wondering why I was key holing, the gas tube was what kept the barrel from coming off by keeping the nut from fully coming off.

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Oh don't misunderstand me, I get it, its just that you marked some screws that could completely fall off an not matter, so I kinda appreciated the commitment.

If it is a visible fastener it gets marked. :D

 

Even though it it set up like my social guns, that rifle is a dedicated range/fun/training gun.

 

Everything on that rifle could fall off and it wouldn't really matter. I just don't like to yard sale my gear.

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I prefer loctite blue gel. Comes in a glorified lipstick apllicater thingy. I base my judgment on the blue gel after 100's of hrs off-road motorcycle racing.

 

For fastener you may remove occasionally it is good practice to chase the threads with tap and die. The loctite can build up..

Red is very bad idea on a gun.

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