Ruger 22/45 front sight + rail keep coming loose

[xrMike]

Front sight has never maintained tightness. It always comes loose after a range trip.

Also, I installed the rail that came with the pistol, tightened it down very good, then I put a recently-purchased Bushnell red dot on that. Went to the range, sighted her in (awesomely accurate btw), and get home to discover, now the rail came loose too!

The front sight is actually bent slightly in such a way that I can see why it keeps coming loose. The middle portion, where the screw goes through, is slightly "lower" and the front and rear so when the sight is screwed down tight there's actually a gap between the front/rear of the sight and the barrel. No wonder it won't tighten down. If it was bent the OTHER way (higher in the middle, where the screw goes through), now THAT would actually be an intelligent design, since then there would be tension between the sight and barrel when you tightened it down...

Thanks for listening to my rant. So what are you guys doing? Using a touch of blue loctite on the screws?

[shakyshoot]

Blue loctite will end that problem. The rear sight loosened up on my 22/45 at first. Drop of Loctite on each screw and I've gone 10,000 rounds without it happening again.

[2761377]

loctite will fix the problem but probably shouldn't be required on a .22.

as a baseline, screws and their corresponding threaded holes must be free of oil/grease.

[cusco19]

oh man.. glad i found this thread. i just got the 22/45 MKIII and hopefully mine won't have that issue. if it does.. at least i know how to fix it now. thanks~

[Mojave Desert]

Ditto on the Locktite.
Been there, done that.

[Cuyler]

Been there done that too. Just make sure to degrease the threads, screws and barrel, prior to applying the Loctite. Personally, I would recommend only using Blue Loctite.

[rogervzv]

I have used Blue Loctite to solve this problem on several of my Mark pistols as well as other firearms. It works beautifully.

Takes only a minute or two, and you will never have to re-tighten again. No big deal.

[xrMike]

The 22/45 is a freaking tack-driver. That's 40 rounds at 15 yards. The bulls eye is roughly the size of a grapefruit. Pulled a couple, d'oh!

[SB1964]

I have the same pistol, with the same rail. I replaced the stock front sight w/Dawson precision. Cleaned the hole out with a shot of brake cleaner & cleaned the screw. Canned air, blown dry. Drop of blue stuff, perfect. Then I ordered a wider DP sight & did it again, same result, plenty of rounds.

[-hanko]

The middle portion, where the screw goes through, is slightly "lower" and the front and rear so when the sight is screwed down tight there's actually a gap between the front/rear of the sight and the barrel. No wonder it won't tighten down. If it was bent the OTHER way (higher in the middle, where the screw goes through), now THAT would actually be an intelligent design, since then there would be tension between the sight and barrel when you tightened it down...

Thanks for listening to my rant. So what are you guys doing? Using a touch of blue loctite on the screws?

Buy a cheap package of brass shim stock...check hobby stores, especially those that do a lot of RC stuff. I would definitely level things out from front to back before anything else.

Remove existing screws and clean them and the holes with, preferably, Loctite primer or carb cleaner. Apply blue loctite and tighten uniformly.

Good luck.