Like everyone else, for me its like Christmas Day every time I get a new rifle or a gadget to go along with it. In this case, I ordered one of Darrells mounts for my K-31. The rifle already shot great and had an amazing trigger, so I thought that I would get one of these mounts to see how much accuracy I could squeeze out of it. The day came, and I couldnt wait to get it on my rifle. I already had the NC Star 2-7x32 scope on order, and I wanted to get the mount set up so that I could mount the scope as soon as I got it. That way, I would be able to take it out the next Saturday morning and get it dialed in. Well, I installed the mount and followed the soda straw directions. I had the bore lined up on a target and the straw lined up on the same place. Everything looked great. Then I made the mistake of gluing the set screw with Loc-tite. My scope came within the next couple of days, and I set everything up to mount the scope. I put the rifle in my rest, boresighted it on the target, and looked through the scope. The crosshairs were off, but that was to be expected, and I started adjusting them to move them up and over to the target. Well, I maxed out the adjustments and wasnt even close. Windage was ok, but the elevation was way off. I was going to have to take the scope off and lower the rear set screw to get the scope up to the level I needed. I took the scope off, but when I stuck the allen wrench in the screw, it wouldnt budge.
It has been mentioned numerous places to use the blue Loc-tite. Well, come to find out there are a whole lot of Loc-tites. The Loc-tite I used had a blue label, so I assumed that it was the blue Loctite. Its not. The blue Loc-tite that is supposed to be used is the blue Threadlocker Loc-tite. I managed to get one of the side screws out, but the rest were in tight. I managed to strip out the remaining three side screws and two top screws, mainly because I was POed at myself and hoping that I could get them to budge. I posted for help on here, and Darrell graciously called me and talked me through the mechanical solution to the problem. Before I tried this though, I decided that I would try one more thing before going to the power tools and the possibility of screwing up the mount even more.
I used a punch to knock the pin out that holds the mount, and with some hard pulling, I managed to get the mount off of the rifle. The side set screws left some brass marks on the side of the sight base, but these polished off fairly easily. I then dropped the mount into a bucket of solvent that I use for cleaning the cosmoline off of my rifles. This solvent consists of a mixture of mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, denatured alcohol, and carb cleaner (acetone and toluene). Mainly I just collect any of the liquid solvent waste that I generate while working on my rifles, and after I collect enough or have used it long enough, I decant off the cleaner top part and dispose of the dirtier lower part that has all of the sediment and other crap in it. I left the mount in this solution for a couple of days, since I was working on other stuff and kind of forgot about it. When I pulled it out, I sprayed it off with carb cleaner and then tried to see if I could wedge the allen wrench in any of the screws enough to get them turning. Well, I managed to get the three remaining side screws out. Man I was happy. The top two still werent turning, so I dropped it back in the solution for another day or two. I repeated the above when I pulled it back out, and I finally managed to get the top two screws out.
So if anyone else has this happen to them, dont get frustrated. Drop the mount into some kind of solvent (I think the carb cleaner is what did the most work) and let it sit for a day or two. Youll save yourself the headaches and stress.
Matt
It has been mentioned numerous places to use the blue Loc-tite. Well, come to find out there are a whole lot of Loc-tites. The Loc-tite I used had a blue label, so I assumed that it was the blue Loctite. Its not. The blue Loc-tite that is supposed to be used is the blue Threadlocker Loc-tite. I managed to get one of the side screws out, but the rest were in tight. I managed to strip out the remaining three side screws and two top screws, mainly because I was POed at myself and hoping that I could get them to budge. I posted for help on here, and Darrell graciously called me and talked me through the mechanical solution to the problem. Before I tried this though, I decided that I would try one more thing before going to the power tools and the possibility of screwing up the mount even more.
I used a punch to knock the pin out that holds the mount, and with some hard pulling, I managed to get the mount off of the rifle. The side set screws left some brass marks on the side of the sight base, but these polished off fairly easily. I then dropped the mount into a bucket of solvent that I use for cleaning the cosmoline off of my rifles. This solvent consists of a mixture of mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, denatured alcohol, and carb cleaner (acetone and toluene). Mainly I just collect any of the liquid solvent waste that I generate while working on my rifles, and after I collect enough or have used it long enough, I decant off the cleaner top part and dispose of the dirtier lower part that has all of the sediment and other crap in it. I left the mount in this solution for a couple of days, since I was working on other stuff and kind of forgot about it. When I pulled it out, I sprayed it off with carb cleaner and then tried to see if I could wedge the allen wrench in any of the screws enough to get them turning. Well, I managed to get the three remaining side screws out. Man I was happy. The top two still werent turning, so I dropped it back in the solution for another day or two. I repeated the above when I pulled it back out, and I finally managed to get the top two screws out.
So if anyone else has this happen to them, dont get frustrated. Drop the mount into some kind of solvent (I think the carb cleaner is what did the most work) and let it sit for a day or two. Youll save yourself the headaches and stress.
Matt
I really appreciate it.
