Tim: I always loctite my base screws. And the screws on the scope rings. Have never had one break when removing them. But then again have only seen plastic ones once. Threw them away and replaced them with steel ones. Had a horse fall on one of my rifles once, breaking the bases off. I drilled a hole in the center of the screws, Then drove a torx bit into the hole, heated the area around the hole and turned the screw out. I then chased the threads with a tap just to be on the safe side.