A new guy asking for help choosing a budget scope setup.

[Bobtom]

NO RED LOCK TITE!!!!!!! Blue is all you need, just clean and degrease holes and screws with denatured alcohol or something similar. Lock time the base screws and torque them to spec. You don't need to lock time the ring cap screws, just torque them.

I have started to watch the Rex Sniper 101 videos that are posted in this thread. In the past, I have steered clear of anything that that seemed to carelessly throw around the term sniper. After watching a handful of that guy's videos, I believe it is fair to say he really does know his stuff.
In the "Part 7" video, he goes into barrel harmonics and rigidity a little. His comments on how a one piece scope base can improve rigidity on a rifle seems to match up with another video i watched:
I was choosing to use the red loctite where the scope base and rifle meet, and the blue on the scope base mounting screws. Why would this be bad? This is a serious question, as the only people I ever knew personally that had skill in this type of thing live around 1,000 miles from me and don't use computers that much. For this reason, 90% of what I am doing is from what I am reading and seeing on the internet.
If red loctite will cause me problems, please let me know.

 

[gohring3006]

I have started to watch the Rex Sniper 101 videos that are posted in this thread. In the past, I have steered clear of anything that that seemed to carelessly throw around the term sniper. After watching a handful of that guy's videos, I believe it is fair to say he really does know his stuff.
In the "Part 7" video, he goes into barrel harmonics and rigidity a little. His comments on how a one piece scope base can improve rigidity on a rifle seems to match up with another video i watched:
I was choosing to use the red loctite where the scope base and rifle meed, and the blue on the scope base mounting screws. Why would this be bad? This is a serious question, as the only people I ever knew personally that had skill in this type of thing live around 1,000 miles from me and don't use computers that much. For this reason, 90% of what I am doing is from what I am reading and seeing on the internet.
If red loctite will cause me problems, please let me know.

Red could give you some problems. I personally don't have any problems with the Blue ever coming loose.

I will say, that once I bed a base and install it permanently, I never take the base off the rifle. So I could probably use red even on the screws, but blue works just fine.

 

[Bobtom]

Red could give you some problems. I personally don't have any problems with the Blue ever coming loose.

I will say, that once I bed a base and install it permanently, I never take the base off the rifle. So I could probably use red even on the screws, but blue works just fine.

Thank you for your response gohring3006,
This is my first .308 bolt action that I've personally owned. Once I mount the scope, I don't intend on ever taking it off (as long as it keeps working). About the only other thing I may do is swap out the stock with an adjustable. I saw the Boyds At-One and became interested. But that will not be until after I see what I can do with the rifle.
http://atonegunstocks.com/

 

[Timeout]

I have started to watch the Rex Sniper 101 videos that are posted in this thread. In the past, I have steered clear of anything that that seemed to carelessly throw around the term sniper. After watching a handful of that guy's videos, I believe it is fair to say he really does know his stuff.
In the "Part 7" video, he goes into barrel harmonics and rigidity a little. His comments on how a one piece scope base can improve rigidity on a rifle seems to match up with another video i watched:
I was choosing to use the red loctite where the scope base and rifle meed, and the blue on the scope base mounting screws. Why would this be bad? This is a serious question, as the only people I ever knew personally that had skill in this type of thing live around 1,000 miles from me and don't use computers that much. For this reason, 90% of what I am doing is from what I am reading and seeing on the internet.
If red loctite will cause me problems, please let me know.

As muleystalker said previously, don't use red loctite on the base screws. That would require heat to ever remove them. Blue is what you want there. If you insist on a loctite between the base and action, use loctite 620. I have on occasion "bedded" the base with JB Weld. I really couldn't say if that is beneficial, net neutral, or detrimental. I do know if you ever remove the base that you will have a cleanup job. I prefer to lap the rings, some don't. Personally I feel if you don't, you are relying on those involved with machining the rings and base not to have a Monday morning blues screw up. Not only that, I never want to chance ring marks on my scope. When mounting the scope I clamp the rifle securely into a Tipton gun vise. I level the action or base, whichever the case may be. On my wall, I have a plumb bob hanging. I then align the vertical part of the reticle to the plumb bob string and install an anti cant device on the scope. I have a white board behind the plumb bob string with different colored horizontal hash marks. At this point I remove the bolt from the action and look down the rear of the action through the barrel. When I see which horizontal lines I'm centered on, I adjust the scope to match. If you do this properly, your first shot will be somewhere on target and you can make your final adjustments from there. I owned one bore sighter and used it once. It was so far off that my first shot would never have landed anywhere on the target. If you don't set up the white board for installation of your scope, be sure to remove your bolt and view the target through the rear. Align the scope to where the bore is centered and your first shot will be on target.

 

[gohring3006]

Thank you for your response gohring3006,
This is my first .308 bolt action that I've personally owned. Once I mount the scope, I don't intend on ever taking it off (as long as it keeps working). About the only other thing I may do is swap out the stock with an adjustable. I saw the Boyds At-One and became interested. But that will not be until after I see what I can do with the rifle.
http://atonegunstocks.com/

I want to be clear since you said this is your first time.
I permanently mount the scope base to the rifle with blue loct tite. Do not use RED locttite on scope rings. You may sell the scope or it might need service at some point. Red loct tite would not be ideal.

 

[CaptnC]

Using red on the base screws could be an issue if you ever decide to rebarrel. Like said...red is a permanent lock...you could easily break a screw or harm the threads in the receiver if you ever needed the base off. No reason to go to that extreme when the blue will get the job done and still be serviceable.

I know your thinking that you've bought a top of the line base, they don't wear out so why not? Like I said if you ever decide to have some work done to the receiver it will make life easier to use blue!

 

[MudRunner2005]

Hello Muleystalker,
My EGW base arrived yesterday. I'm just waiting on the loctite and I'll try mounting the scope. It did come with screws and a bit for a screwdriver.

I don't use any loctite on my bases! I just torque them to 20 inch-pounds and have never had one come loose. If you've ever had to drill-out base screws from a base that's stuck to an action, you will never use loctite.

 

[Bobtom]

Muleystalker
gohring3006
igordee
captnc
MudRunner2005,

I hear you guys loud and clear, I will definitely not be using red loctite on any of the screws. I am completely on board with that. What I am asking is should I be using it between the scope base and the reciever.
If you look at the video at 9 minutes on the dot, it shows what he is talking about. Is this application bad or wrong?

Trust me when I say I am listening to you are posting. I just want to ensure I don't skip a step that will help me. I don't mind measuring twice, or five times if it means I only have to cut once.

 

[Timeout]

Muleystalker
gohring3006
igordee
captnc
MudRunner2005,

I hear you guys loud and clear, I will definitely not be using red loctite on any of the screws. I am completely on board with that. What I am asking is should I be using it between the scope base and the reciever.
If you look at the video at 9 minutes on the dot, it shows what he is talking about. Is this application bad or wrong?

Trust me when I say I am listening to you are posting. I just want to ensure I don't skip a step that will help me. I don't mind measuring twice, or five times if it means I only have to cut once.

Nothing wrong with using a very thin coating there. Is it necessary? Probably not. Will it hurt anything? No. Will it help? Maybe. So knock yourself out, as they say. I use #620 loctite in that manner if I suspect movement could be possible.

 

[Bobtom]

Good Evening Igordee,

Thank you that was the clarification I was looking for.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I've never bedded any of my EGW rails, and haven't had any issues. But to each, his own. Everyone has their own method, and as long as it works and works properly, none is anymore right or wrong than another.

 

[muleystalker]

I have started to watch the Rex Sniper 101 videos that are posted in this thread. In the past, I have steered clear of anything that that seemed to carelessly throw around the term sniper. After watching a handful of that guy's videos, I believe it is fair to say he really does know his stuff.
In the "Part 7" video, he goes into barrel harmonics and rigidity a little. His comments on how a one piece scope base can improve rigidity on a rifle seems to match up with another video i watched:
I was choosing to use the red loctite where the scope base and rifle meet, and the blue on the scope base mounting screws. Why would this be bad? This is a serious question, as the only people I ever knew personally that had skill in this type of thing live around 1,000 miles from me and don't use computers that much. For this reason, 90% of what I am doing is from what I am reading and seeing on the internet.
If red loctite will cause me problems, please let me know.

Red locktite is pretty much for screws you that you do not wish to remove again, yes they can be removed with a heat/torch and such but they can be a real bear and lots of screws have had been drilled out because someone used red and then stripped out the heads trying to remove them. Blue lock time works just fine, I know gunsmiths that just clean and torque base screws with no locktite al all. If you clean screws and holes good ,oil free you wont have any problems with the blue. I don't even use locktite on the ring cap screws, just the base screws.

 

[Bobtom]

Hello all

I wanted to make an update to this post with my progress thus far. I have finally have all of the optics related items in and plan on setting up the rifle in the next few days. It will be a Savage 12FV in .308, mounted a SWFA 16x42 scope on a 20 MOA short action EGW base. The scope rings were included on the SWFA purchase. I'll be cleaning all of the metal with acetone before mounting the base. I'll be forgoing the red loctite, and only using the blue on the base screw holes. everything else will be tightened down according to spec.
While researching the proper optic, I started to research ammunition and properly breaking in the barrel. At this point, I believe all of my optic related questions for this post have been answered. In an effort to stay on subject for this post, I will create a new post asking questions about ammunition else where.

When I finally get to the range and put a few rounds on target, I will update the post. Thank you to everyone who helped me with this choice and gave advice along the way.