Anyone Loctite their action screws???

[farmer44mag]

I havn't had any issues with the screws in my low-recoil .223 but the rear screw on my .30-06 has been loose after every trip to the range. The front may have been a little loose as well but not enough to notice when re-tourqeing. I did spray some CLP on the threads before i re-installed them after doing the trigger mod. I did this because the bolts in my blued .223 appeared to be lightly oiled and these were dry so i figured they could used some preservative. I don't think it is possible that i over-tourqued them with the cheap chinese hand driver i am using. I use one hand and don't over-do it.

Would it be a bad idea to put some blue loctite on these screws? I don't plan on taking the stock off again unless something breaks or it gets submerged in water.

[darkker]

You can put blue loctite on just about anything..... Just don't let your wife find-out.... ;D

That said, I can't say I've ever had action screws come loose unless they are oily. Sometimes too much gunk on the threads prevents proper torque.

[farmer44mag]

CLP is very thin aerosol oil and the threads were brand new and clean so it shouldn't be affecting it other than perhaps being too slick and coming loose on account of that. Like i said- as big as these screws/bolts are and with the scruby driver i am using, i don't think i am over-tourquing and have any weakness from that.

[rooster57]

Clean the oil off and try some clear fingernail polish, that's what i use on my scope screws. it works and a heck of a lot cheaper than lock-tite.

[jhelmuth]

Typically one does not oil the threads of a screw. You should clean the threads so they make as much contact as possible and so you can apply the proper torque value to them. To protect a thread from corrosion, you would typically use a heavy grease. When clean and properly torqued, screws will not come loose without excessivve and continued vibration - and even then it is not likely if the engineer took the vibration into account. Given the very brief durration and locking, I don't see how a proper fastener and torque would allow an action screw to come loose by itself.

Having said that, there is nothing wrong with loctite (blue) on them. You still have to make sure they are clean for proper torque.

[farmer44mag]

well i had her to the range again since my first post and they didn't come loose this time so i guess i didn't have them tight enough the first couple trips. I didn't think they were that touchy. I had assumed most of the recoil force would be exerted on the recoil lug.

[hunter2]

Have had this to happen on a remington I was working on. There was a small piece of plastic under the recoil lug from the stock. Guy could not figure out what was wrong with it. Removed and torqued back down - ok. But like they said above - neither one will hurt it and you will still be able to take it apart WITH THE PROPER FITTING TOOL......GOOD LUCK.

[TruAr]

I've fired approximately 200 shots and then my front action screw did fall out of the gun. The rear one was also loose. After retightening no problems so far.

[sparky123321]

Blue Loctite and I always use a torque wrench on my action screws.

[fgw_in_fla]

After i'm satisfied with everything because by then i've had the action out of the stock 30 times. Last thing I do when it's finally called "DONE".... A tiny drop of blue and snug 'em up to where they want to be.

I only had one of my '06's give me trouble with action screw loosening. I also keep extra.... lots of extra action screws on hand in stainless. They seem to last longer from allen wrenches that don't fit exactly .

I also Loctite my scope base screws. The rings stay dry but I've has scope base screws come loose which, as you know, will drive you crazy trying to figure out why the rifle suddenly started shooting 8" groups.

Frank in Fla