Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires American Predator vs. CZ455 vs. Tikka?

Actually my experience was excellent. They put a new screw in the mail asap free of charge and were very pleasant on the phone.

I am a full time gunsmith, so other then my custom builds, most of what comes to my shop are the broken guns and the ones that are not working up to snuff. So it makes sense I am going to see the problems far more than most. Like doctors, we don't see all the healthy ones!

I have had 4 different customers come to me with broken bolts from the Tikka center-fires. The bolt handle is dovetailed into the bolt body. All 4 had the same defect. The rear of the bolt broke off, right through the treads so there was no way to repair them.

Not the bolt handles. The bolt BODIES was broken!

Tikka was called and in every instance their answer is the same.

Too bad!

No repair available. No replacement of the bolt. No new gun. NOTHING!

And then they had the nerve to want to sell the owners a new gun at FULL RETAIL.

Having them send a new screw is no big deal. 6X48 screws are available from Brownells by the dozens. And my guess is that's what they have, so those kind of things are easy for them and cost them next to nothing. But broken bolts are a big deal. And they tell you on the phone it's nothing they will cover, and they have no warranty at all, and it's just your tough luck.

Now major problems may or may not cross over into the other guns they make. If a gun is perfect and nothing ever goes wrong such a policy is of no importance. But many other companies make guns too and have good customer service, and their guns don't seem to break, so from my viewpoint I have to ask why you would take a chance? This is a problem with business policies.

Ruger had NO written warranties either expressed of implied. That keeps them safer in the world full of crooked lawyers. But they have a POLICY within the company that they take care of you, and they do have excellent customer service, just no written policy about it. Tikka has no warranted and NO service when 4 of their BOLTS have broken. I see that as a policy problem and I warn everyone that comes into my shop or into any of the 4 Gun Shops I do gunsmithing for, that if you buy a Tikka and if it has any major problems I can't get it fixed for them free. It's going to cost them again. In the 4 cases above there was nothing we could do at all. Those guns had to be thrown into the dumpster.

All 4 customers DID BUY NEW GUNS! None of them bought another Tikka. Or ever will!

If you want to pay the money and take the chance it's ok with me. It costs me nothing, but my morals cause me to post these warnings to all who read them. There was nothing I could do for them, but there is something I can do for all of you, and that's to tell you what I have seen.

"I have a Tikka and it's been perfect" is what I hear all the time.

All 4 of these customers could have said the exact same thing, one day before their guns broke.

Wouldn't mind seeing pics of that.

Thank you for that info. I've been tempted several time to buy a Tikka but always found another brand I liked better.

I am cured of the temptation now for sure. Customer service and warranty are not important until you need them. I won't deal with companies like you describe.

I just find it interesting that out of all the Tikkas around the fire, that nobody's heard of this before. And one guy has seen it 4 times.


Remington bolt handles are another story.

I read about the Tikka bolt problem several years ago. Don’t think it was on this site, though.

I would like to see some pictures also, I cannot imagine how it could be done without using a large hammer.

drover

I found the thread:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=498856
The fellow who posted the picture said they wanted new rifle price to fix it, as well.

Pictures from same:

Something ain't stirring the kool-aid.....

Tikkas have a Two year warrantee. If it breaks on the 731st day after you bought it , you are phuucked.

Smoke another bowl.

Wow! That is some pitiful service.......Hb

I can't believe tikka wouldn't fix it that is crazy

Tikka and Sako are owned by Beretta, and Beretta USA has a horrible reputation for arrogance and ignoring the heathen, unwashed masses. Not so much around the world, just the Beretta USA gang.

Some years ago, Beretta released some "seconds" (cosmetic blemishes) (they had a proof stamp different from 'first run' guns). There was no announcement about this policy, ever. When a reader from American Handgunner magazine bought one and had troubles, Beretta would NOT service them, period. That told me a lot.but talking to a Beretta rep at the NRA Show in 2008 told me even more. Arrogant MFers.