Bedding a Tikka

N

notenough

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Mississauga, Ontario Canada
A quick question to any of you gunsmiths out there that have done this job before. Can it be done properly on a Tikka T3 Lite SS? I just traded one rifle for this Tikka and after doing a quick range session I was not particularly happy with the 1"-2" groups I was getting at my 50 yard indoor range.

This rifle is chambered in 338 Win Mag and I wanted a "lite" rifle for walking in a potent caliber. After pulling the action and stock apart I noticed the recoil lug is loose in the cut channel. One side of the recoil lug is galled from the action and turning it around does not help matters any as it is still loose. The recoil lug housing in the stock is also a loose fit. I'm thinking this is only part of my accuracy concern as the free floated barrel is very close to the tight fitting stock.

Any tips on what to do?

I'm thinking about removing excess material around the stock lug area and steel bedding the lug in place and at the tang area. I'll place release agent on the lug so I can remove it if necessary but I would like to get it to stop wiggling.

Derek
 
338 in a T3 lite= ouch! Nice to carry though. Sounds like you have the right idea, I think you can bed the whole action, and behind the recoil lug, but not the front of it. Plumbers putty or modeling clay goes where the bedding compound shouldn't. I'm sure someone experienced will give you specific tips, does and dont's. Good luck.
 
Bedded

Well I finally got around to bedding this thing and it is working better. I'll try to post some pictures of the bedding job in it's completed stage as I did not have my camera when I bedded the rifle at a friends place.

I'm no longer getting 3 wide spaced holes. Instead I'm now getting usually 2 touching and a third pulled out of the group. I think the gun needs to have the barrel fully free floated before I get any better groups.

Thats the next project.:dancingbanana:

What would I do without firearms projects to keep me busy?
 
I have the same exact rifle in the same caliber. The decelerator pad I put on her helps quite abit. I don't know much at all about bedding, so I am looking forward to any tips and pics you have. I know a guy who works at a gun store that could do it with me.
 
pics

Here are the rather crappy pics of the bedding job but it worked out just fine and group sizes are suffering as a result, on the smaller side. What I did was standard stuff for a bedding job. I removed about 1/8-3/16" from the tang area and the recoil lug area. For the recoil lug I removed about 1/4" of material in front and behind the lug as well as the sides. The botton was not touched as you need it to stay at the correct hight for the action. I chose to leave the sides of the stock alone as the stock and action fit is very tight.

The recoil lug was moving and would drop out of the stock before. Now it is solidly bedded into the stock with Devcon.

Groups went down 0.100-0.375" at 50 yards. Not the greatest as I was getting larger groups to start with. I have now fully free floated the barrel and will see what type of groups I get very soon. This rifle is shooting well within a hunting rifles accuracy but it would be nice to get sub MOA if I can.

tikka003.jpg

tikka001.jpg

tikka002.jpg


The red stuff you see in the pics is from wax, baby bell cheese to be exact. It works great since not much will stick to it. It's good for filling trigger holes, bolt holes, mag wells etc. and the best part is my son loves the stuff. (The cheese that is!)
 
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It be interesting to see some results once free floated, I believe you're the first one to publish any kind of bedding job for the Tikka.

To get better photos try the macro setting on your camera and use a lighted area instead of the flash.

Great stuff.
 
i have had several t3's never needed to bed one. remigntons always. guess i have been lucky. what did you use to bed it?
 
Devcon

I use Devcon Steel putty, sets up like steel once it is fully cured. It can be drilled and machined so it mates very well with the action. It cost me about $50-$55 for a 1lbs container and that will bed about 5-6 rifles depending on the waste.

As for the screws, I place lengthened bolts minus the heads in the action screw locations and and have a few layers of tape around them to account for bolt clearance. Or you can just redrill later.

As for groups, I was able to fire the gun again last night and for the 210 Partitions that I was trying, the groups are now about MOA. More load development should get me to MOA, maybe just a different bullet will do the trick.
 
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