Loctite on optics???

[TomMcC]

Hey shooter's just wanted to check in and see if anyone else has had problems.

Does anyone use blue loctite on their optic mounts? I really want my shit to be more bomb proof. I just got back from zeroing and out of habit wanted to check all the mounts before I put the guns away. Sure enough one was loose.


If I do want to comb through my mounts does anyone know if pulling the scews one at a time and then adding loctite and retorqing will affect my zero? I guess I might find out the hard way.

Well, it looks like we can't answer your question from experience. You'll just have to loctite one screw at a time and recheck your zero. Let us know how it went.

[ViniVidivici]

Every screw on our guns gets blue loctite, period.

Turnburglar, depending on the mount and optic type, you can probably do one screw at a time, as you say, and not lose zero. Obviously you'd want to confirm next time out, but if it's off it'll be very.minor, methinks.

Screws on sights, optic mounts, light.mounts, screws in the rails and/or pic rail sections on them, grip screws, everything but the castle nut, mag catch button and barrel nut get blue loctite, (FHs and gas block screws get red), AND witness marks w/ sharpie....black marker on painted/non-black surfaces, silver on black.

[RHINOWSO]

Vibra-tite VC-3. No need to re apply if you have to change something.

Same on optic mounts, all it takes is a drop, let it get tacky, then install.

[bp7178]

Most torque spec's, as I have been taught, assume lubrication, which is why you lube your barrel nut before torquing.

The grease used in that application is meant to keep the parts from corroding. Dissimilar metals will corrode to form an oxide. This is galvanic corrosion.

If you've even drive out a steel wheel bearing hub from an aluminium spindle, you've likely dealt with this issue.

[vicious_cb]

The grease used in that application is meant to keep the parts from corroding. Dissimilar metals will corrode to form an oxide. This is galvanic corrosion.

If you've even drive out a steel wheel bearing hub from an aluminium spindle, you've likely dealt with this issue.

Bingo, I dont where HK got that info but it sounds wrong. The badger mount engineer I talked to said specifically NOT to use WET loctite specifically because lube on the threads was not taken into account. I generally used the tacky stuff like vibratite on anything rings or optic related to avoid that issue.

Every screw on our guns gets blue loctite, period.

Turnburglar, depending on the mount and optic type, you can probably do one screw at a time, as you say, and not lose zero. Obviously you'd want to confirm next time out, but if it's off it'll be very.minor, methinks.

Screws on sights, optic mounts, light.mounts, screws in the rails and/or pic rail sections on them, grip screws, everything but the castle nut, mag catch button and barrel nut get blue loctite, (FHs and gas block screws get red), AND witness marks w/ sharpie....black marker on painted/non-black surfaces, silver on black.

Blue loctite has bit me a few times, like old T-1/H-1s I had to de-mount got stripped because of several year old blue loctite basically welded the screw in place. Ive moved to vibratite for most things since it doesnt seem to cause the sticking of parts old blue does. I would atleast remove the screw, clean and reapply once a year or sooner since it seems blue likes to hold water and corrode threads since everytime I take a blue loctited screw out that shit is all brown underneath.

[joedirt199]

Yup, even torqued down I had 5 of my 8 scope mount screws come loose on a 5k run and gun. Lucky one ring still had 2 tight screw. Lost a screw out of my g code holster mount and the other 4 were loose with holster flopping around. They all get loctited mow.

[turnburglar]

Hey dudes thanks for the feedback.

I went ahead and pulled screws and applied the blue one by one on my main stick. Will see if it held zero and will report back to the tribe.

[TehLlama]

In the same way that duck tape and WD40 are intended...
Blue loctite and basically any lube gets the nod for firearm stuff.

[Warp]

There are a lot of different and good opinions in this thread. I will add that you might want to consider green Loctite (#290). It's intended to be put on screws that have already been tightened, without having to loosen them. It just seeps into the threads.

I like Loctite 290, and it works well in my experience. But I've never used it on optics screws, and I doubt I would use it in your situation. I just want to put it out there as another option to consider.

Joe Mamma

Wait what? Sounds like sorcery...I must buy some

[jsbhike]

Unless you are about to thread lock a bunch of stuff at one time the mini tubes of Vibratite may be a better option than the glass jar with brush version. I had lot of issues with it drying on the brush and sealing the lid shut.

Also pretty big on the Loctite brand blue(and red too) that come in stick form...looks like a giant tube of chap stick.