Scope mounting loctite or not?

[CampSmith]

You just argued about arguing.

This topic has been discussed on this forum in probably 50 threads or more which is why Unlucky posted what he did.

You came in claiming things as facts because “you’ve been around the block”. In my experience, just about everything you’ve posted in this thread is the opposite of what maintains success in the field on this particular topic.

You know what you're right everything I posted or have done over the years is opposite of what maintains success in the field. I guess I missed that part yesterday and it almost made me spit my coffee out. I see the ignorance runs deep here especially when someone does something different than you do. Here's a pic for you. I set up the guns used by these hunters in one of my clubs. Guess I got lucky huh!! Looks like success to me.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I use a lot of Loctite 222 (it’s great stuff) but not on my rings

Edit: If I were to use a thread locker on rings I’d pick 222. It’s made for small fasteners, it doesn’t come loose if prepped properly and you can get it apart without tearing up the fastener like 242 can cause at times.

Exactly why I chose it.

Smaller fasteners and maybe poorer tolerances between driver and fastener plus blue loctite can lead to damaging a fastener.

The purple breaks loose so easy but still has the hold security.

I use it on bases and rings.

 

[SDHNTR]

An older retaining compound was green and was not wicking. Be careful of just using a color of Loctite, it may or may not be what you want. I’d verify by number over color.

290

 

[omicron1792]

I like the idea of torquing them applying something. Someone above said a dab of super glue. I always wonder how gorilla glue compares to some of these specific thread lockers.

 

[CampSmith]

290

290 is penetraiting. I use is alot works great.

 

[TxxAgg]

 

[CampSmith]

Ok kids games now huh Einstein. Some never learn.

 

[fwafwow]

Seems like this topic came up in another thread and there was a member who posted who knows what he’s talking about (he’s an engineer). Ring a bell anyone? (It’s too early for me to search for it.)

 

[CampSmith]

Seems like this topic came up in another thread and there was a member who posted who knows what he’s talking about (he’s an engineer). Ring a bell anyone? (It’s too early for me to search for it.)

Exactly and I would never discount someone's expertise training knowledge etc. We can all learn something if you say you can't you're just being ignorant.

 

[fwafwow]

Seems like this topic came up in another thread and there was a member who posted who knows what he’s talking about (he’s an engineer). Ring a bell anyone? (It’s too early for me to search for it.)

I think it may have been more than one thread, but I believe the member I was thinking of is @Fowl Play. Here's one post that he made -https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/scope-mounting-to-maintain-zero.78482/post-3375147

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

You know what you're right everything I posted or have done over the years is opposite of what maintains success in the field. I guess I missed that part yesterday and it almost made me spit my coffee out. I see the ignorance runs deep here especially when someone does something different than you do. Here's a pic for you. I set up the guns used by these hunters in one of my clubs. Guess I got lucky huh!! Looks like success to me. View attachment 702124

Posting pictures of whitetails on private land that you didn’t even kill is a pretty sad reach honestly.

Do you mind explaining your preferred scopes, rings, torque values for all screws involved, and what type of “oil” you are adding?

It seems you are convinced that you have a good system going, and if people are bringing their rifles and scopes to you to be “setup” I’d love to learn what this process is. I love learning and trying new things so I will actually setup a rifle in your preferred method. It can ride along with some of my other rifles and see how it performs week after week.

 

[CampSmith]

Posting pictures of whitetails on private land that you didn’t even kill is a pretty sad reach honestly.

Do you mind explaining your preferred scopes, rings, torque values for all screws involved, and what type of “oil” you are adding?

It seems you are convinced that you have a good system going, and if people are bringing their rifles and scopes to you to be “setup” I’d love to learn what this process is. I love learning and trying new things so I will actually setup a rifle in your preferred method. It can ride along with some of my other rifles and see how it performs week after week.

Not sad at all actually the first buck is mine. I usually follow manufacturer specs. I always degrease screws and threaded receiver holes apply blue loctite and torque to spec. I then degrease all ring screws lightly oil install and torque to spec. I'm not drenching the screws lightly oil so they're not dry. Lightly oiled left dry right. I use G96 it's an all in one gun cleaner/lube. It's not the only oil or lube I use depends on the application. Ring wise theres many high end rings out there so pick your poison. I recently set up a new Seekins Havak Element for myself and went with Seekins rings which i lapped before installing. Seekins recommended 20 inlbs for the four cap screws each ring and 55 inlbs for the double base clamp screws each ring. No way they're ever shooting loose. If someone wants to put loctite on their rings that's fine. I just never seen the need for it.

 

[Sandstrom]

Precision scope mounting

 

[CampSmith]

Posting pictures of whitetails on private land that you didn’t even kill is a pretty sad reach honestly.

Do you mind explaining your preferred scopes, rings, torque values for all screws involved, and what type of “oil” you are adding?

It seems you are convinced that you have a good system going, and if people are bringing their rifles and scopes to you to be “setup” I’d love to learn what this process is. I love learning and trying new things so I will actually setup a rifle in your preferred method. It can ride along with some of my other rifles and see how it performs week after week.

Here's Warne Mountain Tech 30mm rings on a 7lb hunt ready weight ultralight muzzleloader. Recoil energy is a stout 46 ftlbs. I set that up the same way over 10 years ago 25 inlbs on the 4 cap screws each ring and 65 inlbs in the base clamp nut. Still shoots lights out. No loctite on the rings.

 

[atmat]

Here's Warne Mountain Tech 30mm rings on a 7lb hunt ready weight ultralight muzzleloader. Recoil energy is a stout 46 ftlbs. I set that up the same way over 10 years ago 25 inlbs on the 4 cap screws each ring and 65 inlbs in the base clamp nut. Still shoots lights out. No loctite on the rings. View attachment 702238

So that scope has been on and mounted like that for 10 years?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Here's Warne Mountain Tech 30mm rings on a 7lb hunt ready weight ultralight muzzleloader. Recoil energy is a stout 46 ftlbs. I set that up the same way over 10 years ago 25 inlbs on the 4 cap screws each ring and 65 inlbs in the base clamp nut. Still shoots lights out. No loctite on the rings. View attachment 702238

I don’t have any experience with those rings as far as quality and longevity but I do like your torque value numbers compared to most I’ve seen posted. I’d go a touch higher on ring cap screws so long as the rings can handle the torque. Hard to tell from the photos but those rings look a bit thin to me.

I’ve had bad experience with oversized side nut style bases coming loose but haven’t used any in picatinny variant. That seems like it might help with movement with side clamps to the rail plus the main picatinny bottom sitting between slots for front to back stability.

In my experience, anyone I’ve seen using oil in their cap screws or any screws in mounting a scope to a rifle has been a recipe for failure.

 

[CampSmith]

I don’t have any experience with those rings as far as quality and longevity but I do like your torque value numbers compared to most I’ve seen posted. I’d go a touch higher on ring cap screws so long as the rings can handle the torque. Hard to tell from the photos but those rings look a bit thin to me.

I’ve had bad experience with oversized side nut style bases coming loose but haven’t used any in picatinny variant. That seems like it might help with movement with side clamps to the rail plus the main picatinny bottom sitting between slots for front to back stability.

In my experience, anyone I’ve seen using oil in their cap screws or any screws in mounting a scope to a rifle has been a recipe for failure.

I'm not doubting your experience or anyone else's. I've never had a problem doing it this way and if my buddies from the 3 clubs I belong to were on here they would attest to it believe me. Do you really think I wouldn't have been absolutely ripped if one of those guys missed a buck because of a loose scope when the opportunity arose. I set up everyone's guns as they were my own. Here's the thing as men we work on respect. Respect is earned most of the time but when you treat people with respect most of the time it will be returned. I grew up in a time when you called someone out or insulted them there were consequences. Not today in this social media world we live in. It's easy to shit talk and get away with it. I'm not talking about you. You seem pretty stand up. We're just objectively discussing a topic in this post. Healthy conversation whether we agree or not. You don't know my background and I don't know yours.

 

[Bobaloo]

i have started using blue loctite on bases and ring screws with the factory recommended torque settings, so far so good

The blue loctite in chapstik form and a fat wrench are good to have.

 

[Kurts86]

Here's Warne Mountain Tech 30mm rings on a 7lb hunt ready weight ultralight muzzleloader. Recoil energy is a stout 46 ftlbs. I set that up the same way over 10 years ago 25 inlbs on the 4 cap screws each ring and 65 inlbs in the base clamp nut. Still shoots lights out. No loctite on the rings. View attachment 702238

Out of curiosity what’s the furthest shot you have ever taken hunting and have ever taken at the range? How many rounds a year are you shooting through a rifle annually?

The ability to shoot eastern deer at short ranges does not require a great level of mechanical accuracy or shooting skill to be a successful hunter. A zero shift of 3 MOA would have zero practical impact under those circumstances. I am not trying to degrade your hunting success but rifle skill and mechanical accuracy is virtually a non factor in the type of hunting you are posting about.

If you go over to the scope evaluation threads you will see a quantitative methodology repeated with dozens of optics. If you read them all you can make your own conclusions but scopes moving in rings is a very common issue as is overall zero loss. Loctite helpsThe number of optic trials is significant and many take place over thousands of rounds, very likely more than 10 years, or quite frankly a lifetime of ammo for many hunting setups.

You may well come to the conclusion that attention to detail is not required for your type of shooting while hunting but it’s ignorant if you think that shooting 40 rounds/year inside of 100 yards produces the same knowledge as shooting thousand or tens of thousands rounds per year at 10x the distance.

 

[CampSmith]

So that scope has been on and mounted like that for 10 years?

Why is it so hard for some of you to believe scopes rings can be mounted reliably without loctite. You do realize guys were taking big game and shooting targets before loctite was invented right. Here's a teeth rattler that's been set up the same way without loctite on the rings just the base for over 10 years. Guess what still shoots great. A 12 gauge rifled slug gun shooting 400 grain slugs at 1900 ft per second. Ridiculous amount of recoil. Never came loose. Notice the Nikon scope that hasn't been in production for years now. Still doubting me. Notice the magnaporting near the muzzle. Done many years ago.