Gun smith to remove RMR screw

[stinx]

The short story: when I installed my RMR onto my Glock 19 with the MOS system I over torqued the screws and now there going to strip when I attempt to remove them. My screws have not stripped yet. I used to much loctite and went way over 5-10 inch pounds. Anybody know a smith that could fix this without hacking up my RMR? any help is appreciated.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

Blue or red locktite? Jack.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

mag dumps because loctite hates heat

 

[appraiser]

take a soldering iron, place the tip on the head of the screw and let it heat the screw up for a minute.

That will soften the locktite and MAY let you extract the screw.

 

[Asaltweapon]

What them guys said.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Get a Weaver torque screwdriver when you are ready to reassemble, and replace the screws if there is the slightest hint of deformation on the engagement surface for the driver or if the threads look funny.

 

[mac1911]

So you want a smith to not mess up something you knowingly messed up.
1. First ditch the pos tool that came with the sight and pick up a quality bit set.
2. As mentioned hold a soldering iron on the screw head until that screw is hot. You then should get it loose
3. Hope you did not pull the threads already now get a torque driver.

I will recommend loctite 222 in the future , along with 7649 primer for sluminum,stainless and anodized parts,

 

[stinx]

Blue or red locktite? Jack.

lets go with
I accept I messed up. I will pay a smith what's fair to un f up what I did

 

[stinx]

Blue or red locktite? Jack.

red of course lol

 

[bfm]

Besides the above advice of heat and a proper bit set, set the bit in the head with a good rap from a hammer. Set the slide flat on a solid and heavy surface and give it a good hit with a machinist hammer.

 

[Dench]

lets go with
I accept I messed up. I will pay a smith what's fair to un f up what I did

Even if you completely obliterate the thing you should be able to have the mount hole filled and retapped.

heat is probably your best bet. if you finish it off just admit defeat and have it drilled out, filled and tapped again.

I've seen worse. Like breaking a bolt holding a ~$2,000 front brake caliper on. How did it break? because I turned it the wrong way and the bolt snapped off. science! that was fun.

 

[CrackPot]

red of course lol

I am not sure why "of course". Red requires heat to break loose. Blue just requires force. The application is such that blue would have been the correct choice. The recommendations about a soldering iron are the best options since a heat gun will melt your red dot. BUT the soldering iron could also result in melting plastic. red for applications where you can apply necessary heat later to break loose. blue otherwise. 300F red usually, but say on your gas block (not the screws but the block itself to a barrel) 450F red. 450F red on the barrel to the upper. blue on the handguard screws, the gas block screws, etc.

The screws that came with the MOS kit and likely in the optic itself had blue on them already for a reason.

Good luck. There might be an expensive lesson in this.

I keep 242 (blue) 262 (red 300F) and 272 (red 450F) on hand. knowing which to use can save you certain posts on NES.

 

[teamRR]

Blue can require heat for small screws, especially if you do a good job of prepping the threads, which is why its often not reccomended. Pink/purple whatever it is 222 is the stuff.

Works great on my .308 ARs to hold the handguard fasteners, optics, etc, in place. If need be I would go blue but haven't seen a need since I moved to 222.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

So you want a smith to not mess up something you knowingly messed up.
1. First ditch the pos tool that came with the sight and pick up a quality bit set.

I think the RMR screws are hex, torx or spline. Make sure you match the type (it is possible to confuse hex/allen and spline) and do not use a SAE size on a metric screw or vice-vesa. The fit should be snug. Conventional slotted screws need tight fitting parallel blade bits like on the Chapman or Weaver (and Dillon I expect) kits.

 

[mac1911]

I am not sure why "of course". Red requires heat to break loose. Blue just requires force. The application is such that blue would have been the correct choice. The recommendations about a soldering iron are the best options since a heat gun will melt your red dot. BUT the soldering iron could also result in melting plastic. red for applications where you can apply necessary heat later to break loose. blue otherwise. 300F red usually, but say on your gas block (not the screws but the block itself to a barrel) 450F red. 450F red on the barrel to the upper. blue on the handguard screws, the gas block screws, etc.

The screws that came with the MOS kit and likely in the optic itself had blue on them already for a reason.

Good luck. There might be an expensive lesson in this.

I keep 242 (blue) 262 (red 300F) and 272 (red 450F) on hand. knowing which to use can save you certain posts on NES.

its the amount of force needed.
on small screws like on guns your torgue will be some where between 10-30 INCH pounds.
properly cured blue loctite will add much more breakaway force.
This is why the small screw 222 loctite is out there.

If you do not have a torque driver of some kind try this.

Pinch the 90' bend of the allen/torx/spline "tool" between the tip of your index finger and thumb with the longer shaft driving the bit. Tighten the screw until you just start to feel it bottom out and a 1/4 turn more. With loctite this should provide good holding power.
Its very easy to pull the threads on these small fastners.

As for applying heat, im sure if you pay attention the heat transfer will be minimal.

oh and another important thing. Securing items in a vice will make removing screws in anything much easier and the energy will be more directed to the fastner vs trying to hold the part in one hand and loosen tighten with the other.

 

[Asaltweapon]

Don’t ever use green Loctite.

 

[appraiser]

Don’t ever use green Loctite.

when guys in my shop got pissed at another tech, they put a drop of green 601 locktite in their tool box locks...

we went thru that stuff by the gallon, one day I had to extract TWENTY FOUR 1/2-13 x 3.6 SHCS's from an assembly... they were holding a bearing onto a big ass casting... that was how we mounted the wind turbines to the towers.... a temp we hired neglected to put the lock washers under the heads and the Quality Engineers would not give us relief via an exception.

Thinking about it now, 35 years plus later, nobody would bother with a lock washer these days, they are all but obsolete in manufacturing.

 

[Asaltweapon]

when guys in my shop got pissed at another tech, they put a drop of green 601 locktite in their tool box locks...

we went thru that stuff by the gallon, one day I had to extract TWENTY FOUR 1/2-13 x 3.6 SHCS's from an assembly... they were holding a bearing onto a big ass casting... that was how we mounted the wind turbines to the towers.... a temp we hired neglected to put the lock washers under the heads and the Quality Engineers would not give us relief via an exception.

Thinking about it now, 35 years plus later, nobody would bother with a lock washer these days, they are all but obsolete in manufacturing.

Worked at a company where green was used to secure a 1” shaft to a 1”x4” diameter steel disk prior to finish machining.

 

[DW357]

red of course lol

Doh!

 

[timbo]

Thinking about it now, 35 years plus later, nobody would bother with a lock washer these days, they are all but obsolete in manufacturing.

We actually use them quite often where I work (star lock washers) because we use a lot of screw/nut electrical connections. Star lock washer under and on top of every ring lug connection.