VC-3 on these small fasteners is not a good way to go. The blue Loctite solid 248 stick is the right way to go with this.
I've been using VC3 for three years now without any issues across 3 guns and 80K+ rounds...
It works and a lot of people are recommending it for good reason.
Issues will crop up with VC3 if its not allowed to sit on the screw prior to installation in order for it to begin to solidify. There also may be issues if there is grease or oil on the screws or threaded holes prior to installation. Thoroughly degreasing the mounting surfaces is required along with proper torque spec.
I don’t know much about pistol mounted optics, so I’ll defer to @GJM.
I have never retorqued any of my precision rifle mounts. I do check tightness on the bolts to make sure nothing is loose.
I think the difference is that slide mounted optics take a beating, and the current designs are not sufficient to prevent plastic deformation of the metal.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
I’ve never had an issue with optics loosening if they’ve been torqued initially and witness mark intact.
I usually only witness mark the screws and not the optic. I usually just mark them with a silver sharpie at the 12 or 6 o’clock position.
Since blue loctite is kind of brittle, I don’t retorque in case that would that would break the theoretical initial bond.
^^^ I think I am starting to understand this. It makes much more sense now, six months later.
Ok so as a bit of an update on my progress with the dot life:
I've been shooting my G34+507c, dot, with no sights. I used it in my first evar GSSF Indoor match, scoring a 474 out of 500 (perfect would be 500. I can do better). The CoF is 5 strings of 10, at 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25, limited in time to like 15s max. I GSSF match 2 of 3 on 6/13. First match with the G34 in USPSA will either be a local indoor up in Sarasota, or the outdoor match in Ruskin FL on 6/20 (or maybe both I dunno yet.) So far my Dry Practice has suffered, as we've been occupied with life. I aim to get back to that this week.
Statically, I shot a 92-3X 10 round two hand unsupported at 25, a personal best and a 2021 goal of mine. Getting 10 on paper AND 90+ has been something I've been aiming for (heh ) since I started shooting in 2014, so I'm pretty happy with that. Specific to the RDS in competition, I'm still not sure yet whether I'll use the dot or the circle for the matches. Likely I'll try both and see how it goes this summer.
I set the 507c up in manual brightness mode, same as the 507k, which lacks the auto feature. I picked full bright minus 3 stops for EDC, and have both optics on that setting. It will be interesting to compare between the outdoor match and the indoor facility, as far as dot visibility goes, against the brown USPSA targets.
On carry: My G48 made it back from Primary Machine, milled for the 507k. I may or may not have made an error but I asked them to mill out the rear dovetail. So all I have for a BUIS rear is the "wings" molded into the optic body, and an OEM steel 0.156" front. The gun shoots to the top of those sights. Ok, I guess. My progress with the 48 has been hampered as I had to find out the +p 124 GD causes FTF malfunctions. So I switched to Federal 147 HST. No issues so far.
I go back and forth between the dot and the circle for carry. I calculated the size of a 32MOA circle at 7 yards (2.3", if I did the math right) so it is sobering to realize I can put the circle 'o death on the target and get a shot off with that margin of error. I am coming to realize a good solid first round hit if I can reliably find the circle probably outweighs shooting 1" squares at the static range at 10 yards. So I will likely continue to use the circle for carry.
I have a couple of the Gen 2 Shield S15 mags on order, which I will check with their steel mag catch. It's an experiment; I've always had it in the back of my mind to try these out when I bought the G43X back when, and I'm just getting around to it. Good timing for me, as they just dropped the Gen 2 mags and I was able to get a couple and a mag catch before they went back order.
Bottom line: I am loving the transition to dots this year. The Holosuns just work and work. I have new Duracell batteries in both; not that I expect any issues, I'm just going to continue to run them, and replace yearly (or earlier if I have issues with the 507k).
More to follow in a couple months after I get some matches in.
For those of you looking for a good way to degrease your screws and the screw holes in slides, plates, etc. I discovered that my daughter uses this and makeup remover cotton pads to clean her nail polish off. https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/wa...BoC0FcQAvD_BwE
She has not noticed it missing, yet, and it is much more convenient than trying to use a large can of acetone or 90% alcohol as a degreaser. Soaking the cotton pads and q-tips with the acetone gives just the right amount.
Silly question, but what kind of pen or paint do you all like to use for witness marking? I would prefer to use something that can be removed