Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3 Bedding Upgrade

Hey guys, I've been working on two methods of improving Tikka's bedding system for 2 years now. You really only have 3 choices to improve the existing bedding/lug design.

1) Build a custom lug, and Tig weld it into the existing recoil lug slot.

2) Install a custom designed and built "coffin style" recoil lug between the barrel and the action, after the action has been faced off to remove the champfer. (This is the lug and machining I developed and have been using for my last 5 custom Tikka builds)

3) Pillar bed the factory stock, and "glass" bed the factory style recoil lug into the factory or aftermarket stock.

I did quite a bit of work this winter, with several factory stocks, perfecting the method of pillar and glass bedding the factory Tikka stock. As some of you well know, the factory lug design, and how it relates to the stock and action, can pose a problem for "proper" bedding.

We want perfect pillar contact, and perfect bedding contact all around the recoil lug, without accidentally filling up the lug lug slot in the action, or even having any bedding material get between the recoil lug slot in the action, and the top of the recoil lug. There isn't much contact to begin with, and any bedding material will take more away, and change the whole bedding elevation and create stress on the barreled action after it's cleaned up. I feel that the only way you can do a perfect job with having to install pillars, is to do it in 3 steps...waiting 24 hours between steps (for the bedding to fully cure) before I start the next step. If working with an aftermarket stock, with pillars already installed, it still takes two steps. I've been using Devcon 10110, and aluminum pillars that can be machined to the perfect length.

I enjoy doing this so much, I bought a mill to ensure the inletting, and bedding clean-up are perfect, and am going to do more of this in the future.

As you can see in the pics, the factory lug gets effectively, glued into the stock. The way the Tikka action is shaped, allows bedding material to completely surround , and encompass the recoil lug. Only the bearing surface of the lug is exposed, the remaining area supports the action with bedding material. I also leave a 1/2" pad of bedding under the barrel shank. This might not be necessary, but I like a little there for support, and I feel it ties everything together. The pictures aren't the greatest, but I think you'll get the idea.




The Pillars-




And the rifle that I also painted-

[img]http://i784.photobucket.com/al...eddingSynthetic-11_zps317ec3af.jpg[/img]

Hey, good work, Al. You definitely have done your homework with the upgrade. I'll be testing a "new to me" .308 next week. We'll see how things go before I contact you for a little "follow up".

Why not use a steel or titanium lug in lieu of the aluminum factory model? Just asking

I'm replacing all my lugs with steel. The one in the top picture is a steel upgrade. I just used the aluminum one in the other pics for fitting. Seems I put it together and take it apart 2 dozen times while I'm inletting, fitting the pillars to the stock, checking for barrel clearance, and centering the barrel in the channel.

You ready for me to send you a couple???? Looks good

Also paint job looks great!

Looks good Al

I've got a 4th option for you...dovetail the receiver slot.

I am going to glue the lug to my action before bedding when I finally get my McMillan.

Nice... Have you seen that titanium lug and pillars that Lumley Arms sells? I like what you are doing.

How much of an accuracy improvement have you found from your bedding upgrade?

Very interesting stuff.

None at 100, some at 200, and a lot at 300 and 400. The biggest gain has been in the consistency of the group sizes at distance. Not seeing changes in vertical and horizontal group dispersion from one range session to the next. Just good, consistent accuracy.

Here's one of my competition rifles that I did right after the above rifle. It is a rare Tikka Super Varmint in .223 Rem. Beretta stopped importing these in 2005.






Ready to go with my "custom built" rear bag rider made out of a piece of American Walnut that I have in the shop.

Looks like Al is cultivating a "niche market".
Not to hijack, were do I find the Tikka bolt stop removal video, U Tube?

You want "removal" or "bolt stop modification"?

Very nice yukonal. Thanks for posting this. I'll get me a Tikka one of these days and probably do the same mods...

How about some pictures of targets to prove your claims.

I'm not aware of a modification. I was asking about the technique, which I once knew of taking off the shroud and replacing it.

Joe,

You want "bolt shroud removal". I think there is also "bolt stop modification". When you go to youtube, search "tikkashooters" and Jason is the guy that has posted a lot of the "how to" videos there. Also check out:

www.tikkashooters.com

Thanks Al, I just came back from You Tube and remembered how it was done.
I'll check out the other link too.