I recently bought a lightly used SIG X-ten with a Romeo 2 red dot on it. I wanted to remove the full shroud and replace it with the half shroud since I won’t be shooting it in inclement weather until hunting season. I dug through my tools and found a T6 torx bit, and tried removing the side screws. I gradually applied more torque while backing off again and again. No luck on either side. Then I applied more torque and my bit snapped. Admittedly, this was likely a cheap Chinese bit that came in a set. I shopped around locally and found one at Home Depot made by Husky, but not sure how good that will be since it didn’t say “hardened” on it anywhere.

The weather was starting to fade, so I took it out to make sure it was sighted in and the mags functioned. I was shooting supported, from a bench, at 20 yards. It almost kept all 30 rounds on a 12 x 16” target. Not good. Last week, I was keeping all my rounds on an 8” plate at the same distance free hand with my P210, so I don’t think I’m the problem. I’m guessing the previous owner did a poor job of mounting the optic, then couldn’t get the shroud off to remount it, then got frustrated and sold it because, “it’s not accurate.”

Is there a method I can use to remove these screws? The directions said to use loctite, which I’m sure he did. I’ve read about heating the screw with a soldering iron to 400-500 degrees to free the loctite, but I’m not excited about trying that on an optic. I also saw where you can tap on the bit driver gently with a hammer while trying to loosen it. Again, I’m a bit wary of doing this on an optic. Any thoughts?

Use heat, it doesn't take a whole lot to loosen methacrylate loctite. On most things I use a heat gun. Yeah, optics might be more sensitive to heat so the soldering iron is probably best.

Also, get a set of really good bits - I use Wiha. They are sized to fit the screw perfectly with minimal play which helps prevent stripping. Amazon or McMaster Carr has them, or Wiha's website.

Yes use some heat.

The other thing I highly recommend is never reuse screws. I went to Fastenal and purchased 100 screws for $11. (For the MOS RMR combo) Each time I remove a screw, I pitch it. I also only use the blue Loctite brand that comes in the chapstick looking tube.

Thanks for the advice guys. I’ll give the heat a try. I found the Wiha tools on Amazon and see that they are Minnesota based, so maybe I can even find them locally.

Good call on the new screws Jerry. I likely have several that are overdue for replacing. Cheap insurance to avoid a bigger problem later.

in addition to never reusing screws you might use locktite 222 rather than blue on screws like these that are not subject to much force and which you planning to change regularily.

Removing these little screws always terrified me! They I buggered one real bad and had to take it to the gunsmith.
Felt like a dummy.

I like vibratite over loctite.

I failed again today getting it off. I applied more heat than last time, but didn’t want to go overboard. The new bit is twisted, but I stopped before it broke. The screws still look good though. The new Wiha hardened bits will be here Friday and a new set of screws is inbound as well. I’ll try again Friday, but if it’s not looking good, I’ll just send it in to a guy I plan to buy a trigger kit from anyway.

Sounds like the original owner may have used red loctite. I've had to remove a few front Glock sights where someone previously used red loctite. It's a major pain in the ass, but at least you can heat them without damaging anything electrical or sensitive.

I had to take a handgun with an RMR on it that I could not remove to my gunsmith. He got the Allen key almost red hot then put it into the screw head holding the RMR on. Let it sit there a few seconds and then try to turn it loose.

That’s a great suggestion. I’ll give it a try tomorrow when my new bits get here.

Do you own a soldering iron. The classic way to get this solved is to put the tip on the top of the screw to heat it up. Works pretty effectively...

I got one of the screws out. Maybe the soldering iron I used last time broke down the loctite well enough because it didn’t seem that hard to get out. The other one refused to budge. I heated the bit a few times and gave it time for the heat to transfer, but no dice. I’ve learned that once the bit gets a bit of twist in it, it’s done for.

I apologize for this being, hands down, one of the most boring threads on this forum. . I’ve ordered a 10 pack of the Wiha T6 bits and will get that other screw out. Just need more heat it seems.