I wanted a lightweight hard hitting rifle for days when I felt like putting a few miles on or when the weather was poor. I was looking for an A7 or a Tikka but of course ended up with an 85 Finnlight.
I suffered some frustration with this rifle so I thought I would share my experience to perhaps ease the pain of others.
I tried several brands of ammo and two scopes trying to get this rifle to group to what I would expect from a rifle with this price tag. I wanted to shoot 180gr bullets but the best I can get is 1.5" to 3".
After much frustration I tried some 165gr and it will shoot an inch at 100 yards.
I assumed it is because of the 1/11 twist as opposed to the 1/10 in my other 06s but was a bit baffled.
It was the 180 fusions she liked the least, nothing inside 3 inches. Rem 700 put three in one ragget hole. That is with me a righty shooting my son's left handed gun.
Shot 180 win Powermax under 2.
Fed Premium Trophy Bonded 180s were about the same. Curiously the bolt seemed tight closing on these.
The second trip to the range was much better than the first. I purchased several different types of factory ammo in 165 and 150. I still had 180gr. from the first outing. This included Hornady SST, Fed. Prem. Nosler Partition, Federal Prem. Trophy Bonded, Remington Core Lokt. I also had some Winchester PSP and Fed blue box in the safe.
I gave the bore a double douse of Wipeout, checked the torque on the action screws, and removed/checked rings and bases. A proven scope from another rifle was mounted and of to the range I went.
The rifle definitely prefered the lighter bullets. The Hornady SST 165s shot the best at 1 inch. The 165 Fed Noslers were a close second. In 180 the Corelokts were about an inch and a half.
The premium ammo in 180 were all over the place. A pattern better describes the paper rather than a group. Unfortunately I bought this rifle specifically to shoot these. I do know that lighter bullets are much more effective today so I guess it wouldn't have been the end of the world.
Another problem however was inconsistency between groups using the same ammo. I fired three groups at the same target using the Hornady 165s. I allowed cooling between groups. Each group was under an inch but there was two inches or more between the groups. I suspected parallax issues but I could get no movement of the cross hairs with the gun locked up.
I called it a day but obviously was not satisfied with the performance. I spent a couple evenings browsing the web and pondering. I also stripped the rifle looking for anything that might be causing the drifting. I found some interesting anomalies and made some changes.
So after reading for several hours on the net I came to the conclusion I was not alone in having accuracy issues with the Finnlight. The common theme seemed to be that some (not all) of the heavier recoiling rifles were not performing. The lighter calibres seemed to be immune.
Handloaders got their best results with a lower charge and lighter bullets. Not what I wanted to read but food for thought.
The one thing that seemed to cure the problem every time was a new stock. The McMillan Edge was most popular. I really would like one but don't want to go another 5-600 dollars without being sure of the problem.
Because it was some and not all I decided to strip the rifle down and look for weaknesses.
1, The fore stock could easy be pushed to touch the barrel. I have found that if this was possible free floating was not the best option. It also would explain why the heavier shooting rounds were the worst as the barrel whip would increase.
2, With a flat head screw driver I could detect movement in the recoil block with little effort. The problem seemed to be 2 oval holes that were cut into the stock behind the slot. I could see some flex there.
3, Two of the lugs on the bolt were making excellent contact but the third would barely mark the dry erase marker. A suspect but no much I can do about it.
4, With the rifle but on the floor you had to push down on the barreled action to feel the recoil lug mate with the bedding block. OK but now the action screws are clearly too far back causing the screws to bind on the stock slightly.
5, Upon removing the bedding block there was an oily residue. I have cleaned the rifle but at no time soaked it with oil or grease. There was remnants of an attempt to glue the block but this epoxy had let go.
6, Mating the block to the recoil lug out of the rifle just made no sense to me. There was very little contact for no apparent reason other than a poor design.
Sooo first I took a piece of lightweight bar stock and drilled several holes along it length. Corresponding threaded holes were cut into the bottom of the barrel channel. I made the piece to bend 90 at the end of the channel, up to just below the chamber, 90 again towards the muzzle and finally 90 down to mate with the bottom. This was bedded in place. The bedding was forced into the threaded holes in the stock to ensure a tight lock up.
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Next the bedding block was bedded into the stock and the unnecessary oval holes filled. Extended headless bolts were installed in the action screw holes to ensure no contact with the stock.
The action has a slot where a different (better) recoil lug system was used at another time. I took a piece of key stock and embedded it directly into the stock. I left the fit sloppy so when doing the final bedding the fit would be perfect.
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Next the rear action screw area was bedded to center.
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Finally the entire action and chamber were bedded after carefully drilling holes to ensure a proper lock. All areas bedded were roughed up and treated before bedding.
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The trigger was adjusted to approx. 3 lb.
It will now shoot pretty much anything you stuff in it under an inch. It especially likes the Federal Fusion 180 and Federal Prem. Noslers 165s. It still doesn't like the Trophy Bonded but this group was acceptable at just over an inch. The 150 and 165 Hornadys had 2 of 3 touching.
This was shooting from a bench but only using the block there and my hunting coat for rear support. Locked up in a lead sled type shooting rest it puts 180 Fusions into one hole. This is what I wanted to shoot in the rifle as my son likes these in his 06.
I couldn't be happier with the end results. The extra 5 or so ounces makes the rifle balance perfect and it is very solid feeling when shooting off hand.
The materials for this project were only around 20 dollars although some ammo was obviously wasted. The bedding block alone probably would have cured the majority if the issues but I really like to tinker anyway so I figured I might as well be done with it.
I hope someone may be able to use this info as there isn't a lot of fixes on the net. I think many would rather leave it with accuracy problems and sell rather than fool with a gun and maybe ruin the resale value.
I suffered some frustration with this rifle so I thought I would share my experience to perhaps ease the pain of others.
I tried several brands of ammo and two scopes trying to get this rifle to group to what I would expect from a rifle with this price tag. I wanted to shoot 180gr bullets but the best I can get is 1.5" to 3".
After much frustration I tried some 165gr and it will shoot an inch at 100 yards.
I assumed it is because of the 1/11 twist as opposed to the 1/10 in my other 06s but was a bit baffled.
It was the 180 fusions she liked the least, nothing inside 3 inches. Rem 700 put three in one ragget hole. That is with me a righty shooting my son's left handed gun.
Shot 180 win Powermax under 2.
Fed Premium Trophy Bonded 180s were about the same. Curiously the bolt seemed tight closing on these.
The second trip to the range was much better than the first. I purchased several different types of factory ammo in 165 and 150. I still had 180gr. from the first outing. This included Hornady SST, Fed. Prem. Nosler Partition, Federal Prem. Trophy Bonded, Remington Core Lokt. I also had some Winchester PSP and Fed blue box in the safe.
I gave the bore a double douse of Wipeout, checked the torque on the action screws, and removed/checked rings and bases. A proven scope from another rifle was mounted and of to the range I went.
The rifle definitely prefered the lighter bullets. The Hornady SST 165s shot the best at 1 inch. The 165 Fed Noslers were a close second. In 180 the Corelokts were about an inch and a half.
The premium ammo in 180 were all over the place. A pattern better describes the paper rather than a group. Unfortunately I bought this rifle specifically to shoot these. I do know that lighter bullets are much more effective today so I guess it wouldn't have been the end of the world.
Another problem however was inconsistency between groups using the same ammo. I fired three groups at the same target using the Hornady 165s. I allowed cooling between groups. Each group was under an inch but there was two inches or more between the groups. I suspected parallax issues but I could get no movement of the cross hairs with the gun locked up.
I called it a day but obviously was not satisfied with the performance. I spent a couple evenings browsing the web and pondering. I also stripped the rifle looking for anything that might be causing the drifting. I found some interesting anomalies and made some changes.
So after reading for several hours on the net I came to the conclusion I was not alone in having accuracy issues with the Finnlight. The common theme seemed to be that some (not all) of the heavier recoiling rifles were not performing. The lighter calibres seemed to be immune.
Handloaders got their best results with a lower charge and lighter bullets. Not what I wanted to read but food for thought.
The one thing that seemed to cure the problem every time was a new stock. The McMillan Edge was most popular. I really would like one but don't want to go another 5-600 dollars without being sure of the problem.
Because it was some and not all I decided to strip the rifle down and look for weaknesses.
1, The fore stock could easy be pushed to touch the barrel. I have found that if this was possible free floating was not the best option. It also would explain why the heavier shooting rounds were the worst as the barrel whip would increase.
2, With a flat head screw driver I could detect movement in the recoil block with little effort. The problem seemed to be 2 oval holes that were cut into the stock behind the slot. I could see some flex there.
3, Two of the lugs on the bolt were making excellent contact but the third would barely mark the dry erase marker. A suspect but no much I can do about it.
4, With the rifle but on the floor you had to push down on the barreled action to feel the recoil lug mate with the bedding block. OK but now the action screws are clearly too far back causing the screws to bind on the stock slightly.
5, Upon removing the bedding block there was an oily residue. I have cleaned the rifle but at no time soaked it with oil or grease. There was remnants of an attempt to glue the block but this epoxy had let go.
6, Mating the block to the recoil lug out of the rifle just made no sense to me. There was very little contact for no apparent reason other than a poor design.
Sooo first I took a piece of lightweight bar stock and drilled several holes along it length. Corresponding threaded holes were cut into the bottom of the barrel channel. I made the piece to bend 90 at the end of the channel, up to just below the chamber, 90 again towards the muzzle and finally 90 down to mate with the bottom. This was bedded in place. The bedding was forced into the threaded holes in the stock to ensure a tight lock up.
Next the bedding block was bedded into the stock and the unnecessary oval holes filled. Extended headless bolts were installed in the action screw holes to ensure no contact with the stock.
The action has a slot where a different (better) recoil lug system was used at another time. I took a piece of key stock and embedded it directly into the stock. I left the fit sloppy so when doing the final bedding the fit would be perfect.
Next the rear action screw area was bedded to center.
Finally the entire action and chamber were bedded after carefully drilling holes to ensure a proper lock. All areas bedded were roughed up and treated before bedding.
The trigger was adjusted to approx. 3 lb.
It will now shoot pretty much anything you stuff in it under an inch. It especially likes the Federal Fusion 180 and Federal Prem. Noslers 165s. It still doesn't like the Trophy Bonded but this group was acceptable at just over an inch. The 150 and 165 Hornadys had 2 of 3 touching.
This was shooting from a bench but only using the block there and my hunting coat for rear support. Locked up in a lead sled type shooting rest it puts 180 Fusions into one hole. This is what I wanted to shoot in the rifle as my son likes these in his 06.
I couldn't be happier with the end results. The extra 5 or so ounces makes the rifle balance perfect and it is very solid feeling when shooting off hand.
The materials for this project were only around 20 dollars although some ammo was obviously wasted. The bedding block alone probably would have cured the majority if the issues but I really like to tinker anyway so I figured I might as well be done with it.
I hope someone may be able to use this info as there isn't a lot of fixes on the net. I think many would rather leave it with accuracy problems and sell rather than fool with a gun and maybe ruin the resale value.
