TIGHT Tikka Loading

[hunt1up]

Last year I had a lefty Tikka .300WSM customized by Mike at Hells Canyon. I love the gun. It shoots lights out and works perfectly. Today I was doing some shooting in preparation for an Aoudad hunt next week. I was on shot 20 or so and I lightly cycled my first load from the magazine and the bolt would NOT come down. I tried and tried. I removed the bolt with the round attached and checked for an obstruction and found none. I fiddled with it for 5 minutes and finally got the bolt down and shot the round without issue. I proceeded to shoot another 8-10 rounds and all were pretty tight loading. I’m shooting factory Nosler Trophy Grade Accubonds. I’ve put several boxes through it and all of a sudden this started.

Is the gun just dirty? Maybe it’s the ammo? This is my 3rd Tikka and I’ve never had any issues. Has anyone had a similar experience?

 

[QuackAttack]

Look at the back of the bolt lugs where they cam downward. Is it rough, galled, dirty? Is there debris in the lug abutments where they interface with the bolt lugs?

 

[Johbran]

I’ve got a brand new tikka t3x in 6.5 that is doing the same thing. Shot great sighting it in and getting it ready to hunt but noticed on the first day I loaded it to hunt the bolt closed very hard. The odd thing is it only happened on some, not all shell. Still haven’t figured it out.

 

[Logan T]

I have one 22-250 and my buddy has the same tikka 22-250. Have the same issue with factory ammo. About 1/4-1/3 of factory ammo won’t let the bolt shut. Have to check all the ammo as soon as we get a new box to sort out the shells that won’t work. Very frustrating. We’ve put micrometers on all the ammo and can’t find what the deal is. Has got to be a tikka issue. The ammo that won’t work in the tikkas will load fine in other rifles. There’s a whole lot of us that have other tikkas in other cartridges and have had zero issues like this or any other.

 

[hunt1up]

I talked to Mike. He suggested I clean everything well and that it’s likely inconsistency in the factory ammo. I disassembled the bolt and cleaned and grime off it. I put some carb cleaner through the action and barrel. The bolt is cerekoted so there was a little buildup from that. I removed the firing pin and just cycled two boxes through it. 11 of 40 cycled good-decent and the rest were rough-tight so I set them aside. So at least I have some to hunt with. I’ll run my last two boxes through it to see how those go.

It’s very frustrating since I’ve put several boxes through it that were smooth as butter.

 

[hunt1up]

I grabbed the older two boxes of the same ammo I had in the safe. I cycled every round through the gun perfectly. Butter smooth. It does seem like there’s some substantial variance from batch to batch. As it stands I have several boxes that’ll be pretty hard to use.

 

[QuackAttack]

If you really want to know, buy a set of headspace gauges. That’s your 100% answer as the gauge doesn’t lie.

It should close on a Go gauge.

 

[Mulyhuntr]

Throw the ammo in a case headspace gauge as well.

 

[ahlgringo]

Throw the ammo in a case headspace gauge as well.

This, check the brass on the “tight” ones and measure vs easy cycling ones. Had a similar issue in my t3with some factory rds. Now just load all my own.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hunt1up]

Thanks guys. I’ll do some checking on the tight stuff. Fortunately I have enough good cycling stuff to complete my hunt with some to spare.

 

[AkRyan]

Are you shooting heavy bullets or common weight?

 

[hunt1up]

Are you shooting heavy bullets or common weight?

These are 180 grain.

I called Nosler since there's clearly some variation across their production runs. The gentleman on the phone was extremely helpful. They're sending me a prepaid label and are going to exchance my 2.5 boxes for 3 fresh ones from the next run that will have a shorter head space. No questions asked. Excellent service right there.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Carbon buildup can cause this and if that's what it is carb cleaner isn't going to remove it, you need a good solvent and most likely a mechanical advantage..