Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Extreme -Hard use factory rifle

Bolt stop pin failures: I’m actually not sure how much of a real, across the board issue this is/was. No issues of it have come up in the foreign military trials, I and buddies have shot 20-30 Tikkas heavily to the tune of an average of 15,000+ rounds per action with guys that run the bolt... vigorously to say the least. In all of that, one guy had two pins break on the same gun in around 5,000 rounds. A hardened pin corrected it and no problems in nearly three times the round count since have shown up. Because of those two pins EVERYONE immediately started to purposely try and break their pins in their guns. Guys running the bolt as hard as they possibly can. That lasted for a while and then everyone just gave up as no pins were breaking.


Durability evaluation: Durability in use was one of the most looked at aspects in the trials I know of with Tikka’s.


Evaluation ranking process: In context of this, there is a MRBS (mean rounds between stoppages) and MRBF (mean rounds between failures). Stoppages are malfunctions that can be solved on the spot. Failures are breakages or issues requiring an armorer/manufacturers intervention. A broken bolt stop pin would be a MRBF. In one trial from what I understand the MRBS was 2,500 rounds, and the MRBF was 10,000 rounds (might have been 7,500). Sako TRG, AI, and Tikka all passed those numbers. NO controlled round feed action, and no Remington 700 based action with R700 compatible triggers made those numbers.

Good stuff.

Just so folks can read this again...

I’ve never had that happen... but I degrease every bolt/firing pin assembly of every rifle I own. Never a problem, even at -30*F.

Are Zastava M70’s true mauser designs??

Though I do not own one, I would certainly be more than willing to try one of the MRC stainless / synthetic rifles.

I looked at a MRC Alaskan in 375 H&H yesterday. Appeared to be a very nice rifle. I think that the company has squared away its business. It appeared the present owner was going in the right direction. I would definitely give them a try.


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I’ve had a Ruger pin freeze up in the field on a shot at a deer. Pin wouldn’t drop....over lubed with Frog Lube. Degreased as Brad described and now it’s my usual practice.

The T3x Arctic does seem to be a very reliable and interesting rifle.

I had it happen once on an elk hunt. I was helping to lead some horses in a heavy, wet snowstorm, clearing many branches and through some willows. Got to the campsite after dark. I might have even left it in the tent overnight, I don’t recall. It was really cold the next morning and when I went to give it a quick op check before leaving camp before sunrise it didn’t work. A min over the stove freed it up. Certainly an element of operator neglect. Live and learn. All rifles are now completely degreased, perhaps some dry moly applied.

Form, happen to know if a T3x stock fits on the T3x Arctic?

Edit: different mag, probably not?

I could really like an iron sighted .308 from Tikka!

Me either but I to degrease the bolt, spring and raceway.

Formidilosus is my favorite poster on The Fire and sometimes I still do the exact opposite of what he recommends. Old habits die hard

Thank you, that's not what I would have expected. The old boat paddled Ruger is what I pictured. The T3 is a pleasant suprise. I had never heard of the arctic model.

Formi,

Thanks for answering my questions. I appreciate your willingness to share these details. MRBS and MRBF makes sense for firearms. I am familiar with MTBF (mean time between failures) for machines, where product life is counted in hours. Round count makes more sense for firearms.

Jason

I just observed a problem ( I think this would be a partial MRBF) on a Tikka T3 SL in .223 that my friend used on his farm this summer as a "truck" gun. I have its twin that I really like for a utility rifle so I am not a Tikka basher. We were shooting steel gongs at 200+ yards today when his rifle started dropping the empties in the action or very weakly ejecting it. Factory ammo. My rifle was working correctly and was there for a direct comparison of function. At first we thought the plunger ejector had crap in it. But the plunger pressure felt indistinguishable between the two rifles. The extractor on his bolt was not in contact with the side of the bolt face like it was on my bolt. It had enough grip on the case to bring it out of the chamber but no spring tension to work in concert with the ejector when the case cleared the loading port to pop it out. We tried to clean out the between extractor and bolt but couldn't do it "in the field". He figured he had about 100 rounds in it over the summer. He doesn't purposely abuse guns. He went to gunsmith school after he returned from viet nam long ago so he has the tools and ability to remove the extractor. He isn't "chitcanning" the rifle but he did say he wished it was the same type extractor as used on M-16 which are very easy to remove for cleaning (you do have to keep track of the little spring though).

I had a Model 70 get some water or slush get into the action while up elk hunting and become non-functional overnight in a truck cab. The bolt wouldn't stay cocked after I loaded it in he morning, on an empty chamber the striker would move forward de-cocking the rifle as you closed the bolt. It wasn't that cold out it was just some slush falling from snow covered trees that got into the action during the afternoon and then froze out sight in the action. I had wiped the moisture off the rifle the best I could in the evening and left it with the action open overnight. The trigger would move and the bolt itself was fully functional. Stuff happens, so I grabbed my spare rifle and went hunting. The rifle thawed and dried out during day no worse for wear. If I didn't have a spare rifle along I would have just gone back to the tent and fired up the wood stove and thawed it out.

You guys are aware that there are gun lube/protectants rated to temperatures as low as -85F aren't you? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1937252287 You can stop using bear grease

Bear grease works good in cold weather.

I knew bear fat, if the critter wasn't eating carrion, renders out pretty good lard for use as shortening but I had no idea it maintains lubricity at -85F! Learn something new everyday.

Since I've hunted all manner of rifles and shotguns in rain, sleet, snow and sub zero temps without trouble, I guess I don't need to worry about it too much. The only glitch I can recall in over 40 years was on a duck hunt in freezing rain. Froze the bolt shut on my Mossberg 500 that day and had to kneel down, rest the butt on the ground and really lean into it useing both hands on the forearm to break it loose.

I got a LAW Professional in 300 win mag for those purposes. CRF, cerakote, synthetic stock, bulletproof action. Topped it with a 3-10 SHV in nightforce ultralight rings. Should be a bomb proof set up for my uses.

The entire premise of this thread is fantasy land IMO.