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Tikka T3 build/bedding

24 Jul 2014
@ 01:05 am (GMT)

Martin Taylor

G’day All,
Just thought l would post my new build, a Tikka T3 S/S 9.3x62 to show how l go about building up a rifle with Nathan & Steph’s help!

It is being built as a stalking/hound hunting gun for use in our Alpine areas, targeting mainly Sambar deer. Robustness, reliability & practicality are the main priorities for this build along with being suitable for my sons to use if needed!

l like all my rifles to group consistently so bedding is a must for long term repeatability. I will be using a TBR bedding kit and under Nathan & Steph’s guidance, even though they are in another country! After a wet day or weekend hunting l need to be able to strip, clean & reassemble knowing the zero is spot on!

The stock is a Laminated Boyd’s Classic that l will modify to suit personal taste, increase grip levels and dull recoil with its extra weight along with a Limbsaver recoil pad. A stainless cnc’d recoil lug will be fixed into the bedding to replace the steel lug supplied by Boyd’s. This will leave the original stock to be stabilised & bedded as a light weight alternative if needed later on.

Should be fun, I will post some pics when l start it over the weekend!

Cheers Marty

Replies

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11 Aug 2014 @ 07:59 pm (GMT)	Quote this Nathan Foster Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Marty, A good example of my past photo taking can be seen in the .35 Whelen / 9.3 thread from a while back- grainy, hard to see much. My photos were terrible, quite a mistake on my part but I had no idea where things were going, never imagined having this website, only a big book with a pile of text and a few pictures. I relied mostly on my hand written notes and drawings. I kept all of this in my back pack and made most notes in the field. Hence why it takes so long to get the info up to the KB as I have to make each into a nice article. So yes, any and all new photos are most welcome.
11 Aug 2014 @ 09:49 pm (GMT)	Quote this Ben Law Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Marty i know exactly what you mean about the washers in the plastic trigger guard. i heard a story from a guy i know who went out hunting and the screws pulled through the washers and the barrelled action fell out of the stock onto the ground! that's why when i fitted the pillars i had them extend out of the stock and into the trigger guard recess so the washers are fully supported. bit of mucking around as the pillars had to be filled down to the correct angle and glued in just right. i also chose to reuse the factory tapered action screws over flat head screws as they wouldnt have contacted the washer right the way round. that's probably my least favourite part of the design of this rifle.
11 Aug 2014 @ 09:59 pm (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Spot on Ben! this catches a fair few people out, have fun.
15 Aug 2014 @ 02:10 am (GMT)	Quote this Ben Law Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding went to the range today, no improvement. will try some hand loads when my gear arrives.
03 Sep 2014 @ 07:36 pm (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Have you had any luck with your rifle Ben? these are pretty good shooters normally!
04 Sep 2014 @ 04:20 am (GMT)	Quote this Ben Law Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Quote: Have you had any luck with your rifle Ben? these are pretty good shooters normally! no i havent marty. i have most of my reloading gear now. just waiting on the 225g sst's to come in. going to try them with adi 2209. also picked up a hss clamp on muzzle brake to try out. everything with the rifle looks good to me, bolt lugs are contacting nicely, bore looks great. with what i've read about tikka's i think it would be unlikely i can't get it to shoot nicely eventually. hopefully i can find a load with the sst's thats under 1"
04 Sep 2014 @ 05:05 pm (GMT)	Quote this Nathan Foster Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding The SST is such a hard hitter Ben. Very emphatic. I wrote about delayed killing on lean animals / rear lung shots at lower velocities to maintain perspective but this should not detract from what this bullet is capable of. At close ranges, wounding is extremely dramatic. With acceptable shot placement at extended ranges, this bullet is equally hard hitting and where kills are delayed, internal wounding remains very broad. I hope I did not sell this bullet short in the KB when explaining parameters etc. Every once in a while folk will misunderstand something, will see a certain result as a complete negative etc. I need to get Steph to upload wound data photos from a recent email (and others when she has time- poor woman). The 225gr SST has gone into the shoulder of a light White Tail, the energy transfer so complete that a rib has exited on the same entry side- well away from the point of entry. Its a classic example of the energy transfer this bullet produces. Yes, hopefully you will be able to get well under 1 MOA. Keep us posted.
04 Sep 2014 @ 06:16 pm (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Keep at it Ben! The Tikkas that l have worked with so far bedding, hand loading, etc. have performed very well. Guys at the range also fair well with their factory ammo and standard rigs as long as their technique is solid and the barrels are cool. Let us know how your ladder test go's when your pills turn up! cheers Marty
05 Sep 2014 @ 04:29 am (GMT)	Quote this Ben Law Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Nathan, from reading your book on cartridges the SST's seem pretty good for what i want. I intend this to be pretty much a dedicated long range (3-800yrd) sambar rifle. I have heard of others having good results with hornady interbonds out to 950yrds on sambar with the 338wm, from your writings it seems the sst would be better. I also just got the trigger done, set to 1lb. Will let you know how I go Marty.
05 Sep 2014 @ 04:52 pm (GMT)	Quote this Nathan Foster Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Sorry to be a pain Ben but I would like you to have a think about upping the trigger weight a half pound / quarter turn. Once we go below 1.5, things can go wrong. Cold mornings / evenings are the biggest problem where feeling is lost in the extremeties. Under these conditions, accuracy can be very poor, the trigger going off well before the hunter is settled. You may also find that accuracy is poor at 100 yards. Target shooters use very light settings of a half to 1lb but even then, my tests show that small fliers can be produced by these settings. We had a good discussion about this in another thread here regarding set triggers. Its quite surpirising what a half pound increase or decrease can produce. OK, sorry to nag. Up to you. Have a think about it and perhaps experiment during the break in phase.
05 Sep 2014 @ 07:13 pm (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Ben l have just setup a 300WM for the same purpose you are working towards, Nathan has always wanted me to run with the 208 Amax projectiles because the Interbonds and other bonded projectiles are not as forgiving or predictable with regard to shot placement and velocity. If you are hitting a cross body shoulder shots every time all good l would think (big resistance), but when the shot strays a bit things would change very quickly. I have no experience with the .338 and only staring into true LR with the 30 but I would think they are similar in some ways. The frangible Amax & SST would be preferred with the lower velocities these cals produce. I have modified 210 Berger’s at the moment & off to start testing some 215's Monday. I couldn’t get any Amax’s for months so brought these when available so l’ll have to start with these for now. Somebody please correct me if this is not the case! Cheers Marty
11 Sep 2014 @ 07:16 am (GMT)	Quote this Ben Law Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding i just checked the trigger with scales and its 1 1/4lb. it feels good, ill leave it there for now. Marty the A max's have only just become available in 338 and only in 285grains, seems on the heavy side for the win mag. Apparently the rocky mountain bullets are work great but i think they'd be too long for the mag in the tikka, cost a fair bit and not sure how easy they are to get a hold of over here. So the sst's look like my best bet if i can get them to shoot.
08 Nov 2014 @ 03:38 pm (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 Aluminum Original Bottom Metal Guys, I just came across this aluminum bottom metal option for the Tikka T3s. It's designed to use the original factory magazines/clips. The price seems reasonable. Not sure if they are available yet. Web site states available in December. Here's a link... I've been reading about how you're bedding the Tikka T3s and wasn't clear on how you improve the action screw contact with the plastic factory bottom metal. It seems like this bottom metal might be in order before I bed my T3 in a Manners stock. http://www.atlasworxs.com/cart/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=43
09 Nov 2014 @ 01:57 pm (GMT)	Quote this Nathan Foster Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Thanks for the link Paul. What they are selling is a system designed to be used with Accuracy International type magazines (and clones of). This means that the stock will need a good deal of alteration (inletted wider) for the stagger feed mag rather than single column feed. The Atlas magazines and therefore bottom metal are much wider. This is not a straight forwards proposition. It would have been very helpful for folk like yourself- had they explained things properly. Also, Tikka only make one action length. The options they are giving are bottom metal to suit either a short AI magazine or a long magazine. Got to watch that mag release too- its a bit of a brutal shape.
10 Nov 2014 @ 04:06 am (GMT)	Quote this G B Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Good morning gentlemen. I have been following several threads on here with interest and a comment Nathan made above has prompted me to join up and - where possible - join in. In the comment above Nathan refers to a discussion about double set triggers, now as this is a small obsession of mine I would be very grateful if someone could point me to that discussion. Meanwhile I will be considering further some of the discussion surrounding stock bedding. My interests are vintage and out of production target rifles and some of these techniques are useful in preserving some of the older stocks which are suffering from the effects of use/misuse/age. thank you, graham.
11 Nov 2014 @ 05:56 pm (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding I've been reading about how you're bedding the Tikka T3s and wasn't clear on how you improve the action screw contact with the plastic factory bottom metal. Hi Paul if you look at Bens picture above you can see the pillars protruding from the stock that will fit up flush against the washers located in the plastic trigger guard. I have done similar is the Boyd's stock but have used a machined feral that fits into the plastic guard then bedded them into the stock, l also machined flat seat rather than tapered action screws. The problem lies with the original tapered screws pulling into and possibly through the unsupported thin washers in the guard. Classic Tikka problem if over torqued!
16 Nov 2014 @ 06:46 pm (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Quote: Thanks for the link Paul. What they are selling is a system designed to be used with Accuracy International type magazines (and clones of). This means that the stock will need a good deal of alteration (inletted wider) for the stagger feed mag rather than single column feed. The Atlas magazines and therefore bottom metal are much wider. This is not a straight forwards proposition. It would have been very helpful for folk like yourself- had they explained things properly. Also, Tikka only make one action length. The options they are giving are bottom metal to suit either a short AI magazine or a long magazine. Got to watch that mag release too- its a bit of a brutal shape. Hi Nathan, I'm pretty sure this is a new item that is designed to be a direct replacement of the original Tikka T3 plastic bottom material. Atlasworx also manufactures the AI compatible bottom metal for both the long and short action Tikka T3s. Here's the information on the new Aluminum Original Tikka T3 Guard. I've tried to attach an image. You'll see their Original Tikka T3 aluminum Guard doesn't have the large mag release lever, if my picture posts successfully. If not, go to the link and you'll find a photo of this new aluminum trigger guard there. Here's the Atlasworxs description. "It replaces the original plastic guard." "Simply unscrew the old one and replace with the Atlasworxs upgrade." Product Information Atlasworxs Trigger Guard for Original Tikka T3 in Aluminium Our Atlasworxs Trigger Guard for the Tikka T3 is machined from AL6061 T6 aircraft grade Aluminum billet for strength but still remains light weight. It replaces the original plastic guard and is a fantastic upgrade for your rifle, its a drop in fit. Simply unscrew the old one and replace with the Atlasworxs upgrade. The finish is a Hard Coat Anodize in Matte Black or Silver which is very durable.
16 Nov 2014 @ 07:01 pm (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Quote: Hi Paul If you look at Bens picture above you can see the pillars protruding from the stock that will fit up flush against the washers located in the plastic trigger guard. I have done similar is the Boyd's stock but have used a machined feral that fits into the plastic guard then bedded them into the stock, l also machined flat seat rather than tapered action screws. The problem lies with the original tapered screws pulling into and possibly through the unsupported thin washers in the guard. Classic Tikka problem if over torqued! Thanks Martin, I think I understand now. I'm preparing to bed my Tikka T3 barreled action in a Tom Manners stock. I'm going to bed 9/16" pillars into the stock first. Then I'm going to bed the action and the first inch or so of the barrel into the stock in a second step. I've read Nathan's instructional articles for the Tikka T3s in the Knowledge articles, which has been very helpful, in addition to this thread. However I think I'm going to order one of these Atlasworxs aluminum trigger guards, and I'll wait until I receive it before I bed the pillars, so I can decide on the best approach with the pillars, trigger guard, and action screws. I hope this aluminum trigger guard is designed to use flat head action screws rather than tapered action screws. But I suspect they'll be tapered head action screws, since they're advertising simply unscrew the original and replace with their aftermarket trigger guard. Once I receive their trigger guard, I'll know for sure, and can then get my pillars bedded to the proper depth on the bottom of the stock. After I receive this aluminum bottom metal, I'll post again and let you all know what it looks like for fit and quality. Probably won't receive it until the end of December though. Paul
16 Nov 2014 @ 07:48 pm (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Here's what I've done to prepare the pillars and the recoil lug for bedding my Tikka T3 action thus far. I've screwed the pillars to the action using a tapered head screw. On the threads of the tapered screw, I wrapped the threads with electrical tape to a diameter that fit the inner ID of the aluminum pillars. The tapered head centers the pillar at the top, and the electrical tap centers the pillar where it mates to the face of the action. Then I placed a tall socket on the top of the pillar that cleared the tapered head of the screw and rested on the flat face of the pillars. I then tapped sharply with a hammer, to embed the surface of the action into the softer aluminum pillars. I supported the tang of the action from beneath while tapping on that pillar. The forward pillar is well supported by the action so no support was necessary there. Here's what the mating surface of the pillar looks like after some crisp tapping with the hammer. I did this because the Tikka action has these raised bosses surrounding the female threads each action screw. I needed a way to establish a larger surface area of contact between the pillars and the bosses. This method leaves a perfect imprint of the bosses into the pillars. With respect to temporarily holding the recoil lug into the recessed notch in the receiver, I looked for a method that would hold my stainless steel aftermarket recoil lug in firm contact with the forward face of the recess in the action. I don't want any rearward movement (play) of the action toward the recoil lug, after the lug is glass bedded into my stock. So I used feeler gauges for setting spark plug gaps, and determined a 0.008" shim would provide a very snug friction fit, if the shim was placed on the rearward side of the recoil lug. So I found some 0.008" shim spacers from an automotive differential rebuild kit I had in the garage, used some metal snips to cut out a shim, and carefully tapped the ship into place at the same time I seated the recoil lug into the recess in the action. The friction fit of the recoil lug is so snug that I won't need to temporarily glue it into place. Once the bedding material sets up, the lug will withdraw from the recess in the action, and I'll simply pry out the small piece of 0.008" shim stock from the recoil lug recess in the action. It may even fall out on its own. Here's photos of my recoil lug pinched into place with the 0.008" thick shim. I'm open to any members' suggestions, recommendations, and advice... Paul
16 Nov 2014 @ 07:51 pm (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding One more photo of the recoil lug set into place using the friction fit created by placement with the 0.008" shim.
16 Nov 2014 @ 08:08 pm (GMT)	Quote this chris murphy Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding hi Paul i have done my tikkas and sakos the same way but used alloy tape. you will want to make sure the top of recoil lug is not touching action as well (relive with tape) and fill that little gap left between lug and action with plastersine save you a little clean up later and make it look better.
16 Nov 2014 @ 08:11 pm (GMT)	Quote this chris murphy Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding and on looking at your pics again if you don't fill that little hole and don't scrape out the compound that fills it, it may create a pinch point to some degree
17 Nov 2014 @ 04:19 am (GMT)	Quote this Martin Taylor Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Hi Paul, Chris has given some very important tips, if you haven't already relieved the top of the lug it's a must. One thing to be careful of is that the pillar doesn't make a secondary recoil lug on the shape you have formed. I leave the pillars flat and let Nathan's bedding compound form the shape of the action on top of the pillar, then relieve the edges but that's only a personal preference. The compound will form a very good shape around the action but if you are unshore you can paint on some around the lug etc before you drop it in the stock. It will be great to have a look at the bottom metal and to hear what you think of it.
17 Nov 2014 @ 11:58 am (GMT)	Quote this Paul Horwath Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Thanks Chris and Martin. Glad I posted the photos and received your advice. It will be awhile before I bed the pillars as I want to wait until I have the Atlasworx trigger guard in hand. I only want to set the pillars once, into the bedding compound. Having the trigger guard in hand will allow me to fit the pillars correctly the first time. I wondered about those two bosses that sit proud at the action screws acting as additional recoil lugs. Appreciate your help there Martin. I think I'll relieve the rearward lip formed into the pillars with a Dremel tool after the bedding compound has cured, in order to ensure the action doesn't try to lift upward under recoil against those two rearward upthrusting lips. I'll be using a fine carbide burr and that should work nicely.
17 Nov 2014 @ 01:17 pm (GMT)	Quote this Nathan Foster Re: Tikka T3 build/bedding Thanks for the info and update on the bottom metal Paul. Hope it all fits easily. When I went to the site, I only found the AI bottom metal listed. As the guys said, you'll need to either make the shim wider or work plasticine into the fine gap behind the lug. Top of the lug has to be clear as Chris mentioned. You have removed most of the lug overhang but it will still pay to paint compound at the intersection of the lug and action a few minutes prior to putting the action in the mortice. This simply helps prevent trapped air, air bubbling. I have just skim read these posts as I have a heavy work load at the moment so please excuse me if I cover the same ground. Regarding pillars. If you want metal to metal contact, the pillar must be attached to the action- then set down into the mortice. In other words, the action and pillars are bedded at the same time. If you want to set the pillars into the stock first, countersink the pillars by 1mm at the top, otherwise you will end up with a very weak and flaky shim of compound (eg .1- .2mm) where the the pillar meets the action (compound is forced out between the pillar and action but can't fully escape). The flake of hard compound will then eventually peel / chip away and then leave the pillars out of contact with the action. With deliberate countersinking, you end up with a solid layer of compound over the pillar. Hope that makes sense.