Barrel Chop Screwed Up Accuracy

[The Guide]

The gunsmith wouldn’t take ownership of it. Ended up taking forms advice and going through everything and checking it. Last thing I got to was re-torquing the barrel. I bought a barrel vise and action wrench and cranked it down. It was pretty loose turns out. I went to 120ft/lbs and now it shoots like it was before. Never using that smith again.

Awesome! Glad you found your issue. Sucks that your issues came from the gunsmith.

Jay

 

[kevlar88]

I was finally able to pick up some cfe223 locally to try a different powder. Unfortunately life is currently getting in the way and will probably not get to shoot again for another 3 weeks or so.

@StupidLightweight

CFE still wouldn't make the barrel shoot, it's FUBAR. New barrel incoming.

 

[StupidLightweight]

Do you still have the barrel? I'd be interested in playing with if you're getting rid of it. Please let me know.

 

[kevlar88]

I do not. I sent it off to my machinist as part of another experiment to see if he can match the chamber and action threads without sending in my action. I'll have some answers, to if that works or not, in the next month or so.

 

[SloppyJ]

If it makes you feel better, I've never had cfe223 perform that well for me. Good luck on the new barrel.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The gunsmith wouldn’t take ownership of it. Ended up taking forms advice and going through everything and checking it. Last thing I got to was re-torquing the barrel. I bought a barrel vise and action wrench and cranked it down. It was pretty loose turns out. I went to 120ft/lbs and now it shoots like it was before. Never using that smith again.

Thanks for the update. This is very common with smiths unfortunately.

 

[ElPollo]

Thanks for the update. This is very common with smiths unfortunately.

Is it normal to remove a barrel from the action to cut and thread it?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Is it normal to remove a barrel from the action to cut and thread it?

Depends on the smith and their equipment.

 

[ElPollo]

Depends on the smith and their equipment.

I’ve had multiple rifles cut and threaded and never had a barrel pulled to do it. Honestly, I wouldn’t trust my local smith to do that. He’s a good machinist, but doesn’t seem to believe in torquing anything.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I’ve had multiple rifles cut and threaded and never had a barrel pulled to do it. Honestly, I wouldn’t trust my local smith to do that. He’s a good machinist, but doesn’t seem to believe in torquing anything.

Most are shocked at the 110+ ft lbs that Tikka and Sako barrels are torqued to. Then proceed to not torque them back to that as if it was “too much”. Sigh.

 

[ElPollo]

Most are shocked at the 110+ ft lbs that Tikka and Sako barrels are torqued to. Then proceed to not torque them back to that as if it was “too much”. Sigh.

That was the one experience I had with having my local smith mount a prefit barrel on a Tikka.

 

[SloppyJ]

That was the one experience I had with having my local smith mount a prefit barrel on a Tikka.

Hopefully that led you to buying a vise and barrel wrench.

 

[Bowfinn]

The gunsmith wouldn’t take ownership of it. Ended up taking forms advice and going through everything and checking it. Last thing I got to was re-torquing the barrel. I bought a barrel vise and action wrench and cranked it down. It was pretty loose turns out. I went to 120ft/lbs and now it shoots like it was before. Never using that smith again.

You should recommend to the gun smith that he torque his lug nuts to 30ft lbs. Maybe he would learn something about appropriate torque levels.

 

[Wrench]

I screw on a lot of barrels, thread a lot of barrels and fix a lot of messes. One of the most common things I see with timed brakes is when the smith comes up shy on the timing and tries to crush the last few thou vs taking a skim cut. The brake shoulder burys and the first few threads try to climb the brake....except there's nowhere to go.....so the barrel yields to the thread and pinches the bore. If you ran a lap through it and it pinches at the muzzle......thank me late.

 

[HandgunHTR]

Most are shocked at the 110+ ft lbs that Tikka and Sako barrels are torqued to. Then proceed to not torque them back to that as if it was “too much”. Sigh.

Not to go too far off topic, but do you recommend torquing to 110 ft-lbs when replacing a barrel on a Tikka?

My standard for just about everything (Remage/Savage nuts, Rem barrels, Tikka barrels) is 80 ft-lbs. It has worked very well for me so far.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Not to go too far off topic, but do you recommend torquing to 110 ft-lbs when replacing a barrel on a Tikka?

My standard for just about everything (Remage/Savage nuts, Rem barrels, Tikka barrels) is 80 ft-lbs. It has worked very well for me so far.

Last I remember the spec from Sako I believe it was 150 newton meters. So I think you’d be safe with 100-120 ft lbs. I do mine at 110-120.