Recontour factory Tikka barrel?

[HighUintas]

Has anyone had a factory Tikka recontoured? I am wondering about the possibility of inducing stress removing material along the length and then having the barrel shoot like garbage.

I have two Tikka barrels I'm considering: a SS lite 223, and a SS d18 243. A local guy said it would probably be about 100-150 per barrel.

The 223 I am having him cut to 16" and was also thinking of having him shave about 0.100 off the diameter all the way back to the tenon, just to make it as light as possible. This one is not a big deal to not recontour... It's already light.

The d18 243 is still factory length of 22.25" and it sucks to carry with a suppressor on it. So, I was thinking I might have him cut it to 18" and recontour to balance it out. It has maybe 300 rounds on it.

Thoughts on how risky it would be to recontour?

 

[Nine Banger]

This seems like one of those projects that sounds totally reasonable on paper but gunsmiths will try to tell you not to mess with.

I like your style.

 

[HighUintas]

This seems like one of those projects that sounds totally reasonable on paper but gunsmiths will try to tell you not to mess with.

I like your style.

Surprisingly, neither he nor LRI told me it's not worth messing with. They were both very helpful in discussing the possibilities.

For the 223, as long as it doesn't screw up the barrel it would be worth the cost since the barrel has nearly endless barrel life.

With the 243.... Eh? Maybe 2000 in barrel life. The only reason I'm considering doing it and not just selling it and finding a regular lite contour is because I throated it to seat bullets farther out and it shoots really well currently. So I don't want to mess that up, but I still hunt a lot and it super sucks to carry. See below.

 

[Formidilosus]

Has anyone had a factory Tikka recontoured? I am wondering about the possibility of inducing stress removing material along the length and then having the barrel shoot like garbage.

I have two Tikka barrels I'm considering: a SS lite 223, and a SS d18 243. A local guy said it would probably be about 100-150 per barrel.

The 223 I am having him cut to 16" and was also thinking of having him shave about 0.100 off the diameter all the way back to the tenon, just to make it as light as possible. This one is not a big deal to not recontour... It's already light.

The d18 243 is still factory length of 22.25" and it sucks to carry with a suppressor on it. So, I was thinking I might have him cut it to 18" and recontour to balance it out. It has maybe 300 rounds on it.

Thoughts on how risky it would be to recontour?

Some correctly, recontouring is just fine. Done incorrectly, it can cause issues- like any other gunsmith job done incorrectly.

 

[HighUintas]

Some correctly, recontouring is just fine. Done incorrectly, it can cause issues- like any other gunsmith job done incorrectly.

Do you have any info on done correctly vs done incorrectly?

 

[Formidilosus]

Do you have any info on done correctly vs done incorrectly?

Not technical information. What I’ve heard is someone just doing it too fast/sloppy. But I am not positive the reasons. Any good, legitimate shop should be able to do it without issue.

 

[gbflyer]

No experience with a tikka barrel specifically. I contoured a few blanks out of the desire to educate myself in the operation. Painfully slow without CNC. If kept cool during the process I can’t see why it would hurt your tikka barrel. I will not mess with one that’s a hummer. To me it isn’t worth the risk for a few unnoticeable ounces.

 

[silasbowhunter]

I’m sure it would work out great! Why not just do some “aggressive” fluting if you are unsure?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BCsteve]

 

[Nine Banger]

I’m reminded of myself asking to get a factory tikka barrel fluted and being told that hammer forged barrels can’t be fluted and then LRI said “no problem."

The dudes that know...know.

 

[Arcola]

Why not flute them? That's a proven process and can yield a fair bit of weight savings.

 

[HighUintas]

Why not flute them? That's a proven process and can yield a fair bit of weight savings.

Not sure of the difference in weight, but assumed that recontouring would remove more weight.

 

[HighUintas]

From my calculations using pac nors weight calculator, I'd knock roughly 6.5oz off by removing 0.100 in diameter back to the tenon from a 16" factory lite contour. That's pretty substantial. I think a 223 16" barrel recontoured that way would come in at somewhere around 26oz.