SRS Tikka 20 moa rail

[blacktailcentral]

I have 2 tikkas with the srs 20 moa rail and have had issues with torquing the rail to the action with the T10 screws. When torquing down the bits can’t handle the recommended torque. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[The Harbor Master]

Watching... I have used the Area 419 rails but am eyeing the SRS for the next rifle.

Edit... are the bits having issues? Or are you stripping the screw heads?

 

[wind gypsy]

You cant get them to take 15 in/lbs? That is pretty light.

 

[blacktailcentral]

Watching... I have used the Area 419 rails but am eyeing the SRS for the next rifle.

Edit... are the bits having issues? Or are you stripping the screw heads?

Bits are twisting, this is with a wheeler fat wrench

 

[blacktailcentral]

You cant get them to take 15 in/lbs? That is pretty light.

I agree very light, from my initial research most t10 torque bits are rated to about 10-15 inch pounds. So maybe they need t15 to handle the necessary torque

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

Bits are twisting, this is with a wheeler fat wrench

I’ve had that happen use better bits

 

[WeiserBucks]

use better bits

This ^^^^^^

 

[blacktailcentral]

I’ve had that happen use better bits

Any recommendations on bits, have tried milwaukee and a few others with the same results

 

[WeiserBucks]

Any recommendations on bits, have tried milwaukee and a few others with the same results

I've got a set of Blue Point bits that I've used for 15+ years and never boned one.

 

[Macintosh]

I had this issue with a rail a while back, dewalt bits were just crumbling at less than 15inlb. I tried a bunch of bits and finally managed to get the screws in but clearly the t10 bits are too small if the majority of bits i tried didnt work. Its frustrating to say the least. I ended up swapping that rail out to a different one (not because of this) that had larger bits, so problem solved.

Fwiw im fairly certain it was an area 419 rail that I had the issue with. Perhaps you can get ahold of the same screws with a t15 head?

 

[The Harbor Master]

Wow. I've seen bits deform a bit but never at that low torque. Maybe I just haven't noticed. You'd think Milwaukee bits would be fine...

 

[The Harbor Master]

Can you source screws with the same dimensions but as T15 or T20?

 

[The Harbor Master]

Resurrecting this thread to just say, installed an SRS 20moa this evening, torqued bolts all the way to 20lbs with no issue, didn't feel like very much at all. Used Milwaukee bit, fat wrench, and a little nail polish.

 

[blacktailcentral]

Resurrecting this thread to just say, installed an SRS 20moa this evening, torqued bolts all the way to 20lbs with no issue, didn't feel like very much at all. Used Milwaukee bit, fat wrench, and a little nail polish.

My fat wrench was definitely overtorqueing, i got some fix it sticks and have had no problems since

 

[blacktailcentral]

Hey all, just had my 2nd um rail come loose on my tikka….. I used quick sticks to torque down with paint pen. I’ve shot a lot of rounds over the past year but pretty disappointed why is this happening

 

[The Harbor Master]

Hey all, just had my 2nd um rail come loose on my tikka….. I used quick sticks to torque down with paint pen. I’ve shot a lot of rounds over the past year but pretty disappointed why is this happening

That sucks man. Very curious on your install process and how hard you use them. I haven't babied mine at all and it's nowhere close to coming loose, thats of course without loctite/bonding.

How are you applying your paint pen? Are you degreasing the fasteners first? What torque did you end up achieving with the fix it sticks?

 

[blacktailcentral]

That sucks man. Very curious on your install process and how hard you use them. I haven't babied mine at all and it's nowhere close to coming loose, thats of course without loctite/bonding.

How are you applying your paint pen? Are you degreasing the fasteners first? What torque did you end up achieving with the fix it sticks?

Wiped down with alcohol, then small amount of paint pen then 15-20”# and after a year and a lot of round it came loose….. thought I was shooting like sh*t then grabbed scopes and saw the rail move

 

[The Harbor Master]

Wiped down with alcohol, then small amount of paint pen then 15-20”# and after a year and a lot of round it came loose….. thought I was shooting like sh*t then grabbed scopes and saw the rail move

Yikes. If you're happy with the rail otherwise it would be worth bonding. Also, I'm not a gunsmith but here's how I've mounted my rails, without issue.

>degrease fasteners, action threads, and rail with acetone
>loosely align and mount rail, lightly hand tight
>one at a time, remove fastener, apply small "blob" of nail polish to fastener threads, replace and finger tighten
>once all screws are nail polished and replaced, tighten to 20-22 in lbs
>use paint pen to create witness mark on screw head/rail, to quickly confirm nothing is coming loose.

I realize this isn't groud breaking, especially on this forum... switching from loctite to nail polish has served me well (I skipped over paint pen as a thread locker) and I haven't had issues yet. Like I said, I probably haven't shot the volume it sounds you have, and this is anecdotal. But hopefully it provides some insight.

@Salmon River Solutions might chime in on their preferred mounting procedure but it doesn't sound like you did anything "wrong."

 

[Castle Rock]

Any rail I use gets bonded down with epoxy including the screws.

 

[blacktailcentral]

I also wonder why srs chose that size of screw, seems like they could have gone up in size to allow for more torque on the rail