Build Thread Which loctite for 338 magnum guard screws?

[tkdguy]

Red or Blue? Any ideas or suggestions. My 338 shoots loose every season from a Winchester 70 Winlite; pillar bedded with McMillian-Winchester factory stock. This model is about 17 years old.

Thanks,

Read More

 

[slimmer13]

Blue should do it.

 

[Velzey]

How tight are you getting them?

And use blue!

I just had a Win 70 in that had red on the action screws. I took the simple route. Milled the heads off the screws.

 

[BWH]

blue.

 

[KKG]

I've been using Red Loctite on pretty much everything for more than 40+ years. If you need to get something apart, a bit of heat from a Pencil Type Soldering Iron will do the trick. So far, everything had remained tightly in its Proper Place for all those years and I have not been concerned that one of those Screws was going to work loose. Many people choose to use the Blues because it's "Good Enough" but then they sit around wondering/worrying if it really is and they are forever "Tweeking" those screws - just to be sure! And they will miss a shot of something else. Red!

 

[bsa1917hunter]

How tight are you getting them?

And use blue!

I just had a Win 70 in that had red on the action screws. I took the simple route. Milled the heads off the screws.

I agree with Velzey^^^^. I also have to wonder about the actual bedding. Some guys think since it's "pillar bedded", that's all that's needed. This is far from being the truth. Heck, even an aluminum bedding block isn't all that is needed. The action and stock should still be glass bedded, even if it's only skim bedded (as in the bedding block rifle). If the rifle is not sitting on those pillars squarely and is slipping back and forth (even ever so slightly) during recoil, this could be allowing those screws to lose their grip and start backing out. Blue loctite only adds a bandaid on top of a bigger problem. Sounds like a bedding issue to me IMHO.... Speaking of that, I am going to work on the bedding of a rifle that I bought yesterday. Not everything from the factory is perfect....

 

[Rem725]

Red or Blue? Any ideas or suggestions. My 338 shoots loose every season from a Winchester 70 Winlite; pillar bedded with McMillian-Winchester factory stock. This model is about 17 years old.

Thanks,

I have shot rifles for 60 years. Refinished, restocked, glass bedded, and not glassed, all sorts of stocks. Never loctited one of them. Just made sure the screws were clean and fit as they need to be. And I even hand torqued them. Never had a problem. Rifles were mostly 721, 722, old model 70s, a few Sako and Mausers too.

 

[belshawelk]

Blue

 

[K-22]

Red or Blue? Any ideas or suggestions. My 338 shoots loose every season from a Winchester 70 Winlite; pillar bedded with McMillian-Winchester factory stock. This model is about 17 years old.

Thanks,

Blue, and clean all threads very well prior to applying the locite.
Best,
Gary

 

[po18guy]

Blue should do it.

Exactly. Red can be a bear to get out without heat.

 

[TTSX]

Red isn't that big of a deal if you use the right size tool an still have arm strength. I would avoid it, generally, though if it's all I had, wouldn't bother me a bit. You really don't even need blue lots of the time. Can get away with yellow or even green if you want to apply it post installation

 

[clanhanson]

Permatex orange. Way better than that nasty runny blue stuff.

 

[Steel Head]

Take a look at vibratite

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I use blue and torque to spec

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

blue for sure

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Make sure the blue is fresh and not 10 year old stuff it will break your heart don't ask me how I know

 

[titsonritz]

Make sure the blue is fresh and not 10 year old stuff it will break your heart don't ask me how I know

I was wondering about this, any idea how long does it last?

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I was wondering about this, any idea how long does it last?

I had some stuff that was at least 10 years old and set up two rifles with it last year used the blue and torqued to spec . I made a few range trips and the 308 and 6.5 were shooting lights out ! Fast forward a few hundred rounds the groups were the size of a pie plate The scopes became suspect both were Meoptas . I removed the scopes and were going to swap with some Zeiss scopes I had in the safe . I figured while they were off I would check the scope bases and low and behold both were barely hand tight . I purchased some new blue and cleaned all the old crap off reapplied and torqued and voila back in business . The one trip I burned about two boxes of each caliber more like wasted even thought I lost my skills lol.