10/22 scope mount fell off!

[springmom]

This is what you get for buying a 10/22 at a gun show, perhaps. A 10/22 I bought some months back came with a scope mount already on the rifle. I finally got around to getting a scope, put it on, and headed to the range today to sight it in.

The scope is great. The scope mount, however, was apparently GLUED ON after some yahoo botched the drill and tap for the screws. Three of the holes are stripped. One hole held a screw, so I tightened it down and hoped for the best. No joy...after one more magazine, I laid the rifle down on the bench and the entire thing...scope, rings, and mount, gently rolled off the rifle.

The guys over at Carter's say I'll need to have the holes drilled out for bigger screws, a little procedure that costs $29.50 PER HOLE. $120 is a whole lot for fixing this. My question to you all is: will Locktite keep those screws in there and secure the mount, or am I really stuck (pardon the pun) either shooting iron sights or laying out $120 for another drill and tap install?

Help!

Springmom

 

[rcmodel]

If there are not enough threads to hold screws, regular Locktight will not help at all.

If you can get any thread at all though, at least enough to properly position the mount, Locktight 380 "Black-Max" adhesive might keep it on a .22.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=6139&title=BLACK MAX ADHESIVE

Everything MUST be throughly cleaned & degreased with alcohol or other solvent for it to hold.


BTW: $29.50 a hole in an aluminum receiver, with the holes already drilled in the right place is pure BS!!

I'd check around for another gunsmith first before I did anything.

Might even be worth a call to Ruger customer service and see what it would cost to have them replace the reciever.
Even that probably won't cost 120 bucks!


rcmodel

 

[Hiaboo]

I'll second what RCmodel says.. In fact, a machine shop could be able to do it for you in 30 minutes for $15.. Or anybody that's reasonably skilled wit this type of thing can do it, no problem.

Ruger will probably make it right for you if you contacted them. They've been mighty good to me and others w/ this kind of thing.

 

[highorder]

In fact, a machine shop could be able to do it for you in 30 minutes for $15..

if you were in Cincinnati, I'd do it for free in 10 minutes.

the fix is easy here. you need screws a size larger than stock and a drill and tap to match. the new screws will likely need to be 8-32. you also need a #29 drill

 

[springmom]

UPDATE:

I have done all the fiddlin' with this I am likely to do on my own. I think a call to Ruger is next.

I can get the screws I have to screw into two of the four holes without the scope mount. Two just simply appear to lack enough threading to catch at all, which suggested that, with slightly longer screws, I might be able to make this work.

With longer screws, obtained for free from my local Gander Mountain gunsmith (the one at 45 and Cypresswood for you Houstonians...and I don't want to hear another bad word about GM for awhile after that freebie) I can indeed screw down the scope mount. But the @#$@#%$# %^% receiver is so THIN that I couldn't retract the bolt with them in there.

I might be able to file off the longer screws one thread width at a time until I get to the optimum length, the locktite them in. However, I think I'll contact Ruger and at least get their input, before I do this, as it'll be a fiddly job that I have every possibility of screwing up (pardon the pun).


Springmom