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Posted: 1/5/2015 12:42:59 PM EDT
| Ok so i have the swfa ssalt mount. I went and took my scope to get professionally mounted on saturday at my local gander mountain. The specs for base to rail call for 40 in/lbs. Well i guess they dident have a torque wrench so they just tightened it using a normal wrench. When i got home im getting ready to out my rifle back in my safe and i noticed one of the base screws moved as i set it in. Pissed me off. Anyways i was looking for a torque wrench so i can just tighten them myself. Now for you guys out there that own one, you know there fairly expensive and need to be calibrated every so often. So my question is can i get away with just using a wrench or a rachet and adding blue loctite? If so how can i determine if its good enough? |
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You should get a torque wrench. But, in all honesty, if you will use the long end of a hex wrench into the screw and turn with the short end, you will end up just about right for most scope mount screws. Where guys get into trouble is too much leverage and either stretch the screw, or worse, strip out the threads.. Good mounts should use hardened screws that are not as likely to stretch or strip. I don't know much about your particular mount.
And, yes. All optics mounting screws should have blue Loctite applied. You only need to put it on the threads close to the end of the screw. It will work in as the screw is advanced through the threads. |
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Well, you learned a very important lesson. Gander Mtn (or any other big box outdoor/sporting goods store) and the term "professional installation" never, ever, go together. I'd be shocked if the scope was actually mounted level in the mount as well.
Personally, I'd swing by Amazon and pick up a Wheeler Engineering FAT Torque Driver for $50. As long as you stay in this hobby, you'll get more than your money's worth out of it. You could also just torque it with the "eyeball it" method, which can work, but I've found I usually under-torque things when doing that out of fear of stripping something. Blue loctite would be helpful, and getting the torque "close enough" should work without problems, just be aware that you run a higher risk of things loosening up again down the road. |
| well for me in my area i dont have much of a selection to get this mounted. They leveled the recticle and torqued down the ring halfs but of course the rings halfs dont have a even gap on each side. But they are torqued down good. My main concern was that the base was not torqued down to spec. I just used a half inch wrench and once they were snug i gave them 3/4th of a turn and then added loctit to the nuts. Its on there good. My scope is a 1-4x scope. I wont be able to take it out past 200 yds. So i guess my need for perfection isent really need. For my 308 build i will get everything i need to get this done the right way. Thanks for the info though fellas. |
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