Rifle Scopes Scope Base Keeps Loosening, Please Help

Ibelieve1776

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Minuteman
Jul 17, 2013
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Jupiter, FL
I have a savage 111 in 300 wm with a weaver 20 moa base which keeps coming loose. I have tried blue loctite which didn't work so a guy at the range said I should try fishing line down in the threads which would act as a nyloc nut but that didn't work. I liked the concept so I tried two pieces of fishing line per screw and again loose. I am contemplating two things either red loctite but Im afraid Ill never get the base off if I need to and having the receiver drilled out so I could use larger screws (which I think I saw on here somewhere) then Id go back to the blue loctite. Please help me if you've had a similar situation.
 
Try this,

Remove the base and screws and clean everything with Gun Scrubber and a stiff brush for the screws and, if you can find it, a little wire brush for the tapped holes. If nothing else, get a tap and using plenty of Gun Scrubber, run the tap through the holes. Blow everything out with some canned air. Now, use a little MEK or lacquer thinner (nail polish remover) treat the threads again and blow off the excess. Let it all dry for a bit. While it is drying, see if you can find new screws with Torx heads.
Someone else will have to give you the screw sizes, I don't know them.
With everything immaculate, install the base again with one small drop of blue Loctite on each screw. Torque to specification. Now put everything away for 48 hours. No cheating.
Go out and shoot again. If things work loose yet again, I would go to a gunsmith and have him enlarge the holes and tap them again using the proper drill size for a tight fit on the new screws. Go through the cleaning and Loctite deal again and you will probably be good to go.

Have a look at the base to action fit as well. For the screws to lock the base in place, the curve of the base needs to make full contact with the body of the action. The less base in contact with the action, the less clamp force you will have and the recoil of that WinMag with a heavy scope on top will be like hitting the base with a hammer each time the gun fires.

Another point. Make sure the screws are in full engagement with the action. You want that screw flush with the inside of the action, even if the gunsmith has to grind any protrusion off to get the bolt to go in.
 
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Use J.B. weld to bed the base to the action.Clean the top of the action and then kiwi shoe polish as the
release agent. Coat the screws with kiwi wax. Clean the base with nail polish remove. Mix a little
J.B. weld and coat the base. Just tighten the screws snug, not torque. Clean excess that squeeze
out with nail polish remover and let set for 24 hours. Remove the base and clean the wax off the
screws and holes REALLY well. A drop of blue locative on the clean screws and torque to specs.
it won't come loose. Look at Murphy Precision web site for more info.
 
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I've bedded it but I won't know until next weekend when i shoot it. I didn't realize until after I applied the jb that it was 4 minute set up. I had it completely done and ready to mount in under an hour.

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How many rounds were you shooting through it before the base loosens up? Just curious, mine were loosening somewhere between 30-40 rounds and I cant tighten the base screws up without removing the scope rings.

Its hard to say exactly but I noticed it with in 50 rounds the first two times. The third time I was taking it down for my barrel swap and the screws took no effort to loosen.
 
Bringing an old thread back to life.

I'm having a very similar issue and will look into actually bedding the mount to the rifle itself but was wondering... on my rifle (Rem 700, Cadex Field Chassis, 300WM) there's only two small allen screws to bed the picatinny mount to the rifle. This issue has exacerbated since I've been shooting with a suppressor. To me, this doesn't seem like a solid way for a lasting mount. Are there any other options out there besides just picatinny mounts?

I've seen mounts in the past that basically cut out the picatinny with a metal mount that attached directly to the scope rings. Can't seem to find those now and am also concerned with the objective bell of my scope (USO ER5-25) clearing my rifle.
 
I had a similar issue and fixed it by buying a seekins precision rail and bedding it to my action. It has a integrated recoil lug and is held in by 4 screws.

Otherwise Nightforce and DNZ Game Reaper make some direct mounts for the R700.