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Purple v. Blue Loctite….Thoughts?


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I recently had a conversation with a very knowledgeable source who mentioned armorers he knows have been recommending purple 222/222MS over blue 243/242 loctite for handgun optic screws?

I may have completely missed the boat and not paid attention on this front but are you seasoned optics people using purple? I’ve recently had issues with screws walking out when blue is used. Curious if there is really that much of a difference. I didn’t see anything on the forum from a quick search. Thanks.

Edited by jrtMA
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2 hours ago, jrtMA said:

I’ve recently had issues with screws walking out when blue is used.

Brother, that's gonna be a torque issue, over a thread-locker issue, no doubt.  

Here's the deal with purple - it's all about the screw size.  Those handgun optics screws are so tiny, that Blue Loc_Tite will actually seize those things in place, and you'll strip the heads when you try to remove them to change a battery, or something like that.  Blue is just too much, based on the screw size.

Here's a cheater chart:

Gun Tite Vs Blue Loctite at Joseph Florence blog

I use Green, too, when it's serious. I don't use that 290 stuff in the picture above, I use 670.  My definition: Bearing retaining compound, serious shiit when I don't want a wheel bearing outer race to move.  If I need to change wheel bearings, I have to do it with a 20 ton press, or blow through a whole bottle of MAPP Gas to heat that shiit up and make it easier.  I'll use Green for motorcycle footpeg bolts, too - I don't ever want those fuqrs falling off...  

Purple has it's place, and those tiny ass screws are the perfect place.  

I'm a big fan of Vibra-Tite, as well.  For gun shiit, I think it's the better product.  For suppressor-host muzzle devices, there is only one...  Rocksett.

My $0.02...   

 

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Learned something new.  Never knew loctite was size rated.  Always just used blue.  But I also generally buy a gun, buy the optics I want for the gun and leave it that way.  Hopefully that won't bite me in the ass in the near future when I plan to remove a nice Leupold from one of two rifles (haven't decided which yet) to replace it with a recently acquire thermal.  Of course I could just buy another rifle for the thermal to go on ... more than one way to skin a cat.

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On 2/13/2026 at 3:26 AM, MtnMike said:

Hopefully that won't bite me in the ass in the near future when I plan to remove a nice Leupold from one of two rifles

Easy way to defeat Loc-Tite on tiny screws...  FIre up your soldering iron, and sit the pointed tip right into the screw head that you want to remove.  Be patient, wait for that screw to get hot hot, and you'll be able to remove it easily, right out.   :thumbup:

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