Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3 Bolt Won't Close - At a Loss - Ideas

I just bought a Tikka T3 270 second hand. I inspected and cleaned it and did function checks. Everything worked great. I took it to the range for the first time today. I fired factory ammo in it. First round, fed and fired perfectly with, what appeared to be, zero problems. No excess kick, nothing. I went to fire the next round and the bolt would not close. I removed the round and tried to close the bolt on an empty chamber and the bolt will not close. I inspected the bolt and the chamber and everything, visually, appears fine. I inspected the fired case and it shows zero signs of any defects. Has anybody here had something similar happen with a forehead-slapping easy fix? Any ideas?

Try cleaning the area of the bolt lugs maybe a bit crud got kicked up and is preventing the bolt from closing.

Clean as a whistle both before and after, as I did that both before and after Prwlr. That was my first assumption; but, it's not the case.

Very interesting. I'll be following to see what you find.

Good luck !!

Jerry

May not be relevant but many years ago I had exactly the same thing happen with a Remington 700 Mtn rifle in .270. Took it in to gunsmith and can't remember exact problem but something INSIDE of bolt was screwed up preventing handle from rotating down.....................FWIW

TheBigSky;
Good evening sir, I'm sorry to read about your rifle issues and hope other than that this finds you and yours well.

Whenever I'm diagnosing a hard to close bolt, the first thing I do is strip the bolt down and see if the bolt body works without the firing pin, firing pin spring, shroud and cocking piece there.

Sometimes if the shroud or cocking piece get out of place the bolt won't close on some bolt rifles.

As well when you've got it all apart it's a good time to check the inside of the bolt body to ensure nothing is blocking the firing pin from moving freely, etc.

If the bolt body works without the inner parts then you know where to look for binding parts anyway. If it doesn't, then it has to be something interfering with the lugs and/or raceways.

Hope that helped somewhat, good luck with your rifle and all the best to you all for the remainder of the summer.

Dwayne

I'm not familiar wit the T3, but on a Rem 700 it is possible for the front receiver bolt, or even a scope base screw, to intrude into the lug recess and interfere with closing the bolt.

Could the spring loaded ejector in the bolt head be stuck or partially obstructed in travel so it won't let the cartridge back against the bolt face?

Whoops! i just re-read your original post and saw the part where you say it won't close on an empty chamber. I missed that the first time.

I had a similar prob. Sure as hell one of the scope base screws protruded very slightly into the chamber.

Before you panic, remove the bases and check the bolt for function.

Bob

I'd disassemble the bolt assembly first and make sure everything is put back together correctly. Next, make sure when you run the bolt forward you push it all the way before pushing down on the bolt handle. When my .243 was new, I remember having to push the bolt handle forward a little harder before it would drop.

If you are still having problems you could call Tikka Shooters in Mt. I had a great conversation with them last year. They know their stuff.

https://www.tikkaperformance.com/

406-285-2371

Could also be on the back end of the bolt. Check the shroud for cracks or debris inside or even try the bolt function without the shroud in place

Thanks for all of the input all. I hadn't thought about the scope bases. Even though, having run my finger around the inside, I never found any protrusions, I will remove them tonight and see if that remedies the problem. I am using the Sako/Tikka steel rings. This is interesting to me because I felt that the rings were loose after the first shot mentioned above. I then tightened them and after that is when the problem occurred. Those tighten horizontally though; but, interesting timing. If that isn't the problem, I will strip the bolt and check everything. Thanks all for the input. I will report back if any of that works. If it doesn't, it's off to a smith to see. Either way, I will report findings.

Bases are very unlikely to be the problem since they were not on the previous shot...

As several pointed out there are lots of potential issues at the rear of the bolt. I have seen broken shrouds doing exactly this intermittently.

My first M70 Classic had a problem closing the bolt but not every time. The bolt had a burr where the case rim contacted the bolt and would dig into the rim. I smoothed the burr away and that fixed the problem. I had to use a magnifying glass to see the burr.

I'm Interested to here what you find

This.

You mean the lug area not the chamber. If this is so how did he manage to close the bolt the first time and fire it ?

Elk,

Correct. NOT the chamber.

I've worked on 4 different Tikkas now that had the wrong screws in the front base. It's a common problem when not paying close attention. Said screw protrudes just enough to sometimes keep the bolt from closing enough to fire. I've had two out of four actually fire with the condition, depending on ammo, screw and the bolt lug engagement.

Yeah that makes sense, I just have never had that happen, usually I can't close the bolt the first time with a screw in the way.

after looking at mine, it does appear that it the rear ring is too far back, the bolt handle will not go far enough forward to allow the bolt to rotate closed. See if bolt handle is hitting right rear portion of rear scope ring.

Some folks grab hammers right off the bat... Grin.

Is the bolt shroud the original plastic or aftermarket metal?





P

Saw it when we were monkeying with the Talleys.

Now this is the type of "forehead slapper" I am hoping for and will check when I get home tonight. Someone earlier in this thread made the mention of why was I able to then chamber and fire the first round. Remember, after I fired the first round I noticed that my rings/bases were both loose and tightened them appropriately after the first round was fired. Don't ask me why that wasn't done when I mounted it last week. I must have got called away in the midst of mounting the scope.


Original plastic.


16bore, these don't screw top down as they are the Sako/Tikka rings made to be attached to the rail via the side compression plate and screw.

So you are using the factory rings. Kills my theory...

I'm using the Sako/Tikka Optilocks found here:

http://www.berettausa.com/en-us/tikka-optilock-scope-mount-kit-1-low-black/s1320900/

I had the same problem with the bolt closing. Took it to a gunsmith and he backed off the action screw. Problem solved.

If the rings are the problem just order you a set of Talley tonight

A possibility, but if it needed loosened to clear, i would shorten and re-tighten.
Unless it was farmer-tight to begin with.

Sharpie will tell the story.

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.


I was hoping for a forehead slapper and I got one. Jeez, I don't usually get so lucky. It was just enough too far back that I couldn't even notice when I was looking it over. The loose base screws should have been my first clue when it did happen. That was the one and only thing that changed between round one and no further rounds. I must have been distracted by my anger the moron at the range who flipped the siren/flashing light switch after I fired one round. Thanks all for the suggestions. Man, the moron who mounted this scope has mounted literally thousands over the years, even several dozen Tikkas, and never done this. I know, because I'm that moron. Picture below. Thanks again all. Hopefully this will save someone aggravation in the future.

Good deal. Glad it was something easy.

Yes, a lesson learned for all of us. Good to see you figured it out and it was an easy fix.

Hey, I was in a hurry and could tell you wouldn't be shooting for a while...

In all seriousness, it's getting to be that time of year when the range officer is welcomed to keep dumbasses from doing that. Glad you got it figured out.

Glad you figured it out

Yep, as I've told you before Dale, about the first of September is time to start avoiding our range.

Glad it was a simple fix. Had a similar senior moment recently when mounting a scope. Snugged everything and the power ring wouldn't turn. Yep, it was on top of the rail just barely so that the Weaver style rings would clasp the rail but the power ring was not clear.

My thoughts also.

This.

What an ear thump moment for me reading this ...I've bought several new to me shooters this summer and I'm about to re arrange the scope setups on all the keeper scopes...thanks for heads up to Slow Down and Pay Attention.... especailly with the Warne rings & bases and the Talley's going on a T3 that is first in line.
Ron