Hello everyone. I have just encountered an issue while mounting some Talley bases on my bergara b14 (rem 700 clone). Basically i installed the bases (talley 2 piece, aluminum) a couple months ago and the rifle was shooting very well. I didn't loctite the base screws down because i knew i could have had to swap the base screws in case i had some issues,
so i just tightened them at 26 inch lbs (3 Nm), as Talley recommended me (they told me 25 inch lbs). Today i removed the bases to loctite them down and, while screwing off one of the 4 screws (the most forward one of the rear base), i noticed it was not clamping the threads (first time i screwed it on i didn't notice anything weird). When i removed the screw, there was some white grainy powder, like something coming from a chemical reaction, inside the threads and on the screw and the last part of the screw threads was stripped off, totally flattened. That's when i started doing dumb moves
I cleaned the threads, inspected them with my phone camera and a flashlight and they looked perfect. So i just tried to screw the base back in with another talley screw of the same kind (the rear one) just to see if it would have been stripped. After not much force, with my 200 euros torque wrench (recently rechecked for being accurate), I started screwing on the screw. After a few turns and not even too much force, it lost all its clamping force, I took it out, the last part of threads was stripped/flattened, again. The other screws in the other holes worked just fine and, after torqueing them at 26 inch lbs and then removing them, they look perfect. So the problem is happening only with that specific receiver hole and it happened with two different talley screws.
1) what the hell is going on with that single receiver hole? Visually its female threads look perfect
2) what was that white gritty stuff?
3) why the first time i installed the base i didn't have any issue? Everything must be related to that white stuff.
I attach a pic of rhe screw i removed from the base the first time I unisitalled it, with flattened threads and the white stuff on it. And pics of the receiver hole giving me issues from all 4 angles. Threads look fine to me.