So I have a fairly new Tikka T3 stainless varmint in .223, brought it out shooting for the 3rd time and the bolt lift was quite suddenly extremely gritty and heavy. Once the firing pin is cocked back, I can cycle new cartridges or spent brass through with no excessive resistance, so the lockup/lugs/headspace/etc seem fine, the only apparent issue is with cocking the rifle. The only change between the 2nd and 3rd time I brought the rifle out was a trigger spring replacement, and a pretty significant amount of dry fire setting the trigger and testing safety/reliability. I'm under the impression that modern centerfire rifles aren't adversely affected by dryfiring.
Anyways, the bolt lift/cocking action is ridiculously heavy, like two-hands-on-the-bolt-handle-stock-between-my-knees heavy. I've taken the bolt down, cleaned everything, and looked at the ramped part where the cocking piece is pulled up and there was a tiny divot/burr (might have been from a dryfire with the bolt not quite all the way down? not sure) which I sanded/polished out. Pushing the cocking piece up the ramp under hand pressure feels really gritty still despite this, so now I'm worried that I've removed some kind of coating and it's irreparably galling as it goes or something.
Any ideas on what I can do? Or do I need a new bolt or cocking piece now? I'm incredibly disappointed right now, considering how well the rifle has been performing so far and the apparent 'Tikka premium' over comparable Rem 700s and Savages.
As an aside, I also noticed two scratches that ran the length of the firing pin up to the spring. They're too long to have been caused by the firing pin movement during a firing cycle, so I'm not sure where they came from. They don't seem to affect function though, so I'm not particularly worried about them, just weirded out. And further disappointed in what appears to be a manufacturing defect...
Anyways, the bolt lift/cocking action is ridiculously heavy, like two-hands-on-the-bolt-handle-stock-between-my-knees heavy. I've taken the bolt down, cleaned everything, and looked at the ramped part where the cocking piece is pulled up and there was a tiny divot/burr (might have been from a dryfire with the bolt not quite all the way down? not sure) which I sanded/polished out. Pushing the cocking piece up the ramp under hand pressure feels really gritty still despite this, so now I'm worried that I've removed some kind of coating and it's irreparably galling as it goes or something.
Any ideas on what I can do? Or do I need a new bolt or cocking piece now? I'm incredibly disappointed right now, considering how well the rifle has been performing so far and the apparent 'Tikka premium' over comparable Rem 700s and Savages.
As an aside, I also noticed two scratches that ran the length of the firing pin up to the spring. They're too long to have been caused by the firing pin movement during a firing cycle, so I'm not sure where they came from. They don't seem to affect function though, so I'm not particularly worried about them, just weirded out. And further disappointed in what appears to be a manufacturing defect...
