Pretty important.
We all have differing hand strengths.
Some guys have a natural talent for determining proper torque by feel.
Others have developed the skill.
For some, a torque wrench is a necessity.

 

overtightening a loctite'd torx screw almost guarantees you strip it when you try to remove it when its maintenance time. Then you gotta drill off the screw head and thats no fun. Not on a $500+ optic.

not tightening it enough can result in a $500 hitting you in the forehead on recoil. Also not fun.

 

In for the knowledge. Does one look at the red dot or the gun manufacturer for torque specs? Or is it a general torque amount that people have just learned over the years by trial and error?

 

I’m sure the gunsmiths have the actual spec, but 9 to 12 INCH pounds is what I’ve always heard and used. Use a faint amount of blue loctite - squeeze a dab onto something plastic, lightly press the screw threads onto the dab of loctite. Lots of millings drill through to the extractor tube. Over do the loctite and it may drip in there so be careful. It’ll mess stuff up.

 

Trijicon states blue thread locker and 12 lbs inch of torque

 

I for one would not want to guess on the torq spec. An easy call to the manufacturer's customer service will lead you in the proper direction.
Just sayin'

 

Holosun shows screw torque for the 507k X2 as being 15 lbs in torque with the use of blue, medium thread locker, it’s in the owners manual.

 

Thank you kind sir, 15"/lbs it is.

 

Proper torque and correctly applying the loctite is very important.


Recently I needed to remove a mounting plate from my slide to have a smith do the machining to fit the frame to slide. After a lot of heat, and many broken bits the mill was called into service to machine out the screw. Needless to say the expected time to do the work was greatly underestimated. I know that’s not mounting the optic but just an example of a small screw improperly installed that cause much grief and issue.





Edit ......I was not the one installed the plate.

 

Proper torque and correctly applying the loctite is very important....just an example of a small screw improperly installed that cause much grief and issue.

Edit ......I was not the one installed the plate.

Yeah. Same thing happened to me. I sent my slide and optic in to Jagerwerks. Since the pandemic, their work and customer service has suffered greatly since they have more business than they know what to do with. Milling came back perfect as always but my brand new optic came back dented (another topic). When I tried to take the rmr off, the t10 torx wouldn’t budge. I don’t use the cheap torx tools that ship with optics, I have Wiha torx drivers, but it still stripped. Had to drill off the heads with Irwin carbide reverse drill bits (life saving inventions). After the heads were off, the rmr slides straight out and I used locking pliers turn the remaining screw threads out. What I found was gobs and gobs of caked on loctite on over torqued screws. Luckily I have the tools to fix it but it still cost me about an hour and a half to be careful I don’t scratch damage the rmr nor slide. Jagerwerks has since switched from torx to torx plus. I really like the torx plus, less likely to strip.

 

Torque it to optics manufacturers specs. I also mark on the body of the optic and screw with a paint pen. It’s a quick reference point if you’re screws are moving while on a range day.

 

Get yourself a good tourqe driver. I put my holosun 507C X2 on with 15"lbs. as stated in the holosun manual. I've ran probably 600rnds so far with out an issue of it coming loose

 

I found it interesting that the Holosun 507K came with a dab of blue thread locker on it from the factory. Sig had a red thread locker on the slide plate screws and my gunsmith had a heck of a time removing them without fearing stripping the threads. Holosun manual said install at 15 inch pounds. Better safe than sorry.