Dr T
Member
I finally got around to mounting the scope on my new Marlin 336 BL. It went pretty much as expected, with one exception. I am mounting a Leopold 2.5x ultralight (6 oz). with a one piece Leopold Rifleman Base and Leopold QD rings.
When I looked at the little screw blanks that filled the scope base screw holes, two of them (the middle two) appeared to have a matte finish (like the receiver), the outer two were blued.
The blued screws came out just fine. Then, when I started to remove the forward most inner screw, half of the top of the screw sheared off essenitally level with the bottom of the screw slot (and, yes, I was using a gunsmithing screwdriver). I was able to remove the remaining screw with some difficulty (very carefully).
After thinking about this a bit, I decided to go ahead and mount the scope using three screws in the base, rather than 4. Several things led to this decision:
1. Many one piece bases are only mounted with three screws anyway.
2, I used the blue loctite on the three screws that I used.
3. The rifle is a 30-30 with moderate recoil (I am not sure I would do this with at 30-06).
4, The scope is very light, so there is not much mass to work the base loose.
If this doesn't work out, I can always de-mount the scope and use a screw extractor to remove the screw with the jimmied head (and I may be able to do this without removing the base if the Micrograbit Screw Extractor I have on order will work through the screw hole in the base. However, I get a bit nervous with an electric drill gets close to a rifle receiver.
Questions:
1. Why did the screw head fail? Did something about the matte finishing make it overly brittle (this is the second failure of this type that I have had in the last 20 years)?
2. Are three screws adequate for the base? (I think so, but am willing to be enlightened)
3. What is the size of the little blind screw (it looks like a 6, but I don't have a gauge)?
4. Is there another way of removing the screw or making the removal with the screw extractor a bit easier?
Thanks.
When I looked at the little screw blanks that filled the scope base screw holes, two of them (the middle two) appeared to have a matte finish (like the receiver), the outer two were blued.
The blued screws came out just fine. Then, when I started to remove the forward most inner screw, half of the top of the screw sheared off essenitally level with the bottom of the screw slot (and, yes, I was using a gunsmithing screwdriver). I was able to remove the remaining screw with some difficulty (very carefully).
After thinking about this a bit, I decided to go ahead and mount the scope using three screws in the base, rather than 4. Several things led to this decision:
1. Many one piece bases are only mounted with three screws anyway.
2, I used the blue loctite on the three screws that I used.
3. The rifle is a 30-30 with moderate recoil (I am not sure I would do this with at 30-06).
4, The scope is very light, so there is not much mass to work the base loose.
If this doesn't work out, I can always de-mount the scope and use a screw extractor to remove the screw with the jimmied head (and I may be able to do this without removing the base if the Micrograbit Screw Extractor I have on order will work through the screw hole in the base. However, I get a bit nervous with an electric drill gets close to a rifle receiver.
Questions:
1. Why did the screw head fail? Did something about the matte finishing make it overly brittle (this is the second failure of this type that I have had in the last 20 years)?
2. Are three screws adequate for the base? (I think so, but am willing to be enlightened)
3. What is the size of the little blind screw (it looks like a 6, but I don't have a gauge)?
4. Is there another way of removing the screw or making the removal with the screw extractor a bit easier?
Thanks.
