Hard bolt closing on brand new tikka

[coast range]

So my buddies son just bought a new 7mm08 tikka. Bought several boxes of Barnes vortex ammo. It is hard to close the bolt on that thing. I went down and shot it after they were telling me about it.
I own 3 tikkas and have never had any of those issues. This all just happened an hour ago so not a lot of problem solving yet. First I was going to bring my tikka 08 down there and see if I had trouble closing my bolt. I was going to bring my calipers and check the rounds.
But what do you guys think is wrong? I often hear of chambers tight but tikkas? I’m thinking the ammo?

 

[waspocrew]

Could just be the ammo. I’d go with a different brand and see how that chambers.

 

[SDHNTR]

Long shouldered ammo. Not uncommon

 

[coast range]

Yeah I have been googling since. Like I said I just went down there to see what was up. He just had a brand new rifle that’s being picky. I told him we will figure it out

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

I only ever had this issue with some Hornady ammo, tikka and a M70 were the rifles. 243 and 270win. After resizing non issue. And didn’t experience anything odd or concerning after firing the factory rounds.

 

[Pharmseller]

How did it shoot?

How close to Eugene, if I may be of assistance?




P

 

[coast range]

It’s shooting pret

How did it shoot?

How close to Eugene, if I may be of assistance?




P

its shooting pretty good good but just stiff bolt close. I tried 2 different ammos and they both were tight.
I marketed up one of his rounds and chambered it. If you look close you can see a mark on the shoulder

 

[huntinfool84]

My new 22-250 has a hard closing bolt, shoots phenomenal though. I’ve only shot Hornady factory ammo through it so far.

 

[Macintosh]

It’s almost certainly the ammo. Try a different brand or batch of ammo and it should be fine.

 

[Pharmseller]

It’s almost certainly the ammo. Try a different brand or batch of ammo and it should be fine.

In post #7 he says he tried 2 types.

It might not be the ammo.




P

 

[Pharmseller]

It’s shooting pret

its shooting pretty good good but just stiff bolt close. I tried 2 different ammos and they both were tight.
I marketed up one of his rounds and chambered it. If you look close you can see a mark on the shoulder

Did you try the ammo in your Tikka?

I have a couple Tikkas in 7mm-08, if he’s close to Coburg I might could help.




P

 

[NE Herd Bull]

I can report the exact same occurrence.

Bought a slightly used Tikka 7-08 to set up for a young hunter.
Mounted a scope on it.
Just to see how it would shoot, I picked up a single box of HSM factory loads from the local vendor.
Memory serves they were from the "Low Recoil " product line.

Bolt would not close on that ammo.
I also marked up the ogive and shoulder,
Compared to your included pic, I noted very similar marks on my rounds.

Ordered some basic Federal loads, and they chambered just fine. Gun shot lights out in fact.

 

[steelheadmike]

I had similar issues with the 150-eldx factory ammo in my T3X stainless light 7-08. I could not close the bolt on about 2/3 of the rounds. Every other ammo I have used worked fine. I did not try to diagnose the problem as there were other rounds that shot well in the rifle.

 

[magtech]

You could measure the chamber and compare it to specs. Only times i have ever had a bolt hard to close were :
Brass too long (that one was hard to tell initially)
Shoulder not bumped far enough
Jamming bullet into lands

If there isnt an obstruction issue, and the bolt closes easily without a round in, I would try to measure the chamber and see how it compares to what it is supposed to be and go from there.

 

[Hackleback]

I'd give the chamber a good scrubbing first and see what happens.

 

[Vern400]

You didn't really define what it means to have a bolt that's hard to close. If you can push a closed with a palm of your hand, holding the rifle with your other hand it's not that big of a deal. Shoot it.

If you're having to grab the gun and maybe push the bolt twice to get it closed it's probably a headspace issue with the cartridge. That's assuming that the boat closes really nice on its own.

Just get some different ammo from a different maker and try it out. I have seen some Chambers lately that are close to the low end of Saami specs.

Headspace interference of even 0.001 in can cause a pretty good bit of difficulty.

 

[coast range]

So we went and shot a few more last night. It does seem like it’s getting better. I brought down my tikka and it was hard to close also, not as hard but harder than usual.
At this point I think he is going to go down the reloading rabbit hole.

 

[Macintosh]

^^that speaks to it being mainly an ammo issue. A chamber at the small end of spec, combined with ammo on the big end or slightly long, and you have hard closing.

 

[Motown]

I have 6 Tikka rifles and none of them will chamber Nosler factory ammo properly. I never had any issue with any Hornady or Federal ammo though.

 

[skipper907]

It’s shooting pret

its shooting pretty good good but just stiff bolt close. I tried 2 different ammos and they both were tight.
I marketed up one of his rounds and chambered it. If you look close you can see a mark on the shoulder

ether the round is not properly size ( even if factory ) or the chamber was not properly headspace if you are seeing contact on the shoulder of the case