Not my Tikka! Fired engaging safety

[Formidilosus]

TLDR; Had the same experience with a brand new Tikka with 9 rounds through it.

Crazy I didn't find this thread last year when I experienced an AD with my brand new Tikka! I won a T3x 6.5 PRC at our local Mule Deer banquet. It sat in the safe for a bit because I had just purchased a Bergara 7PRC. Ended up having to send my Bergara back for accuracy issues so I swapped my NX-8 onto the Tikka and headed to the range. 3 rounds to get it zeroed and then shot a couple 3 round groups. Very impressive right out of the box this gun was extremely accurate!

Anyway rifle season rolls around and we are going for a walk in the woods and we stop so my wife can re-lace her boots before we creep up this little ridge we always find elk bedded on the other side of. I have my rifle laying on my pack (pointed away from us of course) I chambered a round and when i flip the gun to safe it goes off. Scared the shat out of both of us. Still had my muzzle cover on the barrel, blew the crap out of that.

I unload the gun as I am explaining to my freaked out wife that all I had done was push the safety back. Strapped it to my pack and told her I would just be spotting for her that weekend. I couldn't duplicate it on the mountain and didn't want to mess with it and certainly didn't trust it.

I ended up getting my Bergara back that following week so I stuck that Tikka in the safe for the duration of the season. I was getting ready to box it up and send it back to Tikka and decided to take it apart. Found the loosey goosey trigger screw. Easy fix, although now I am gonna check that torque value again. Pretty sure i did 65 in/lb.

It needs to be degreased, thread locked heavily, and tightened way tighter than 65in-lbs. spec is 120 something or 130 something in-lbs. Get it as tight as possible.

 

[nm.otter]

Haven't seen the spec on those, but mine came back from a well-known gunsmith with so little that I could unscrew it with thumb and forefinger on an Allen key -- the hard way. I stripped it with acetone, put a drop of 262 on it, and re-torqued to about 80 in-lb. Zero movement in the ~600 rounds since.

 

[Bcleck90]

What torque wrench are you guys using to get 100in lbs+? I’m about to remove mine and need to figure something out soon.

 

[Formidilosus]

What torque wrench are you guys using to get 100in lbs+? I’m about to remove mine and need to figure something out soon.

Just get it as tight as you can.

 

[nm.otter]

What torque wrench are you guys using to get 100in lbs+

Precision Instruments M2R200HX.

You're compressing a machined slab of aluminum using a hardened steel screw threaded into a steel action. It'll take a lot.

 

[Walker6]

Fyi, per earlier in this thread…



1.21 gigawatts…

 

[JoeK]

Precision Instruments M2R200HX.

You're compressing a machined slab of aluminum using hardened steel screw threaded into a steel action. It'll take a lot.

I've broken plenty of bolts and screws wrenching in various applications so I have an affinity for torque wrenches anytime there's a recommended torque value.

 

[JoeK]

I got back and took a look first thing.

It was loose, just a bit. Enough for a small wiggle.

Using forms post above (133 in lbs) I took it apart. I applied torque like I have been with my Harbor Frieght Allen wrench (short handle torque but all I could muster).

Then I used a normal ft lb torque wrench to 11 ft lbs (plus a smidge). It turned at least another 1/4 turn. (Note: this is a smaller 3/8 wrench with a smaller torque range)

BL: I don’t think I’ve been using the full 133 spec’d torque. And guessing those without a wrench or something other than a maxed out Allen key are getting it either. But I’ve been wrong before. Guessing I was closer to 80-90 in lbs using just the Allen wrench.

Time to check the tikka family for similar.

It was a good lesson to learn and no one got hurt, so counting it as a win.

Appreciate the replies.

also from earlier this thread ~11ft lbs. It's a tricky number to reach reliably with a lot of common torque wrenches but another post suggested this would be in a common range for bicycle torque tools