Stripped Allen screw on red dot mount. Help on how to get it out?

[Gindryden]

The one that slides in, is the one too use.
When you tighten the screw , it should pull up on the insert and that wedges it tight into the dovetail. Too lose, make a tin shim. Feeler gauge works, beer can?
If you don't know what you are doing , don't use locktight. On a couple of guns ,I have had to use a thin shim ( tin can) under the rear to tip the front down so the red dot was near center of adjustment . If you need the front up, there is usually a little set screw to raise the front of the plate, on the 1911 ones I did, havn't did a glock.
You will not know ,unless you have in pistol vice and lined up on target, than set you dot to the spot, bullseye.
After everything is correct, you could lock tight, I never do.
I was going to say , you can buy a reverse drill, easy out ,CT has them , sometimes works, but if it don't you are drilling ,but see you already drilled it.
Did you try the heat?

Yes it was the loose one that i went with. The instructions talked about how to hammer the dovetail in and to put one of the screws into the hole so you did not deform the screw hole so it seemed like they were referring to the tighter one that really did not want to even start into the dovetail. My next move is to call Burris and ask them.

I did try heat (electric heat gun and soldering iron on the screw itself) along with a couple different easy outs but it would not budge. When I was drilling my biggest fear was affecting the gun slide itself, but in the layers i figured the worse I could do is wreck the amazon mounting plate that was being sent back anyway (in the long run the amazon one probably would have been fine but you know what happens when you overthink stuff). Once I drilled enough that the head came off, and the sight was removed, the leftover stud came out quite easily so i think I may have got some locktight on the bottom of the screw head itself and that was what was sealed down.

I have the sight remounted and on the gun. Good advice on waiting before loctite, but I did blue loctite it down and waiting for the full cure. Will take it out to the range today and see if it holds or shakes loose again.

Thanks for your help!

 

[mbogo3]

Soldering iron or even a BIC lighter to heat the head of the screw.......I have done this several times buying guns that someone has lock-tited the screws in place.

 

[Gindryden]

Got the sight mounted, the loctote is cured so went out to the range and zeroed in. Started at 7 yards and moved to 15. Happy with the sight and the group (all shot from a rest). Free hand shots were not as accurate but overall happy with red dot sight set up.

15 yards was aiming for the crossed lines below the main group

View attachment 624954

20 yards was aiming for the pink coloured dot

View attachment 624955

 

[trevj]

Good to hear you got 'er done!

I did this stuff for a living for the last dozen or so years in the Forces, and gained a pretty good rep for being able to do miracles, with parts that were worth anywhere from a $100K up, if they could even be got. Helicopter parts (Bell 412's <spit>) and CF-18 parts.

It's not a game to be in, if you simply MUST succeed, you really need to be able to understand when you simply are not in the right mindset to do the fiddly work. The stuff I posted here is the stuff that I have found to have worked pretty reliably, and which I taught to anyone who was willing to pay the attention.

There are always a LOT of ways to reach a particular end goal, they are all valid, and they all offer different options for the path to take. It comes down, in the end, to understanding what as many of those options are, and understanding which option provides you with the best chance of a successful outcome!

Typically, I would attempt the options that I thought had the lowest impact on the original part, first, and ramp up my efforts from there. No point in going straight to the Nuclear option as the first step!

 

[RRH.01]

Apparently you are clueless as to what damage and how fast that damage can occur to a misplaced open flame by some one whose never done it before.
A hair dryer for a heat source is a much safer and more readily available than an open flame torch to soften up the loc tite

A hair dryer? For loctite?

“The application of heat is needed to remove a fastener that can't be removed with a hand tool. Temperatures of 325F and above is needed to break down a standard anaerobic, 500F for high temperature Anaerobics“

“Hair Dryers typically heat to between 80 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. With maximum heat, it can reach an extreme temperature like 140 degrees, which is enough to bake not only your hair but also the skin on your scalp. “

 

[Castrum]

Thanks for the detailed tips.

 

[marshall]

Good luck , glad you got er done, Hamming is sights is a good way to bugger things , if it gets too tight.
On most of the Burris sights they have a lock screw to keep things put.
I was faster with a red dot, but for bulls eye it is a toss up, but I have been shooting handguns for over 50 yrs, thou not like some of the action shooters.
This is the last one I did on a 1911, I have since sold the gun, still have the plate, site.
Good luck with the pistol.