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Posted: 7/28/2016 11:17:38 AM EDT
[#1]
I use blue on mine, also some use rockset on them.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 11:17:44 AM EDT
[#2]
I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 11:22:31 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose. I'm in this camp, especially if the block is covered by the HG |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 12:47:00 PM EDT
[#4]
Blue Locktite works fine. If you have to remove the barrel later it's easy.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 1:12:34 PM EDT
[#5]
I also have never used any thread lock on gas block set screws but was just wondering what the rest of the patriotic Americans were using.
Don't forget to vote in November. We have a fight on our hands this election. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 1:22:45 PM EDT
[#6]
I dont use any. I just crank them down.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 1:30:19 PM EDT
[#7]
I use red for ease of mind though it isnt really needed. People act like red is difficult to get off. But putting a bic to the screws makes them turn easy if it needs to be uninstalled.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 3:34:07 PM EDT
[#8]
Sorry for the hijack, but I am in the same boat as the OP.
I mounted my gas block today, but have no viable locktite on hand. I was going to go down and buy another tube of the Red, but read another thread on this forum saying that Rocksett is the way to go, so I ordered a bottle, but it will take several days to get here at the minimum. Basically, this is the last step before putting on my MI handguard, which comes with some glue for the mounting, so I don't want to put the handguard on until I know I am done with the gas block. It sounds like the general consensus is that most folks don't use anything, is that right? Hmmmm... That would make life a heck of a lot easier! |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 3:52:05 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Sorry for the hijack, but I am in the same boat as the OP. I mounted my gas block today, but have no viable locktite on hand. I was going to go down and buy another tube of the Red, but read another thread on this forum saying that Rocksett is the way to go, so I ordered a bottle, but it will take several days to get here at the minimum. Basically, this is the last step before putting on my MI handguard, which comes with some glue for the mounting, so I don't want to put the handguard on until I know I am done with the gas block. It sounds like the general consensus is that most folks don't use anything, is that right? Hmmmm... That would make life a heck of a lot easier! Just tighten it down and go shoot it, you will know soon enough if yours is one that does not need thread locker. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 3:52:38 PM EDT
[#10]
I use blue Loctite on every screw with the exception of the grip screw, which uses a lock washer. Seems like simple and cheap insurance. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:00:57 PM EDT
[#11]
I would recommend Permatex #24026. Same thing I use on my gas key screws.  |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:09:41 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I would recommend Permatex #24026. Same thing I use on my gas key screws. http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=85018 That would be the blue tube, not the white bottle. I would just use blue locktite if anything, Mine are dry on my rifle. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:12:04 PM EDT
[#13]
I've never used any type of thread locking compound on my gas block set screws, and never had a gas block come loose.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:13:55 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That would be the blue tube, not the white bottle. I would just use blue locktite if anything, Mine are dry on my rifle. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I would recommend Permatex #24026. Same thing I use on my gas key screws. http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=85018 That would be the blue tube, not the white bottle. I would just use blue locktite if anything, Mine are dry on my rifle. Yep, the blue tube. The white bottle is Permatex No3, which is used for a gasket when mating the key to the gas block. I grabbed the picture from my How to Fix a Loose Gas Key thread. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:16:17 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I use blue Loctite on every screw with the exception of the grip screw, which uses a lock washer. Seems like simple and cheap insurance. Just an FYI, blue aloctite fails at 300 degrees which is less then the temp an AR barrel can get during rapid fire. Red loctite is also on the edge (450). Its why suppressor manufactuers want you to use Rocksett (2,000 degrees) on their muzzle devices. So using red or blue loctite really doesnt do a whole lot on devices contacting the barrel. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:19:59 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just an FYI, blue aloctite fails at 300 degrees which is less then the temp an AR barrel can get during rapid fire. Red loctite is also on the edge (450). Its why suppressor manufactuers want you to use Rocksett (2,000 degrees) on their muzzle devices. So using red or blue loctite really doesnt do a whole lot on devices contacting the barrel. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I use blue Loctite on every screw with the exception of the grip screw, which uses a lock washer. Seems like simple and cheap insurance. Just an FYI, blue aloctite fails at 300 degrees which is less then the temp an AR barrel can get during rapid fire. Red loctite is also on the edge (450). Its why suppressor manufactuers want you to use Rocksett (2,000 degrees) on their muzzle devices. So using red or blue loctite really doesnt do a whole lot on devices contacting the barrel. This is a non-issue for accurate builds designed for slow fire. It can be an issue on suppressed setups with short gas systems that you want to shoot fast. Another method for retaining screws that is not heat dependent is staking - just like the carrier screws. Good gas block designs use set screws with teeth in them. They will cut the barrel a small amount on installation and do a good job of staying in place. Pinning the gas block is another surefire method of installation - though a little more difficult than just tightening the screws. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:20:13 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just an FYI, blue aloctite fails at 300 degrees which is less then the temp an AR barrel can get during rapid fire. Red loctite is also on the edge (450). Its why suppressor manufactuers want you to use Rocksett (2,000 degrees) on their muzzle devices. So using red or blue loctite really doesnt do a whole lot on devices contacting the barrel. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I use blue Loctite on every screw with the exception of the grip screw, which uses a lock washer. Seems like simple and cheap insurance. Just an FYI, blue aloctite fails at 300 degrees which is less then the temp an AR barrel can get during rapid fire. Red loctite is also on the edge (450). Its why suppressor manufactuers want you to use Rocksett (2,000 degrees) on their muzzle devices. So using red or blue loctite really doesnt do a whole lot on devices contacting the barrel. That's my thought as well. I've never used any kind of thread locker on GB screws and will probably keep it that way unless I see a need for it. I try to pin them when I can to not have to worry about it. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 4:44:47 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yep, the blue tube. The white bottle is Permatex No3, which is used for a gasket when mating the key to the gas block. I grabbed the picture from my How to Fix a Loose Gas Key thread. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_4/697684_How_to_fix_a_loose_gas_key___with_pictures.html Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I would recommend Permatex #24026. Same thing I use on my gas key screws. http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=85018 That would be the blue tube, not the white bottle. I would just use blue locktite if anything, Mine are dry on my rifle. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_4/697684_How_to_fix_a_loose_gas_key___with_pictures.html I said that because my first thought was "that crap never really dries!" Then I saw the tube. I get the smaller can of 3H, good stuff for pitted radiator hose connections and thermostat gaskets. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 5:16:30 PM EDT
[#19]
I have some JB Weld left over, but it is also only rated to 450.
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Posted: 7/28/2016 9:02:28 PM EDT
[#20]
If you're worred they'll come out, stake the setscrews. I don't trust thread lockers to retain screws that are exposed to high temperatures - "slow fire only" build or not.
I haven't bothered to stake my setscrews, and haven't seen a need to. There is zero stress on the gas block, and thus zero stress on the setscrews. And my gas blocks have required tapping onto the gas block journal to install them anyway. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 9:38:32 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose. At a high volume rifle match I used to shoot, I'd see about 3 a year shoot loose, including mine one year. My strong preference is for taper pins. Otherwise I'd use Rockset and staking and make sure the set screws were locking into a barrel dimple. |
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Posted: 7/28/2016 9:50:03 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: At a high volume rifle match I used to shoot, I'd see about 3 a year shoot loose, including mine one year. My strong preference is for taper pins. Otherwise I'd use Rockset and staking and make sure the set screws were locking into a barrel dimple. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose. At a high volume rifle match I used to shoot, I'd see about 3 a year shoot loose, including mine one year. My strong preference is for taper pins. Otherwise I'd use Rockset and staking and make sure the set screws were locking into a barrel dimple. |
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Posted: 7/29/2016 9:01:55 PM EDT
[#23]
If I were going to shoot in a competition with any gun I'd built using a setscrew gas block, I'd do one or two things to prepare for the competition.
First, I'd re-torque the setscrews. "How much torque do theses setscrews need?" Nobody specifies that for any gas block, but there's a pretty simple rule of thumb: when you start to bend the long leg of the Allen wrench, you've properly (and maximally) torqued the setscrew. So I'd stick my 4" long Allen wrench in the setscrew and push...if the long leg doesn't deflect right away (in BOTH of the setscrews), I'd go to step two. Step two would be to re-stake the setscrews. I stake little things like this with an automatic center punch. To stake these setscrews, you put the tip of the center punch in a thread groove just at the top of the setscrew and hit the punch downward. This will distort a thread enough to capture the setscrew. Steel gas blocks aren't as hard as the screws, so if needed you can unscrew the setscrew (with some effort!). |
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Posted: 7/30/2016 2:18:58 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Details on the gas block you shot loose, whether the set screws had teeth and what thread locker you were using? Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose. At a high volume rifle match I used to shoot, I'd see about 3 a year shoot loose, including mine one year. My strong preference is for taper pins. Otherwise I'd use Rockset and staking and make sure the set screws were locking into a barrel dimple. I didn't build the rifle, but it was an aluminum adjustable gas block, don't know the brand. The screws did not have teeth, and I did not apply any thread locker and don't know if the manufacturer did. This was the International Tactical Rifleman's Championship Gulley course, and as you exited the gulley portion there was a target rich environment around the shoot house where it wasn't uncommon to fire 150-200 rds or so in 5-10 minutes. Most of the blocks that shot loose were aluminum, and some competitors speculated it was due to the different expansion rates of the steel barrel and the aluminum block. Many folks had to finish that stage with a bolt action AR. After the initial experience, I used Colt FSBs that I cut down with a Dremel and taper pins, with no problems. It is steel on steel, so that might make some difference. This match got complaints that the high volume was burning up expensive precision AR barrels, so they changed the rules to allow a beater AR to be used on the gulley course. Good times, great shooters. |
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Posted: 7/30/2016 3:29:45 AM EDT
[#25]
I made the mistake of using green Loctite on a low profile build because it was all I had at the time and it was "High Temp".
When I decided to upgrade to an adjustable gas block I stripped the set screws out and has to drill them out to remove the block. Even heat an EZ-out and a heavy hammer wouldn't budge them. Lesson learned. |
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Posted: 7/30/2016 3:32:54 AM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I made the mistake of using green Loctite on a low profile build because it was all I had at the time and it was "High Temp". When I decided to upgrade to an adjustable gas block I stripped the set screws out and has to drill them out to remove the block. Even heat an EZ-out and a heavy hammer wouldn't budge them. Lesson learned. Could of been avoided by exposing the screws to a bic/propane torch for a few seconds. But live and learn right? 
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Posted: 7/30/2016 8:53:21 AM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I didn't build the rifle, but it was an aluminum adjustable gas block, don't know the brand. The screws did not have teeth, and I did not apply any thread locker and don't know if the manufacturer did. This was the International Tactical Rifleman's Championship Gulley course, and as you exited the gulley portion there was a target rich environment around the shoot house where it wasn't uncommon to fire 150-200 rds or so in 5-10 minutes. Most of the blocks that shot loose were aluminum, and some competitors speculated it was due to the different expansion rates of the steel barrel and the aluminum block. Many folks had to finish that stage with a bolt action AR. After the initial experience, I used Colt FSBs that I cut down with a Dremel and taper pins, with no problems. It is steel on steel, so that might make some difference. This match got complaints that the high volume was burning up expensive precision AR barrels, so they changed the rules to allow a beater AR to be used on the gulley course. Good times, great shooters. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I haven't use any, and have never had a gas block shoot loose. At a high volume rifle match I used to shoot, I'd see about 3 a year shoot loose, including mine one year. My strong preference is for taper pins. Otherwise I'd use Rockset and staking and make sure the set screws were locking into a barrel dimple. I didn't build the rifle, but it was an aluminum adjustable gas block, don't know the brand. The screws did not have teeth, and I did not apply any thread locker and don't know if the manufacturer did. This was the International Tactical Rifleman's Championship Gulley course, and as you exited the gulley portion there was a target rich environment around the shoot house where it wasn't uncommon to fire 150-200 rds or so in 5-10 minutes. Most of the blocks that shot loose were aluminum, and some competitors speculated it was due to the different expansion rates of the steel barrel and the aluminum block. Many folks had to finish that stage with a bolt action AR. After the initial experience, I used Colt FSBs that I cut down with a Dremel and taper pins, with no problems. It is steel on steel, so that might make some difference. This match got complaints that the high volume was burning up expensive precision AR barrels, so they changed the rules to allow a beater AR to be used on the gulley course. Good times, great shooters. "Some competitors" were right. Aluminum blocks aren't a great idea. Aluminum and steel expand differently with heat, so the grip (and seal) of the block on the barrel changes. Depending on the alloys involved, aluminum can have almost TWICE the expansion as steel for a given change in temperature. So the block gets bigger (in VERY small increments) than the barrel when they both get hot. This can loosen the setscrews too, since they're steel as well - the block opens up (in VERY small increments) around the setscrews, and they stop gripping. A steel block will have a very similar coefficient of expansion to that of the barrel, so while these effects may be present, they'll be so microscopic that they won't have any noticeable affect on the fit of the block. |
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Posted: 7/30/2016 7:50:36 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Could of been avoided by exposing the screws to a bic/propane torch for a few seconds. But live and learn right? Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I made the mistake of using green Loctite on a low profile build because it was all I had at the time and it was "High Temp". When I decided to upgrade to an adjustable gas block I stripped the set screws out and has to drill them out to remove the block. Even heat an EZ-out and a heavy hammer wouldn't budge them. Lesson learned. Could of been avoided by exposing the screws to a bic/propane torch for a few seconds. But live and learn right? Yeah...I stated that above.  and it was more than a few seconds, no joy.
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Posted: 7/31/2016 9:39:56 AM EDT
[#30]
Say you use your favorite blue locker on a steel gas block and shoot till it is hot enough to reach its release point. The residue that is left over after it has reached its release point offers no qualities where the locker won't inhibit the turning/loosing of the screw? I would think that it would retain the screw as the locker hasn't gone anywhere and is still gumming up the threads, no?
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Posted: 7/31/2016 12:44:03 PM EDT
[#31]
You are correct. The residue "gums up" the threads, which
I think is a benefit |
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Posted: 7/31/2016 2:16:44 PM EDT
[#32]
The best thread locker is NO threadlocker. It is just not necessary for gas block setscrews. If they are properly torqued they are not going to come loose in that installation.
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Posted: 7/31/2016 5:25:02 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The best thread locker is NO threadlocker. It is just not necessary for gas block setscrews. If they are properly torqued they are not going to come loose in that installation. I simply don't believe that. Years of wrenching on stuff, cars, bikes, farm equipment, guns, etc I now use thread locker on everything. I have seen virtually everything come loose at the worst moment. To the guys who say "just heat it with a bic for a few seconds" I say BS. I have had to remove several loctited items recently, one was a sissy bar on a Harley that had red loctite on the screws, I had to heat it up with a propane torch for quite a while, then I got a couple turns and had to reheat it, basically keep the torch on it the whole time and the screws still turned "sluggishly". The other was a free float tube I had loctited to a barrel nut, it was just blue, but on a large fastener about inch and a half it requires a lot of torque, same deal I had to keep a torch on it while I unscrewed it. No way you could just hit it with a lighter for a few seconds. |
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Posted: 8/1/2016 12:39:19 PM EDT
[#34]
Oh the real issue is that some think more is better than less and go overboard it. I've found even the tiniest of drops hold well and is less of an issue upon removal compared to entire threaded body being dunked in the shit.
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Posted: 8/1/2016 1:13:13 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Oh the real issue is that some think more is better than less and go overboard it. I've found even the tiniest of drops hold well and is less of an issue upon removal compared to entire threaded body being dunked in the shit. A little bit goes a long ways is what I was taught growing up. I don't use it for a whole lot though. A good lockwasher and getting it tight seems to work ok for me on trucks and tractors.. |
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Posted: 8/1/2016 1:39:49 PM EDT
[#36]
Red thread locker for gas block set screws, blue thread locker everywhere else
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Posted: 8/1/2016 4:09:02 PM EDT
[#37]
I typically use nothing, but have used some left over Rocksett on 2 builds. I haven't had any problems with gas blocks coming loose using either method.
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