Fett Tracking Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I would like to put fair warning to anybody installing a mesa sidesaddle on their M4 that the instructions are correct. If you over tighten the screws in the receiver, it will strip. I stripped one of the taps in the receiver by over tightening, and to make things worse I also snapped one of the heads off the original benelli screws while loosening the rail (it came locktighted in). I was feeling pretty cheapfaced last night. Be careful or be sad like me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GV00 Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I'd just like to add that "over tightening" is probably nowhere near as tight as you might think. To install one of these you _must_ heat the receiver to loosen up the factory loctite, _carefully_ unscrew the factory screws (and ONLY after the locktite is soft enough that it requires little force) then apply locktite of your own and VERY CAREFULLY tighten up the screws. I did the same thing -- overtightened one (it barely felt snug to me) and stripped out half of that hole's threads. To make matters worse, I didn't have any locktite and only had a limited time to do some shooting, so I went out and had some fun with just the screws holding the sidesaddle on. BIG MISTAKE. The recoil from about a dozen 2 3/4 shells and a dozen 3" magnums stripped out another screw and caused all the rest to back off. I didn't notice until the sidesaddle gave me a love tap on the jaw. I've since carefully replaced the screws and used locktite, and I _think_ it will work out okay. It doesn't budge or rattle at all, and the screws seem pretty firmly fixed. I've not had much chance to shoot since then, so I'm not sure... I may be looking at a costly tapping job to repair what my stupidity did. Don't make the same mistake that Fett and I did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesa Tactical Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Send us an e-mail and we will send you a few Heli-Coils. Just get a gunsmith or machinist to EZ-out the snapped screw and re-tap the stripped holes with M4 STI threads for the Heli-Coils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubicon20032003 Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 My factory screws came out easy on mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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