Sentinel mech mod issues

[tastyjuice]

Ive been having problems with my Sentinel lately. The lock ring gets stuck and I cant unscrew it. I had to take a pair of pliers to it today just to get it unscrewed. And even though I put a t-shirt over it I still scratched the crap out of it. And it just happened again about 5 minutes ago. Im not sure what to do. Ive cleaned my threads and dont crank the lock ring down or up. Has anyone else had this problem? At this point Ive scratched it up and Ive probably lost about $50 off the mod... Kind of ...... off

 

[Richard75]

I just looked at some pictures of it, and it's strange... it looks like the locking ring is aluminum, and the base cap is brass (or copper). Mixing metals like that should dramatically decrease the chance of seizing. How long have you had the mod? My only guess is that there's some dirt in there clogging up the threads. I might recommend a full cleaning, then some Noalox or Vaseline as a lubricant. Both of those can attract dirt like crazy (especially on the button), but I've never had something actually seize up on me, even on my all-aluminum mods. And frequent cleaning is a good thing on mechanicals anyway.

EDIT: If you think it is caused by seizing, a simple fix could be to take the button apart and lightly sand where the locking ring and base meet flat. Nothing crazy, just roughen up the surfaces a little bit. This reduces the amount of metal-on-metal contact (even at a microscopic level) and should help with the two freezing together. I've never tried this, but it should logically work.

 

[tastyjuice]

I just looked at some pictures of it, and it's strange... it looks like the locking ring is aluminum, and the base cap is brass (or copper). Mixing metals like that should dramatically decrease the chance of seizing. How long have you had the mod? My only guess is that there's some dirt in there clogging up the threads. I might recommend a full cleaning, then some Noalox or Vaseline as a lubricant. Both of those can attract dirt like crazy (especially on the button), but I've never had something actually seize up on me, even on my all-aluminum mods. And frequent cleaning is a good thing on mechanicals anyway.

EDIT: If you think it is caused by seizing, a simple fix could be to take the button apart and lightly sand where the locking ring and base meet flat. Nothing crazy, just roughen up the surfaces a little bit. This reduces the amount of metal-on-metal contact (even at a microscopic level) and should help with the two freezing together. I've never tried this, but it should logically work.

Thank you for the reply. I bought the mod second hand about a month ago and when I got it I cleaned everything very thoroughly. As far as a lubrication I was thinking Noalox but what do you think about Remington gun oil? Im not sure why it keeps seizing up on me but its really starting to get old. Im stripping it and cleaning everything right now.

 

[Richard75]

Thank you for the reply. I bought the mod second hand about a month ago and when I got it I cleaned everything very thoroughly. As far as a lubrication I was thinking Noalox but what do you think about Remington gun oil? Im not sure why it keeps seizing up on me but its really starting to get old. Im stripping it and cleaning everything right now.

I'm not sure about the gun oil... I'm sure it would work, but might cake up pretty badly after a while. Truthfully, I don't use Noalox anymore. Vaseline has served me very well. It's cheap, easy to apply and, best of all, easy to clean off! I don't use it on all of my mods (the stainless ones I don't think need it), but I love it on my aluminum ones.