Sorry, no chance yet. I had a cowboy match and then was away hunting. I took it with me when I went hunting but only shot my deer a day before heading back and the last day was super windy.
Maybe before Xmas.
Vertical stringing
- Thread starter COREY
- Start date
Maybe before Xmas.
Hi Corey,
Not wanted to presume anything, I have a couple questions.
1. Action screws need to be torqued to a set amount. I run an mdt acc chassis and they suggest 65inlbs of torque front and back. (There is a good YouTube video that shows how torque will effect your groups) I'm sure you can Google what yours shoukd be.
2. I don't know the newer Tikka's but i assume you took the recoil lug out of the original stock and inserted in the chassis.
3. What are you using for support a rear bag and bipod?
4. Ammo is definitely a consideration. Try some higher quality ammo to confirm that it's not just the ammo your using.
5. Rifle setup. You mentioned you didn't touch your scope when moving it over to the chassis. With adjustability of the new chassis I would assume that once you configure the new chassi to fit you, like mine you would have to adjust your eye relief.
6. I do agree that if you can't figure it out, put it back in you original stock to confirm. I'm a lefty too and have also modified a wrong handed chassis to work for me and would say the only issue with fitment would be insuring you caved out enough room so your saftey is not touching the chassis. No need to bed a chassis they are designed to be drop-in.
It looks like it's been a month I hope you have gotten it figured out.
Cheers Lindsay
Not wanted to presume anything, I have a couple questions.
1. Action screws need to be torqued to a set amount. I run an mdt acc chassis and they suggest 65inlbs of torque front and back. (There is a good YouTube video that shows how torque will effect your groups) I'm sure you can Google what yours shoukd be.
2. I don't know the newer Tikka's but i assume you took the recoil lug out of the original stock and inserted in the chassis.
3. What are you using for support a rear bag and bipod?
4. Ammo is definitely a consideration. Try some higher quality ammo to confirm that it's not just the ammo your using.
5. Rifle setup. You mentioned you didn't touch your scope when moving it over to the chassis. With adjustability of the new chassis I would assume that once you configure the new chassi to fit you, like mine you would have to adjust your eye relief.
6. I do agree that if you can't figure it out, put it back in you original stock to confirm. I'm a lefty too and have also modified a wrong handed chassis to work for me and would say the only issue with fitment would be insuring you caved out enough room so your saftey is not touching the chassis. No need to bed a chassis they are designed to be drop-in.
It looks like it's been a month I hope you have gotten it figured out.
Cheers Lindsay
Yeah, not sure right now. It shot beautifully in the original stock, but never checked for pressure points. The CTR stick is fully free floated.
My next steps are (when I have time):
1) torque the screws consistently to between 60 and 65 inch-lbs and try shooting it in the CTR stock one shot at a time with no mag. If that works, I will adjust the mag height.
2) If 1 does not work, I will put it back in the old stock, torqued correctly, and use the old plastic magazine. If that works, that sucks. I will also check to see if there are pressure points on the barrel in the Lite stock or not if I do.
I hope this is not the case as I wanted to keep the gun light(ish) and do not want a chassis for a hunting/outdoor gun.
I'm really curious if the recoil lug was completely seated. It's a tikka in a tikka stock. The barrel is thinner than the ctr so there should be no contact. Bedding the stock might help, but it shouldn't explain a 4" spread. And the magazine causing that? I don't find that very likely. I'd take it out and put it back in the stock making sure you hear the click before you tighten anything.
I hear what you're saying about weight. My 223 Varmint with "heavy" barrel is a handful in the XRS chassis. The chassis weighs 3.9 lbs according to MDT, and with the barreled action in, scope, and bipod it's probably around 15 lbs. I haven't weighed it.
Check with Tikka, in this case Stoeger Canada about torque specs. It's been a while, so my memory is a bit sketchy on exact numbers.
I seem to recall they said the T3 Lite should be at 40 inch pounds in a synthetic stock.
MDT says 60 inch pounds in the XRS, which seems like a lot, but it works. I did put slightly longer screws in mine to get full thread engagement.
Having said that, tightening the action into a solid aluminum bed in the chassis felt like it was in bedrock. There's simply no spongy feeling like you get with wood or synthetic.
I haven't tried it, but I was told there wasn't much point in trying to bed the action into an original synthetic stock, it's just not rigid enough to be worth bothering with. Someone else may have experience to the contrary.
Check with Tikka, in this case Stoeger Canada about torque specs. It's been a while, so my memory is a bit sketchy on exact numbers.
I seem to recall they said the T3 Lite should be at 40 inch pounds in a synthetic stock.
MDT says 60 inch pounds in the XRS, which seems like a lot, but it works. I did put slightly longer screws in mine to get full thread engagement.
Having said that, tightening the action into a solid aluminum bed in the chassis felt like it was in bedrock. There's simply no spongy feeling like you get with wood or synthetic.
I haven't tried it, but I was told there wasn't much point in trying to bed the action into an original synthetic stock, it's just not rigid enough to be worth bothering with. Someone else may have experience to the contrary.
Silly question probably, but have you checked the recoil lug? I'm really not familiar with Tikka's, but I believe they have a removeable recoil lug, unlike Savage or Remington where they encircle the barrel.
Oops! Somebody beat me to it
Oops! Somebody beat me to it
This is a good point. There should be a little bit of clearance at the top or bottom of the recoil lug. You don't want the action rocking on the recoil lug. I forget which Tikka I have that this was a problem (I have several), but on one rifle I had to shorten the lug a little bit to get the action to touch the stock before the lug bottomed out in the pocket.
It might have been a rifle that had an original aluminum lug and I put in a steel one?
Tikka T3x Lite Stainless LH in 308
You bought a hunting rifle and now your looking for precision rifle results. Speaking from experience - as long as your first two shots from a cold barrel are hitting POA that is more than acceptable . Shooting 3, 4, 5 shots warms up the barrel way too much and your groups will show it. Before I get bashed here - I had two tikka (lite) and over the years its proven itself many times to be the case as I mentioned. A Tikka T3x Varmit with the heavy profile barrel will get you better and consistant results your are after.
You bought a hunting rifle and now your looking for precision rifle results. Speaking from experience - as long as your first two shots from a cold barrel are hitting POA that is more than acceptable . Shooting 3, 4, 5 shots warms up the barrel way too much and your groups will show it. Before I get bashed here - I had two tikka (lite) and over the years its proven itself many times to be the case as I mentioned. A Tikka T3x Varmit with the heavy profile barrel will get you better and consistant results your are after.
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I’ve switched around quite a few tikka rifles and stocks over the years including swapping barrels at home. The most common thing is seating the recoil lug properly. If you take it apart again and the recoil lug has marks or damage then it likely wasn’t seated.
Also when you place the action in the stock you will feel a definite shift when it seats properly. The easiest way to tell would be take a photo of the action in the stock from the back side. There is a vent hole an if it’s not sitting similar to the one in this photo it’s likely not seated.
That kind of spread tells me something isn’t seated or torqued right. It shouldn’t be an issue because it’s tikka to tikka. They are carbon copies of each other for the most part. I will agree with others though cutting it may have weakened it a little.
B
Also when you place the action in the stock you will feel a definite shift when it seats properly. The easiest way to tell would be take a photo of the action in the stock from the back side. There is a vent hole an if it’s not sitting similar to the one in this photo it’s likely not seated.
That kind of spread tells me something isn’t seated or torqued right. It shouldn’t be an issue because it’s tikka to tikka. They are carbon copies of each other for the most part. I will agree with others though cutting it may have weakened it a little.
B
I am not necessarily looking for a target rifle. I have those. My big thing is I went from a gun shooting well less than 1" (closer to 0.75") to a rifle vertically stringing up to 3" with a 0.5" width to the group. Just trying to see if I can get it back to where it was.
Thanks for the info. I felt it shift into place when it dropped in (wiggled it around), but I will be sure when I go look at the vent hole later.
A problem I had similar results as you was on a different brand of rifle, but it opened right up. It turned out that particular model was very particular on how the action was secured to the stock (front action screw had to be snug before touching the rear one) torque wasn’t so much the concern, just the sequence. Took me a bit to replicate this but that was a problem.
So, I finally found time to go to the range today.
I went to torque the screws to 65"lbs last night. I started at 55 and th back one torqued fine, but way more than I expected (guess I am not as strong as I thought). Front one started to tighten, then started spinning free. I thought, great I broke it. Then I heard a big pop. Guess it had not set in the recoil lug as well as I thought. Once it was tightened down, there was no way the mags were going to fit. Hand feed it and then adjust the locking tab in the trigger guard for the mags if that worked.
Took it to the range and it started to string again. I got a bit pissed, but decided to get the torque wrench out and take it to 63 (never went past 55 last night). She settled down pretty well after that. New rest, cold hands, and a cross breeze I think led to much of the rest of the group dispersion. Still, it went from a ln almost 3" vertical string to about a 1.25" c/c group with the majority of the group being horizontal.
Big thing now is to adjust the mag release tab. Out comes the file after I finish with making holster #2 for CAS matches.
I went to torque the screws to 65"lbs last night. I started at 55 and th back one torqued fine, but way more than I expected (guess I am not as strong as I thought). Front one started to tighten, then started spinning free. I thought, great I broke it. Then I heard a big pop. Guess it had not set in the recoil lug as well as I thought. Once it was tightened down, there was no way the mags were going to fit. Hand feed it and then adjust the locking tab in the trigger guard for the mags if that worked.
Took it to the range and it started to string again. I got a bit pissed, but decided to get the torque wrench out and take it to 63 (never went past 55 last night). She settled down pretty well after that. New rest, cold hands, and a cross breeze I think led to much of the rest of the group dispersion. Still, it went from a ln almost 3" vertical string to about a 1.25" c/c group with the majority of the group being horizontal.
Big thing now is to adjust the mag release tab. Out comes the file after I finish with making holster #2 for CAS matches.
