Scope bases - epoxy

[Castle Rock]

Standard practice for me

 

[TxxAgg]

Standard practice for me

The last couple rifles it has been for me, too

 

[cowboy300]

I’ve bedded rails straight to the action with no release agent with JB Weld. It does take some heat to pop it off but it’s not permanent unless you have a mechanical lock somewhere. Something like marine Tex or devcon would probably be a bitch to get loose

 

[Sweetyzfd]

I wouldn’t recommend it. Too many negatives for the positive

 

[Castle Rock]

Such as?

 

[DJL2]

This thread inspired me to go halvsies. Basically, the action got release agent, the rail didn't. I wanted to ensure a tighter lug fit anyway, so on went the JB Qwik. I did my bet to ensure the screw holes were clear, threw some nail polish on those and in they went.

I don't anticipate pulling the pic rail off in the near term, but if I want to it should come free with minimal fuss. The only possible downside is a bit of a pain cleaning up rail for use on a different T3x...not assessed to be a significant concern...hard to imagine a scenario where'd I'd pull it with the intent to reuse it.

Expectation is a rail well mated to the top of the action with a tightly fit lug and one less thing to worry about.

 

[TxxAgg]

Cool! Good to hear.

 

[ultraedge]

I bed Nightforce steel rails on all of my centerfire rifles. Never had a problem with a bedded rail. Have had problems with rails that were not bedded coming loose. If you can, solve problems before they happen.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

This thread inspired me to go halvsies. Basically, the action got release agent, the rail didn't. I wanted to ensure a tighter lug fit anyway, so on went the JB Qwik. I did my bet to ensure the screw holes were clear, threw some nail polish on those and in they went.

I don't anticipate pulling the pic rail off in the near term, but if I want to it should come free with minimal fuss. The only possible downside is a bit of a pain cleaning up rail for use on a different T3x...not assessed to be a significant concern...hard to imagine a scenario where'd I'd pull it with the intent to reuse it.

Expectation is a rail well mated to the top of the action with a tightly fit lug and one less thing to worry about.
[/QUOT

clean the release agent off the action and rail and remount, the release agent is not meant to stay on after the bedding process is done, that will almost definitely work it’s way loose IE loss of zero. You want a clean dry mating surface between action and rail brake clean or acetone would be perfect for cleaning either surface

 

[TxxAgg]

T3x 223 came in yesterday. Bout to break out some JB Weld

 

[Brent]

Bedding rails onto receivers offers a more secure mounting platform and it eliminates machining imperfections that can place stress on your scope. Plus, it's easy to do. If you need to remove it, apply a little heat and tap it with a hammer to pop it off. There are no downsides. The juice is worth the squeeze on this one.

 

[bradb]

I bed rails but do put release agent on the action.

 

[Corvus Corax]

I’ve done a rail on my 870 for turkey hunting. JB weld with no release agent. The two screws seemed a little light. Just as others have said they come off with some heat and physical persuasion.

 

[OXN939]

So I actually have some recent experience with this. Picked up an absolutely gorgeous Winchester Model 70 Supergrade from the early 80s a few months ago. Went to throw some rings on and check the alignment to mount my optic, and sure enough, it was off because of the bases. So, I went to remove the bases and they were bedded to the top of the receiver with a generous amount of red loctite. Got 2 of the 4 screws out, but the last two stripped and were solidly stuck in. So, my choices at that point were A) apply heat, probably destroying the original 40 year old bluing of the rifle, or B) try a stripped screw removal bit. Thankfully, after a very stressful and scary procedure, I was able to get both remianing screws out with the removal bit- but only barely. It would be very easy to damage a rifle during that process.

So, bottom line, there are some pretty significant downsides. You may not be able to get the bases/ rail off if you want to change them or they get damaged. Truly, if you attach bases correctly by first degreasing both contact surfaces completely, then drying and cleaning everything completely, adding a small amount of blue loctite and torquing to the proper specs, there is virtually nothing to worry about.

 

[16Bore]

Cant say I’ve ever seen a need for anything other than a little blue Loktite or a dab of nail polish. But I’m not extreme hardcore.

 

[Corvus Corax]

My doing so was more out of not wanting to put more holes in a previously drilled receiver. Two holes lined up with my rail out of the four. I’d probably not think to do so otherwise. Having a smith drill and tap probably would have run me more than the 870 originally cost.

 

[pirogue]

Does anyone epoxy their scope bases or one piece base/rings? I don't mean epoxy bed them...I mean permanently attach them with epoxy.

For example, have you or would you use JB Weld (along with the supplied screws) to permanently secure talley rings to a receiver?

 

[pirogue]

So in other words, Talley rings aren’t cracked up to be worth all the recommendations a lot of people make on here. Now I know why no one ever gives reasons to get them over Leupold.

 

[TxxAgg]

^^^ cool story

 

[686]

Bump to say thanks for the folks in here who relayed experiences permanently epoxy’ing bases to their action. I shoot a huge scope and it has loosened up bases 3 times on two different magnum rifles. The second base was a factory mounted Pic Rail : ( I wanted a permanent solution to keep this pic rail on the action, so I did the JB weld solution this evening and it was actually a lot easier to execute than I thought it would be. Looking forward to getting the scope back on after curing.