Back to the drawing board for a compact stock for Tikka T3X

[bnewt3]

Have you done this exact thing before? Curious as to what you used? Wood dowel into a drill? How do you attach the sand paper? How do your sand out the sides/walls of the barrel?

The idea is you use a cylinder slightly bigger than the barrel. it will clearance the side rails first, as you remove material it drops into the barrel channel, opening up the bottom last.

I havent done it before so someone else with experience might chime in but I would imagine it might produce a cleaner result to use a linear motion so you can maintain pressure evenly along the barrel channel. chucked in a drill might be hard to keep even pressure and/or might tend to jump out of the channel.

 

[Chris in TN]

Thanks @Jimbee and @MuleyFever but I want to stay away from any serious mods to a stock. I e tried a stock mod for another rifle and it shot terrible after my sub par work. Looking for an off the shelf option.

It's a cheap - nay, disposable - piece of plastic. Dremel it.

 

[Maverick1]

I wouldn’t fart around with sanding the stock. Elbow grease. Aesthetics. Resale value. All go to crap.

1. Sell the compact stock.
2. Buy a new compact rifle
3. Sell the compact rifle when your son outgrows it. Or put the spacers in, or move the compact rifle barrel and action it into an adult stock.

 

[farmer14]

Unless it's like inches of material that needs to come off, it ain't no thang.
I've done it on both wood and plastic stocks. Grab a deep socket that doesn't quite fit, wrap it 100-ish grit and slide it back and forth for a while. It won't change the integrity of the stock, and won't even really change the look much either.

Check the fit often and size up the socket if needed. It's really hard to mess this up with a socket and sandpaper, as it takes off a little material at a time and does it evenly on both sides.

One tip: Once it fits, take a bit more out, as you'll want to make sure it's still free-floating when the action is torqued down and to account for flex in the stock when pressure is exerted on it, like when it's sitting with its full weight on a bipod.

Great advice. Thanks much!

 

[SupressYourself]

It's a cheap - nay, disposable - piece of plastic. Dremel it.

While I've never been shy about Dremeling cheap stocks, it's overkill in this case. 15, maybe 20 min with a socket and sandpaper will produce a very even result. Done right, it will look like it was made that way.

 

[mt terry d]

https://www.amazon.com/scottchen-PRO-Smoothing-Fiberglass-Grit-16pack/dp/B0CM8SX9KJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2JXMLOQAY3ERC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.F95edahvg-I-_wLQw_Nw5zxXSKGAUtQ1YrBHKmz8ea9RJHyiLj7NSZ4arkGR07EG_CiVZNP3mxuZGuq_Ha42apfpa99svsMCLMUXTAuy7OF_ol2z6W1sb_UNFrQInvPiJp-Yut1S1y4ZfAXcxuBC-_kZDmQ3qDmZS0Hsstmv5wsA--JCDGq5LKSluRZzOg93ytt_m5WoFQSd6vgXFFdoZK77gbZ3TdgPhfHip-XI-jwYsRf4-iskUh2cqAHjiL9M5-tpBhAYEkaDKmFZb2jtzEP10CKq8oCGiBdqwVwetMI.Q0zZJEB04rYXXUrFsQ5Y6KU-WDQPtlG1A2uopzERRg4&dib_tag=se&keywords=sanding%2Bdrums&qid=1763651186&sprefix=sanding%2Bdrums%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[Chris in TN]

While I've never been shy about Dremeling cheap stocks, it's overkill in this case. 15, maybe 20 min with a socket and sandpaper will produce a very even result. Done right, it will look like it was made that way.

Some years back I found some 1.25" flap wheels for the dremel that do essentially the same thing as a socket. You can also more or less vary the effective grinding diamater by cocking the wheel at an angle as you go up/down the barrel channel.

They looked like this:

Flap Wheel Set For Dremel Rotary Tool die grinder sanding paint rust 1/8" Shank | eBay

5 Piece Set of 80-Grit Flap Wheel Sanding Wheels. Purpose: Cleaning, Polishing, Rust & Paint Removal, De-burring, Sanding, and More. Hardened Steel. Flap Wheels Are Great For. Rust Removal . Brass, Copper & Bronze.

www.ebay.com

 

[steelheadmike]

Spark plug socket wrapped in sand paper.

Go to town until you have a dead cat or two of clearance.

 

[Nine Banger]

Resale value of a factory tikka stock?

That caught my eye too. If you eff it up I have 5 leaning in a stack over here I can send you one.

We made our own compact stocks out of factory stocks.

Does this affect my resale value?

 

[farmer14]

That caught my eye too. If you eff it up I have 5 leaning in a stack over here I can send you one.

We made our own compact stocks out of factory stocks.

Does this affect my resale value?

View attachment 970042

What about cutting the roughtech stock? Can one cut 30mm off (the size of the spacer) and still be able to screw in the butt pad and maybe even add a spacer?

 

[ResearchinStuff]

man this is a trivial thing to do. in case you need some inspiration: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/how-i-modify-my-tikka-factory-stocks.321108/

 

[Nine Banger]

What about cutting the roughtech stock? Can one cut 30mm off (the size of the spacer) and still be able to screw in the butt pad and maybe even add a spacer?

Depends on a couple whatifs:

- If the stock is the same inside as the Lite stock then "yes". The screw posts go all the way in to the back of the cavity and all you need to do is drill new blind holes for the same factory pad to go back on like I did in the photo above.
- If that works out your butt pad will have hard ledges on it like the one above because its now too big. You can live with it like we are or you'd have to get a grind to fit pad to make it perfect and probably make new holes in the grind to fit pad to affix that on the stock before you grind it.

If you see above, the factory stock has a very low comb too which is no bueno for youth. Length of pull is less important than comb height, but the factory just took the easy way out and chopped the stock for the compact model.

 

[Nine Banger]

How do we go from being uncomfortable about opening up a barrel channel. To wanting to whack down the butt stock?

He's warming up to chopping the Roughtec stock and then he won't have to mess with the channel at all.

 

[jkdrgn]

How do we go from being uncomfortable about opening up a barrel channel. To wanting to whack down the butt stock?

Wondering this same thing, and then he'll still need an adult stock for later.

 

[farmer14]

Just ideas, gents.

We’ve always been encouraged to research before asking/posting and I saw a post from someone who did cut the full length stock. Cutting the stock is option 2 - I don’t want to mess that up and my son likes the camo - so I’ll likely save it for when he’s long enough.

I will try some sanding this weekend and report back. Thanks to all who replied - I really appreciate it!

 

[jkdrgn]

Just ideas, gents.

We’ve always been encouraged to research before asking/posting and I saw a post from someone who did cut the full length stock. Cutting the stock is option 2 - I don’t want to mess that up and my son likes the camo - so I’ll likely save it for when he’s long enough.

I will try some sanding this weekend and report back. Thanks to all who replied - I really appreciate it!

Heck yeah, go for it! You'll have it whipped pretty quickly, and he'll have a useable youth stock for a while, then a nice full-length stock when he's ready.

 

[BCsteve]

Like everyone said. Deep socket, wooden dowel, pvc pipe wrapped in sandpaper. Go back and forth in the channel until if fits. Did this many times with different stocks. Did it with a Tikka camo stock just a couple weeks ago for my .35 Whelen which has a barrel contour probably similar to D18. Another method that I used to finish was to tape your barrel for protection and slip a strip of sandpaper between the barrel and stock and pull back and forth so you're sanding following the contour of the barrel. Works great.

 

[bpitcher]

Sand the barrel channel.

It's hard to mess up and in the event that you do, they can be found here on the classifieds for $100 or less.

 

[Nine Banger]

It's hard to mess up and in the event that you do, they can be found here on the classifieds for $100 or less.

At $100 they will have 20-30 "BUMP"...."BUMP"..."BUMP" posts behind it.

I think I recall I've seen some sit for $39. Hack away.

We should start something in the kids thread where if you ask for a new stock to cut an inch longer someone just sends you one for free. Keep the youth in the game.

 

[Maverick1]

Resale value of a factory tikka stock?

Resale value of a compact tikka stock.