Loc-Tite

B

Bill Daniel

New member
Pardon the newbie question but the screw inserts for the grips on one of my 1911's have unscrewed from the frame.
What is Loc-Tite? Is there a special type for guns? Where can it be purchased?

Thanks,
Bill Daniel

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Prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the law and their weapons will become harmless.
 
Loc-Tite is a chemical adhesive that expands to prevent screws from unscrewing. Some grades are used to hold cylinder liners in place, we don't want to use those grades on your pistol. You want those grades that will allow the grip screw bushings to be removed in the future if need be. If I remember correctly you should be looking at Loc-Tite Red. It should be found at automotive supply stores.

or http://www.brownells.com

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Ahem. I believe you may be mistaken. Red # 271 is pretty heavy duty. You may want to try 242 blue which is medium duty and works well in this application.
HTH, Just my $.02, YMMV
 
I agree with STRIDER: Loctite Blue (#242) is the better way to go for grip screw bushings. Like a whole lot of other cool gun things, you can get it from Brownells. They have a web site: www.brownells.com Be forwarned that if you are even in the slightest bit inclinded towards gun tinkering, once you start looking at Brownells you'll suddenly realize just how many gizmos you REALLY need! Have fun and stay safe.
 
I compute corrected, I suggested L/T Red and was thinking that that was not correct.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
The part you are referring to is the grip screw bushing. You may need a special scredriver to tighten it unless you are careful. The blue loc-tite does not require heat for disassembly like the red does. There is also a product called gun-tite available at gun shops or Brownell's.
 
You can also get Loc-tite blue at any auto-parts store. Save yourself some shipping and time. BTW, the package is NOT blue (I stared at the display FOREVER trying to find it), so be sure to look at the numbers. If you want blue loc-tite, and you do IMHO, you want Loc-tite 242.

Scott
 
You may want to consider Loctite #222 (purple). It is low strength and parts are easier to disassemble than with 242 or 271.
 
Fellows:
Thanks again for knowledgeable and timely advice! I will swing by AutoZone this P.M.

Many thanks,
Bill Daniel

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Prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the law and their weapons will become harmless.
 
I agree with others here that the preferred LocTite for the stated application would be LocTite 242, or blue (also sold as Uncle Mike's GunTite).

However, I will just add to the other fine information that if you cannot disassemble the parts easily, you can use green LocTite (I forget the number offhand). The green LocTite is quite thin, and is specially made to penetrate threads on assembled parts.

As for Brownell's, well, that website is a damned hazard. I can't seem to go there without filling up my shopping cart. ;)
 
LIProgun,
I talked to a Loctite rep about a year ago about the green loctite. He suggested using #222 (purple) for small parts. He said it would penetrate assembled parts similar to the green. He also stated that the green, once set is as strong as #271 (red).
 
"Loctite" and variants are a very special form of 'acryllic' adhesive: they are 'anaerobic' - they set when deprived of air... also, iron in any form works as a 'catalyst' and accelerates the 'setting' time. You get trouble trying to glue up aluminium or bronze parts. The "Loctite" people (trademarked by the way) used to have a spray can - in these parts (Argentina) called 'Locquic' that improves the operation a lot - cleans up the threads or whatever and provides some of the catalyst that hurries things a little. All this i recall from my racing car engine days...long ago and far away, but hope its helpful.
You'll find that any kind of 'acryllic' adhesive is fragile under repeated shock - watch your frontisight of course, but if glued on you may see it spinning away somewhere mid-range. Anyway, an excellent product (and i'm not getting a cent for saying this) but use it within its limitations... a good mechanical fit is always superior and the 'chemistry box' should be kept for fixes.
The spectrum of colors - blue green red and so on - are intended to specify the kind of 'strength' as well as 'fragility'of the joint - made I believe by addititves to the stuff that regulate the extent of polymerization - thats - 'glueing'.
If you use a 'high torque' grade on your mother in law i'd recommend one grade up for your missus (or mistah, as the case may be)- the consequences could be worse than a drifting frontsight or a non-removamble set of scope rings. Possible 'dissaembly' may become mandatory.
Due tribute given at this point to Brownells... truly a shrine for gun tinkerers
Here endeth the First Lesson - Let us spray...

Hasta pronto amigos - Peter Knight from Cordoba - Argentina
 
Another thread locker, and one that I prefere over the Loc-Tite products for fine work, is 2 lb. white shellac. You can thin this with a bit of methanol to get it to penetrate the closest fitting parts. When you need to dissasemble, a drop of methanol on the interface and she comes right out. Now, if I needed to lock up something that was goint to be under shock loading, I would use the other products, they are simply stronger, and with a range of grades that will fill most any application. I don't think grip bushings are under a lot of stress, and I like the thin, colorless results you get with shellac. I have used this successfully on everything from guns to optics to watches... just a thought.
 
Loctite 640 is also green. Don't use it, unless you're prepared to put a torch to the parts you intend to disassemble. I use 640 for attaching compensators to rifle barrels.
 
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