hey, wait a minute

[bnsafe]

Ive read thread after thread that says not putting a rail on a tikka is the way to go, then I click on forms thread about the stock and hes taking a rail off to reapply a new rail. what gives????

 

[Formidilosus]

Ive read thread after thread that says not putting a rail on a tikka is the way to go, then I click on forms thread about the stock and hes taking a rail off to reapply a new rail. what gives????

It may come as a surprise that I shoot lots of rifles, set up lots of ways. Sometimes inclination is required, and sometimes evaluating equipment is too.

 

[MHWASH]

Sometimes you have to do things your way. Believe it or not, the masses on RS are not always right, nor do they know what the hell they're talking about.

 

[hereinaz]

Ive read thread after thread that says not putting a rail on a tikka is the way to go, then I click on forms thread about the stock and hes taking a rail off to reapply a new rail. what gives????

Why would you want a rail?

My rifles have a full rail because shooting them long range, I prioritize ability to run a tripod anywhere on the forearm.

 

[bnsafe]

I wasnt trying to be a smart butt, I was asking a legit question. I didnt go with a rail on my tikka because I thought that was the wrong path even tho I prefer them. If theres a reason I was wanting to know.

 

[ElPollo]

Sometimes you have to do things your way. Believe it or not, the masses on RS are not always right, nor do they know what the hell they're talking about.

Gosh, thanks for that. I am going to blindly follow everything you say in your posts because you are obviously knowledgeable and make decisions based solely on data and never just feelings, opinion, or camo patterns and color.

 

[robtattoo]

I wasnt trying to be a smart butt, I was asking a legit question. I didnt go with a rail on my tikka because I thought that was the wrong path even tho I prefer them. If theres a reason I was wanting to know.

You ever want to shoot beyond a few hundred yards, you're going to want a 20 MOA rail, like the one in the pics. Some scopes just run out of elevation on certain rifles.

 

[hereinaz]

You ever want to shoot beyond a few hundred yards, you're going to want a 20 MOA rail, like the one in the pics. Some scopes just run out of elevation on certain rifles.

Oh geez, I thought he was talking about rail on the stock…

My answer is the same as the scope rail too, I don’t have Tikka but shoot long range. I use a rail so that my scope has more adjustment in the turret and so that when I adjust for long range, I am in the middle of my turret rather than at an extreme edge.

From what I see, Form focuses more on the vast majority of hunters who aren’t going to need added MOA on the rail.

Question is still, how are you going to use your rifle.

 

[bnsafe]

thank you for your answer rob an herinaz, I appreciate it. Im pushing 53 and where I live I know of one guy who has a range past a 100 yds. He happens to be my son in law an it only goes to 500. I can count on one hand the number of times Ive even seen that used and the number of times Ive shot over a hundred in my life.
Ive got my answer now we can let this thread die a quick death.

 

[JollyRoger]

Depends on the application like others have said. For normal hunting ranges even out west 0 inclination is usually fine. But shooting way out there requires some additional cant.

For instance my 6CM set up does fine for about 1300-1400 yards. But trying to shoot at a mile I was maxed out elevation in my scope and also holding 10 mils high and 2.5 mils for wind. Not easy

 

[bnsafe]

I should have thought of that, there might have been a bit of vodka celebrating a chiefs win involved but was still wondering. I prefer pic rails but didnt go that route, so thought I would ask.

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

Why do you prefer pic rails?

My thought would be I want to eliminate as many failure/movement points as possible. Having a rail machined straight into the receiver seems better than sticking one on top with 4 tiny screws.

Or, in the case where you need the built in elevation, epoxying the rail to the receiver seems like the next most solid option.

But if there's an advantage of picatinny over the integral Tikka rail I would be interested in learning about it.

 

[Formidilosus]

I wasnt trying to be a smart butt, I was asking a legit question. I didnt go with a rail on my tikka because I thought that was the wrong path even tho I prefer them. If theres a reason I was wanting to know.

Apologies, I read it wrong.


The most reliable, and durable setup up is an integral picatinny rail. After that is the Tikka 16.5mm dovetail with recoil pins. Both are more durable than anything that attaches by 4 tiny screws. However, if shooting past the range where a specific scope runs out of elevation, the way to get that back is to use an inclined rail- “20 MOA rail”.
These can, and are durable, but will always be more failure prone in absolute abuse than an integral rail.

So it’s basically this for Tikka’s-

1). Do I legitimately require more elevation to reach the ranges I actually shoot? If no- UM Rings. If yes, an inclined picatinny rail with recoil pin.

2). If requiring an inclined rail, then I fully degrease everything, use a bonding agent on the rail, thread lock screws, and torque tight.

Using the included rail on a Tikka with Sportsmatch or UM rings is always* the better choice if viable.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

You ever want to shoot beyond a few hundred yards, you're going to want a 20 MOA rail, like the one in the pics. Some scopes just run out of elevation on certain rifles.

Dunno your scopes/calibers but many can do well beyond a few hundred yards on plain rings.

 

[Macintosh]

It only takes about 10 mils in a lot of standard, short-action centerfire cartridges to hit at 1000yards, and thats at sea level. How many people shooting at 800-1000 yards are using a scope that is limited to less than 10 mils of usable travel? Not many, I’d wager.
Seems to me that most of the time an elevated rail is even relevant is shooting past 1000 yards.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

My 2 cents is that if you're in a situation where you're swapping scopes across platforms often, the picatinny rail is far more convenient than remounting the scope over and over. Since that's my situation, I've got Pic rails bonded on my tikkas.

 

[atmat]

My 2 cents is that if you're in a situation where you're swapping scopes across platforms often, the picatinny rail is far more convenient than remounting the scope over and over. Since that's my situation, I've got Pic rails bonded on my tikkas.

Totally agree.

One caveat I’ll add is that if you’re switching between two Tikkas, the UM rings can still do that no problem.

 

[Firth]

With CNC equipment it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to make rings with 20 Moa built in. I only have very limited experience in that area though so I'd be curious to hear someone thoughts on that (@Unknown Munitions). Burris Extreme signature rings work well, but are only for picatinny and I believe using inserts is patented. As mentioned though, I'd thing the eccentricity could be machined right in to the rings. In general, I don't need more elevation for hunting, but I'll take it if I can get it without giving something up elsewhere.

 

[PaulDogs]

Apologies, I read it wrong.


The most reliable, and durable setup up is an integral picatinny rail. After that is the Tikka 16.5mm dovetail with recoil pins. Both are more durable than anything that attaches by 4 tiny screws. However, if shooting past the range where a specific scope runs out of elevation, the way to get that back is to use an inclined rail- “20 MOA rail”.
These can, and are durable, but will always be more failure prone in absolute abuse than an integral rail.

So it’s basically this for Tikka’s-

1). Do I legitimately require more elevation to reach the ranges I actually shoot? If no- UM Rings. If yes, an inclined picatinny rail with recoil pin.

2). If requiring an inclined rail, then I fully degrease everything, use a bonding agent on the rail, thread lock screws, and torque tight.

Using the included rail on a Tikka with Sportsmatch or UM rings is always* the better choice if viable.

If you didn’t require elevation, would you remove the pic rail that comes on the CTR?

 

[Formidilosus]

With CNC equipment it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to make rings with 20 Moa built in. I only have very limited experience in that area though so I'd be curious to hear someone thoughts on that (@Unknown Munitions). Burris Extreme signature rings work well, but are only for picatinny and I believe using inserts is patented. As mentioned though, I'd thing the eccentricity could be machined right in to the rings. In general, I don't need more elevation for hunting, but I'll take it if I can get it without giving something up elsewhere.

The problem is ring spacing. The angle cut into the rings changes as the spacing does. It doesn’t work without using a one piece mount, or one with live centers.