Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting I think my Tikka may be crooked

I wouldn't dremel a straight receiver to fix a crooked barrel.

PS. The EGW "HD" rails are about the lowest base on the market.

I'd send it to Beretta. A year from now you'll forget all about the 4-week wait. You'll have a straight rifle with the rings and scope you wanted, not some rinky-dink solution.

Just pray its not a 4-month wait!

Jason

Not sure what to think. When I bought my T3 lite SS, I tried to space my Warne rings 3.6" center to center with good clearance front and back. That way, 0.001" of offset would correspond roughly to 1" at 100 yds. This seemed to work pretty well. Also (in fact the first thing I did) was to carefully clean the grooves on both sides of the receiver with solvent and q-tips. Any gunk left in there as a preservative, or machine debris could throw your windage alignment out of synch.

End result is that I ended up with 6 1/2 minutes of left windage as my no-wind zero. I can live with that, as my main use of this Tikka is hunting, and with the CDS system, I am dialed dead nuts to 715 yds. That is further than I would shoot at an unwounded critter, and I still have 9 clicks of elevation to play with. At that range, even if you have full windage adjustment, you don't have much room for error if you misjudge wind direction or speed. You sound like someone who has done a lot of target shooting, so you no doubt have learned to watch mirage. Watching mirage has made me realize that at long range, wind can change from the time you decide to make your adjustments to the time you squeeze the last few ounces out of your trigger - basically cancelling your best wind doping within a couple of seconds.

I shoot some f-class, and have just dabbled in varmint benchrest silhouette, and I am learning to hold off somewhat to make hits, not ideal, and it has made me very wary about long shots on game when it's windy. I am pretty sure my wind-reading ability is not up to long shots on game with no flags or other clues, even if I wanted to dial it up, which I do not.

Like a lot of mass-produced firearms, Tikkas just don't have the care of setup and workmanship and polishing that more expensive rifles will have. They are meant for hunting in the hands of everyday shooters, though with CNC machining and Sako cold hammer-forged barrels, and some other innovations, they do pretty well.

The rifle overall may be fine, and the misalignment of the grooves could be corrected in a number of ways, most of them already mentioned. I don't know that there is any other fix, certainly not an easy one, as it seems to me squaring everything up would require removing the barrel, milling the back of the barrel and front of the receiver, then running in another reamer to clean up the chamber that would be set back a few thousandths. A new rifle would be easier. Or just adjust for the misalignment.

If you do much target shooting, you will probably be changing the barrel in a few years anyway, maybe sooner.

It is no fun to have a new rifle with an annoying defect and no good options to correct it.

forepaw

I would try shims between the rings and base, you can buy a package from Brownell's or make it yourself with a pair of tin snips and a beer can.

IMO...Tikka's make a good boat anchor....as long as you tie a cinder block to 'em!!

At least contact Beretta, so we can confirm what douche bags they are.

True. If you want a heavy piece of junk to sink to the bottom, get an M700 or Savage.

I called Beretta, the owners of Tikka. The man I spoke to said they don't replace barrels, but to call the California service center. The man in California said to send it in and their turn around is about three weeks. (The website says four.)

I paid $560 for the rifle NIB last year. If they are just going to refund the money if the barrel is installed crooked, and it will cost me about $20 to send it to them, and I could get maybe $450 for it in the local paper (more likely 400); maybe I should just sell it and eat the $90 (Or $150)I'd lose just replacing it with a new one when I'm in Missoula in a few weeks. (No sales tax.)

I'll think about it. I'm curious to see what they would do to it if I send it in.

I would let Beretta replace it or refund you. #1. You don't want to pass a problem on to someone else. Even if you tell that first buyer, there is no telling who may ultimately wind up with it and it be a problem for them. #2. Beretta needs to know and have to spend money because this one passed their QC. It's the only way that they will work to insure QC is even better. I know just one won't matter to them but you are still part of the entire number if you do send it in.

You're right, about passing on a problem. I would never stick someone with a bum gun.
If I did sell it, I'd tell the guy about it. It is only a problem (actually might be a problem) if you dial WAY up and then left wind.

Another thing that is bothersome (Beretta being a PITA notwithstanding), is what is happening to Tikka's QC. They have state of the art mfg. facilities - jigs, lasers, computers, accuracy testing and accuracy guarantee - can't help but wonder if there is some organizational issue, or if they have scaled back quality oversight or what has happened to their tooling and inspection. I do remember reading somewhere that their counterpart to U.S. independent mfg. QC is essentially the local police department. I thought that was a little disturbing.

I have also been suspicious about the calibers that never seem to make it to the U.S. (e.g. 6.5x55), though they are available overseas. They would sell here like hotcakes, but no one imports them or can get them.

forepaw

I wonder what the real US market thinks of the 6.5x55? I know people on this site like them, but we are usually the minority. I have a Tikka in the Swede, but got lucky before they quit importing them. I cannot help but think they would import them if they were a money maker though.

I wouldn't hesitate to send it in.

I don't think its quite that simple. If you think about mounting them on a pic rail, if you put the two rings closer together, the cant increases and vice versa. There's a formula for figuring out how many minutes you get that includes the distance but I don't remember it.

Very true. It's a matter of trigonometry and geometry to calculate the total angular cant (a simple calculation). But yes, you can use a +10 on front and -10 on rear for a total of 0.020" cant between rifle and scope.

This is the OP.

Regarding going to the Burris with the inserts; even with the low rail I'd end up about .25 higher than I am now. I would totally lose my check weld. This stock has been drilled for a Karsten rest and it is at it's highest now. I'd be out the rail, rings, and new check rest, so at least $150. Rather than do that, I'll either just live with it or send it in.

In case anyone was waiting to see how Beretta CS handled this, I just wanted to let you know that if I decide to send it in it won't be till at least the start of July. Spring bear here goes through the end of June and I have some fun shoots with buddies coming up anyway.
If I decide to send it in, I'll post what happens.

Thanks for the help.

I'm not sure what you want to hear. You don't want to send it in, you don't want to switch rings. Sounds to me like you are stuck with it.

I would send it in and play with other guns in the meantime. If it comes back and they didn't fix it, I would sell it and move on.

I wanted to hear some suggestions in case I was overlooking something. I did switch rings three times, I just don't want to switch to the Burris for that cost.

Since it doesn't sound like I was overlooking something and it may need sent it, if I do that, it would be after bear season.

dogcatcher, if I could have found one in Swede (like yours), I would have gotten that instead! This rifle is accurate and I like it, I was just looking for a way to get my scope centered to eliminate any potential problems dialing wind.

I do appreciate the advice and ideas. Thanks again.

Just hold off for wind

I imagine it is the barrel that has bad runout, not a crooked action or crooked thread job.

I might be interested if you decide to sell it. Make a good platform for a 284, or 280, or 6.5-284 or...