Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Are Tikka's free floated all the way to the receiver?

No idea if this is trivial or not,

If I try to slide a piece of paper down the barrel and between the stock, The paper suddenly stops 4 inches in front of the Action,

Yours too?

There is a “speed bump” about middle of forearm. Mine shoots so well I hate to fiddle with it.

That is not intentional. The only contact point around there should be the very front of the action, 1/4" to 1/2" ahead of the recoil lug. If it shoots fine I'd leave it alone. Otherwise pull the action and float the barrel.

They are all made with a pressure point, except for the CTR. Relieving it may or may not help with accuracy, especially on a non bedded factory rifle... I generally remove the pressure point and then properly glass bed the action.. Over time, if you do not glass bed the Tikka's, they will loosen up


and start shooting un tikka like... If you don't plan on shooting it more than 300 rounds in your lifetime, you should be alright... Some guys that only shoot a box of ammo/year should be fine...

My hunter does the same thing. Paper stops about four inches in front of the receiver.

bsa is that the newer lug or the old style? What caliber in your CTR?

Still waiting for my non bedded 1999 Tikka 695 7Mag to "loosen up".

I’m the oddball that likes Loctite.

This, there are intentional contact patches on the plastic Tikka Lite and Superlite stocks. The Hunter and CTR stocks don't have these. I removed the bumps/patches from my Superlite, load workup seemed to get fussier after that, I'd just leave them next time around.

Did you not read where my Hunter T3X has them?

I am a compulsive rifle fiddler, but don't do anything to my Tikkas other than trigger adjustment. That there might be a pressure point in the barrel channel is a revelation to me. My T-3x 308 Hunter shot great with the original wood stock, and shoots as well with the plastic stock I bought here. The only fitting I did was to make the plastic bottom "metal" fit the recess on the plastic stock.

I never thought about the recoil lug loosening up over time, either.

Its an inherent problem. It was even worse when they tried aluminum for the recoil lug. Hence the upgrade to steel. However, ive found the steel they use to be quite soft. I replace all of them with a stainless recoil lug. They are much stronger than what the factory uses. Just glass bedded one of my CTR's yesterday as a matter of fact.

Bsa, any words of wisdom on bedding technique for these?

I don't know about "words of wisdom", but I think I've heard formid even talk about the benefits of a good glass bedding job and freefloat on these Tikka's. He shoots far more than I do. My best suggestion is to glass bed everything tight, so there is no noticable movement of the barreled action in the stock. I check this by removing the action screws and see if the action rocks in the stock. Mine all moved side to side and the ones that show wear on the recoil lug even moved endo (forward to aft a slight bit). If yours is moving, chances are, it's affecting accuracy. The second CTR I bought had plenty of play when I checked it and this is how it shot before glass bedding:


The first 3 shots would cluster in nice and tight, but after that, it would start to open up. As you can see from the pic above^^^^

After glass bedding that CTR, groups shrank considerably:
. I call this one CTR #2 because it's the 2nd CTR I have bought. When I found it, the price was right, so I snagged it. It's a great shooting rifle now, after glass bedding. Here's one of the moa all day long targets I shot with this rifle:

Again, this was shot after glass bedding. This is what the glass bedding looks like when I'm done:

This one is not pretty, but it sure does shoot better now. My superlite was bedded and freeloated and shoots like this on a regular basis:


My sako A7 6.5 cm was the same way as my Tikka's, kind of sloppy barreled action to stock fit and shot like crap when I got it. Now it is one of my most consistent shooters:

Tag

Kenneth,

It depends on vintage.

Awhile back, T3 Finnish Tikklers didn't have the nubs. I had five of them, and the barrel didn't touch the stock until the barrel shank. However, mine were purchased 8+ years ago, maybe more. I don't own any of them anymore. Sold them all several years ago.

Later T3 Tikklers came with nubs. My buds bought some, and they did have nubs. I was surprised. We removed them to float the barrels. However, I am not saying that anyone should remove them without evaluating.

Jason

I believe that the T3x has carried over the nubbing design from the later T3. At least the latest one in our group has them.

Jason

Rifle is about 1 year old, T3x lefty 6.5

First range day was promising but I'm still hoping for better groups, Now all local ranges are closed so patiently waiting to shoot more.

Don't know if the speed bump needs to be removed or not.

Well, my T3x in 7 mm Rem Mag is a mediocre shooter. It shoots 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inch groups, typically with factory ammo. I can sometimes get down to 3/4 inch with handloads. I don't know that I have much to lose by removing the nubs.

My bud's T3 7mm Mag had the nubs, and we removed them about 6 years ago. An honest ~1.0 - 1.2 MOA shooter for 9-rounds (magazine loaded 3x), with 168 Berger handloads. Every year, sometimes a couple times per year, he fires a 9-shot group to check on his scope, shooting form, etc. I've seen it perform repeatedly over the past 6 years to know that it's a solid rifle and load, and not just a fluke. Or just a set-up that shoots a good 3-shot group now and then.

That said, I don't recall that it shot that well with factory ammo but I think we only tried Core-Lokts if I remember correctly.