Can't get a decent grouping on a 30-06 tikka

oldspice said:
I realize some of you have skipped over some of the thread. Please note the gun shot awsome up until this spring. So its not a issue of the barrel touching the stock and need to grind the stock or an issue of needing to bed the gun. I admit I am new to accuracy problems, but I am pretty sure if it shot great before, its none of these issues.
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I did read the thread and the reason i commented was all the tikka's shot great when new, they had the same phenominon happen, one day they just lost accuracy maybe cause of pressure left against part of the stock in storage. Could also be something went awry with the last good shot with the ammo when shooting the ammo it liked.

I know i have tried different weight's and types of ammo in my wood stocked tikka, it seems to perform pretty close with all of them.
Hopefully it is just fouled, just giving advise from past experiences.
 
crazydave said:
I did read the thread and the reason i commented was all the tikka's shot great when new, they had the same phenominon happen, one day they just lost accuracy maybe cause of pressure left against part of the stock in storage. Could also be something went awry with the last good shot with the ammo when shooting the ammo it liked.

I know i have tried different weight's and types of ammo in my wood stocked tikka, it seems to perform pretty close with all of them.
Hopefully it is just fouled, just giving advise from past experiences.
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I see. Your comment makes sense now. I will do the bill test and see what happens...
 
I know your Leupold has a very good name for reliability and sturdiness, but sometimes things fail for no other reason than a faulty part which cannot be detected at assembly. In automotives, it happens sometimes (happened to me on occasion).

You stated that it was shooting fine, and then seemingly all of a sudden, the groups opened up. To me, that reeks of an optics problem. How was the scope installed (yourself or "qualified" store clerk, or gunsmith)? you see, way back when, I decided it looked pretty simple to mount my own scope rather than pay the gunsmith to do it for me.

So, I proceeded to mount a Leupold VIII. Who knew that factory mounts, screw holes and mounting brackets all have slight flaws and to properly mount a scope, the rings have to be aligned. Long story short, I overtightened, and over-stressed the scope tube. With my 30-06, it lasted about 6 months. Sent it off to the factory and they found that the stressing taxed the internals to the point where they could not properly hold a zero. My fault - no warranty. Saving $50 cost me $350.

I am thinking that you may have a scope issue. Here is a little trick I learned. Go to any hardware/building supply store and get a 1" diameter doweling. Remove your scope and put doweling in place. Start to tighten it down to spec (about half recommended torque). Remove and examine for indentations. If none, move the doweling forward or backward a bit so that the rings seat on a different spot along the dowel. Tighten to spec. Remove and again look for indentations or deeper than the than the rest indentations. If there are, then the rings may need to be reamed and properly installed. If the store installed the scope, then you may have an argument for warranty if the scope is found to be at fault.

I will admit that I have not owned a Leupold for a number of years now, so I do not have an idea as to their warranty program now.
 
Ditto what others said above re: stock touching barrel - easiest fix!

I have 4 t3's (223, 7-08, 300wsm, and 338f), and none would shoot like you read about (sub MOA) until I tweaked them a bit - none had the "stock touching the barrel" issue... If yours shot good before and doesnt now, I would:

1) look at stock barrel and free float as mentioned above
2) make sure barrel is sitting in recoil lug, I would have a smith bed it regardless
3) tighten action screws (not too tight)
4) if still inaccurate, get another stock

Their system of a free floating recoil lug just doesnt work in the larger calibers, above .25 IMHO. I have seen instant results when changed to a steel lug and bedded it; prior to this the alloy lugs in my guns were all peened big time from movement on recoil. Even just bedding the alloy lug will help - if you havent done before, take to a 'smith, or read up on the 'net.
I torque my action screws to 35 inch/lbs using a fat-wrench.
If you want to spend some $$$, call Prophet river and get a tikka B/C stock for $300, this will prob fix your problem and give you a nice gun - these have a full length alum chassis and integral recoil lug. The two Tikkas I did this with made them MOA rifles. Further Skim bedding 2" in front and behind the B/C stock lug made and the tang made them both sub-moa until the barrel heats up.

Dont despair, you'll get it shooting straight! All mine did with a bit (or lots) of tweaking.

Sadly tho, my opinion has changed vastly on the tikkas - with the amount of time and $$$ i have spent on ALL of mine to get them into 'sub' MOA rifles (which maybe they were not meant to be, but its my hobby to figure out how to make them that way), it would have been cheaper in the long run to simply accept the 1-2MOA. None of mine met the 1 moa guarantee that they have, which puzzles me as almost everyone on here states their Tikkas were tack drivers from the get-go.
 
I use Hoppes Benchrest Copper cleaner on badly fouled barrels by leaving the rifle to soak over night (muzzle down). If I want to clean it on the spot, I use Sweets, which is much faster.

If there is copper in the barrel, the first patch the next day will come out blue. I have had some newly acquired old rifle need this treatment every day for a week.

35 in-lbs is about max for an action screw in a wood stock. More than that, the wood will collapse. If an action is being pulled down into a metal bedding block, 60 in-lbs is about right.
 
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Barrel is spotless...

took stock off again and made 100% sure it was seated properly.

torqued the action screws to 35lbs.

I'll take it to the range friday and see what happens and update.


I was a little surprised to find the T3 lite barrels are NOT free floated. It was obvious the barrel rests on the stock about 3 inches past the breech. I'm now thinking the action screws were too tight and it was putting more pressure on this point than should have been. The 20$ bill slide nice from the end of the stock up until this point, then it stopped. Is this what should happen?
 
yup thats the Tikka for ya. it should sit on those rests on stock and are ment to do that, however if you still cant get the group down at 100 yards then just knock those rests on stock to free float it your self. that is what i had to do and it works great after that!
 
kimmer82 said:
yup thats the Tikka for ya. it should sit on those rests on stock and are ment to do that, however if you still cant get the group down at 100 yards then just knock those rests on stock to free float it your self. that is what i had to do and it works great after that!
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Thanks... I will be looking at these options and suggestions if the grouping doesn't get much better. I would like to buy a nice lamenate stock for it that free floats the barrel and get it bedded. I just can't swing the $$ right now. In the future its the plan though.
 
Check the back bell of the scope is tight. Had the same problem and found the lock ring loosened of a bit and the back bell (focus's the crosshair) would wiggle back and fourth each shot. When you look through and wiggle it you can see the crosshair move.
Groups were wide and alternated left, right, each shot.
Maybe?
 
I have 4 t3's (223, 7-08, 300wsm, and 338f), and none would shoot like you read about (sub MOA) until I tweaked them a bit
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I own two T-3s, a Tactical in 223, and a Stainless Varmint in 6.5x55, and both shoot sub 1/2moa for five shots with my handloads. Other than adjusting the trigger, and aluminum bolt shrouds, both guns are as they came from the factory.
 
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