I have an Aimpoint M3 on a Aimpoint QRP (with spacer) mounted on my M&P-15. First of all I thought it was very difficult and time consuming to make sure the M3 was mounted evenly on the QRP mount. When I say “evenly” I mean making sure the elevation adjustment screw is perfectly at 12 o’clock and the battery compartment/power nob is at 1 o’clock and the windage adjustment screw is at 3 o’clock. I got it mounted as “evenly” as you can get it by eye balling it. Is there any trick of making sure the M3 is mounted correctly other than eye balling it?
After mounting the M3 on the QRP mount as good as I could get it, I mounted it on my M&P-15 and took it to the range to zero it in. I got it co-witnessed with my iron sights (BTW my iron sights have blue loctite on them already, no worries there) and have it zeroed in. After coming home I was just thinking, should I have put blue loctite on the 4 screws on my QRP mount? I shot 120 rounds with the M3 on my M&P-15 and when I got home I checked to see if any of the 4 screws on my QRP mount were loose. They were all tight, non of them came loose at ALL. So I am debating on whether I should take the screws out, put blue loctite on them and go through the hassle of making sure the M3 is on the QRP mount “evenly” and losing my zero, or not worry about it since the screws didn’t come loose after 120 rounds and saving all the hassle of mounting the M3 on the QRP mount AGAIN (because I really don’t want to do that again!)
So what would you guys do? And please ANY help on how to mount the M3 correctly would be much appreciated! THANKS!
To mount my ML3 I used 2 string line bubble levels one on the rail of the rifle and the other one on the elevation turret on the aimpoint after unscrewing the cap. I also used blue loctite on all 4 screws and painted witness marks on the screws.
There is a tutorial that I followed give me a minute to find it and I will post you a link.
Take one screw out, use thread locker, then put the screw back in, repeat until finished. The other option would be to use a penetrating thread locking compound and leave it assembled.
Stickman, will taking one screw out at a time and applying blue loctite make it lose its zero? I was thinking of doing this method you suggested but thought it might not be a good idea because it would be applying unequal pressure on the screws. When I put on the screws I tightened a little on one screw then tighten the opposite screw a little and followed that technique until they were all tight. Just wondering. Your probably right, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt anything but I just want to make sure. Better safe than sorry.
You will be fine taking the screws out one at a time that’s how I did mine after I got it leveled. Just try to make sure your using equal pressure for each screw. For me I didn’t have a inch pound torque wrench I just did each one just wrist tight. Also I was paying attention to the the gap at the top of the ring to make sure it was equal. Used larue mount BTW.
