Help!! After 13 years of shooting and hunting, it finally happened to me too. Scope misteriously sliding in the rings

[simone]

Hi everyone. I recently bought a new 308 rifle and i was in the process of finding the right factory ammo for it. I just shoot 80 bullets through it and it looks pretty promising: every factory ammo i put in it is around MOA and never more than 1.5 MOA, with a couple ammo (geco teilmantel, rws DK) shooting way under MOA (0.6 for geco, 0.8 for RWS). I still have a couple ammo to try out looking for a more aerodynamic bullet for relatively long range hunting: 165 gr SST and maybe a couple others like 165 gr accubonds and 180 gr bondstrike). That said, i came home and i found the scope a couple inches back. I checked with the torque wrench and they actually came loose because the torque wrench didn't snap until the scews had a little additional turn. That's why at the range i had to stretch my neck
I always torque everything to spec with a quality torque wrench and i torqued rings (high quality tier one aluminium rings) at 18 in/lbs (because the nightforce on top of them is recommended to be torqued like that). I didn't put loctite just because i will soon put an aftermarket stock on the rifle so, if the lenght of pull won't be exactly the same, i will have to move the scope a bit. Even without locktite rings torqued to specs shouldn't let the scope slide like this. I also checked the action screws and they loosen up, too, even if torqued to specs. I am starting thinking my torque wrench got out of spec (it's 4 years since i have it and I never had it checked but i didn't use it much at all).
I am ****ed off cause i wasted 200 euros worth of ammo but the accuracy was not bad even with this issue (i even got a 0.28 MOA 3 shot group at 100 meters with geco ammo) so maybe the accuracy will improve just fixing this. I noticed some vertical stringing in some groups, very thight orizzontally. Could this be related to the scope moving back from one shot to the other? I attached some groups with apparently 2 different groups inside of them without any change in zero from the turrets. If this could be a reason for this weird looking groups it would mean i would have to try all those ammo again! I don't remember the order of the shots, this could have been useful. Does these groups look suspiciously weird to you as far as distribution of impacts?
Also if my tlrque wrench will be in spec after i make it checked, why action screws and rings screws went loose after just 80 rounds (action screws after just 50 actually)?

Thanks!

 

[memtb]

While our (wife and myself) hunting rifles recoil a great deal more than a .308 Win……for many years now when I mount a scope, I use blue Loctite in the saddles to prevent the scope from moving! I also use the blue Loctite on the base and ring screws…..they don't back-out until you take them out!

It's worked fine with up to 60 ft/lbs. recoil! memtb

 

[simone]

While our (wife and myself) hunting rifles recoil a great deal more than a .308 Win……for many years now when I mount a scope, I use blue Loctite in the saddles to prevent the scope from moving! I also use the blue Loctite on the base and ring screws…..they don't back-out until you take them out!

It's worked fine with up to 60 ft/lbs. recoil! memtb

What about the groups i posted? Do you think the scope moving can be the cause of that vertical stringing and of groups looking weird?

And what about the action screws coming loose?

 

[3chester]

They're like lug nuts, always recheck the bolt torque down the road a bit, when Ya leave Tires Plus with new rubber.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

regardless of the presence of loc-tite or none, clean and degrease threads before inserting and torquing screws.
Female and Male sides alike.
and let them dry.

 

[simone]

regardless of the presence of loc-tite or none, clean and degrease threads before inserting and torquing screws.
Female and Male sides alike.

What product do you suggest? Like zippo gasoline?

 

[memtb]

What about the groups i posted? Do you think the scope moving can be the cause of that vertical stringing and of groups looking weird?

And what about the action screws coming loose?

I don't feel comfortable about attempting to answer your vertical group shift…..but, action screws also get Loctite! I just don't want anything moving that's not supposed to move! memtb

 

[simone]

They're like lug nuts, always recheck down the road a bit, when Ya leave Tires Plus with new rubber.

I do it with all my rifles but after just 50 shots it looks a bit too early

 

[simone]

I don't feel comfortable about attempting to answer your vertical group shift…..but, action screws also get Loctite! I just don't want anything moving that's not supposed to move! memtb

Thanks for the answer! But I am used to recheck torque on action screws at least one a year, with loctite it could be an issue, how do you deal with this?

 

[memtb]

What product do you suggest? Like zippo gasoline?

I've always used typical rubbing alcohol, a Q tip to clean the female threads and an alcohol wetted paper towel for the screws. I simply squeeze the screw between the towel and turn it with a screw driver! memtb

 

[Rick Richard]

What about the groups i posted? Do you think the scope moving can be the cause of that vertical stringing and of groups looking weird?

And what about the action screws coming loose?

Hard to say since you had a loose scope. Rectify the situation and retry. It is suspect for sure.

 

[memtb]

Thanks for the answer! But I am used to recheck torque on action screws at least one a year, with loctite it could be an issue, how do you deal with this?

Once Loctite'd and torqued…..they're never touched again, unless I must remove the action from the stock. At that point….simply start the process over! memtb

 

[Rick Richard]

You could also bed the scope in the rings.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

What product do you suggest? Like zippo gasoline?
[/QUOTE
Alcohol or brake cleaner type stuff. Something that leaves it bare metal. No film
No grease, nothing