338Dave,
As a gunsmith, one of my biggest annoyances are bases that have been lock tited in and the owners bring the rifle to me after then have turned the drive slots off the screw heads for me to remove.
Its a simple job but really not needed.
I never recommend putting thread locker on any base screw ever, even for the extreme kickers.
What I do is use those little fuzzy pipe cleaners and ise acetone to clean out the receiver holes making sure they are totally clean and free of dirt and oils. I then take a hair drier and heat them up to make sure all the acetone is evaporated. Sometimes this takes several cleanings to remove all traces of oil from the holes.
Use the white pipe cleaners so you can easily tell if the hole is clean or not.
Once they are clean, take the base and the base screws and totally clean them as well with acetone. The problem many have is they clean the receiver screw holes and do not clean the screws or base holes so you have the same problem as you would with a dirty receiver hole.
Again, after these are clean I heat them up to insure they are totally free of acetone.
With everything clean I install the base and gradually tighten the base screws down a little at a time.
It is important to remember the screw and receiver hole is totally clean and dry so do not horse these screw when they get close to tight or they can easily grip and break off. Tighten them gradually and in a controlled manor.
A clean receiver hole and screw will tighten extremely tight. I have yet to have one coem loose on me but everything needs to be perfectly clean.
If your screw holes are a loose fit, I would recommend having a smith open them up to the larger 8-40 screws.
As far as the rings, Weaver style bases are certainly very solid set ups. I personally use the Burris Signature rings and have never had any problem at all with these rings.
The grip of a properly installed Signature ring is extreme, far more then any conventional steel ring. They also are easy on the scope body.
They also offer the ability to adjust for receiver screw hole mis alighnments with their inserts as well as the ability to add moa to your set up just by using the off set inserts.
On heavy kickers, I like the double dove tail bases and rings, but for everything else, when using the Signature rings, the standard windage adjustable base works great and is more versitile then any weaver style or the double dove tail.
I am a firm believer in one piece bases as well. They are just s stronger set up and a one piece system is always stronger and more consistant then a two piece. For extreme range accuracy I also believe the one piece base will stiffen up the receiver compared to a two piece system. This never hurts consistancy.
Good Shooting!!
Kirby Allen(50)