Tikka actions vs Custom Actions

[Ringbill27]

I love every thing about a tikka expect the cartridge options, barrels twists and then recoil pad. Two of those problems can be addressed with a different barrel and the other is a $35 limbsaver.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I want KRG to finish revising their Midas two-stage for the Tikka. If it goes down below 2.5# it may change a lot about my future non-competition rifles. I just like nice two-stage triggers so much I've avoided Tikkas. Which is a shame since my father has a Tikka CTR (that I recommended to him) and I really like its bolt throw and all that.

 

[Nhenry]

Only other issue with .25-06 is brass availability. With .25-06AI you also have to either fireform brass or shoot standard loads to form and build up your brass over time.

I went down the path of necking down and trimming .30-06 brass and I wouldn’t do it again. You’re looking at either multiple steps down or one step and neck turning. It’s a lot of time and hassle to get average brass and it’s really easy to screw up the case necks.

I have some 25-06AI load data from Berger I can share too. It’s all based on 26” barrel, so you’d want to subtract ~200fps for 18” barrel.

Nosler and Norma make pretty solid 25-06 brass ready to load right out the gate and you can find it. The latter is stellar.

 

[Gila]

Other than 20 plus years wear on a T3 firing pin, never had any issues at all with my 270 Win and 300 win mag Tikkas. Conventional bullets fed and fired without fail at 3.34” and were extremely accurate. With the paradigm shift to long, heavy high BC bullets, long action cartridges tend to run up against the wall for COAL. Some 20th Century production rifle actions are slow to get behind the action length “eight ball”.

 

[DangerRanger]

I’ve had Curtis, bighorn, bat and defiance and now have sold them all and consolidated to 2 tikkas one for comps and one for hunting. Feed/ejection reliability has never been better. Lack of binding in poor conditions or when I do my job poorly is a major upgrade imo.

I shot a match a little while ago in the mud and rain and we used my rifle to guard a defiance from mud splatter, it was going directly on my bolt and action and it never skipped a beat on stage. I have no interest in going back

Fwiw I liked my customs too, aside from the bighorn. I just like these better as of right now. I’ve also noticed customs feeding really benefits from a great smith tuning them. My defiance was tuned by Alex wheeler and was much smoother and better feeding than other customs I’ve run

 

[Wprinkle]

We did a shooting weekend in 2019 on my ranch back in Northern CA. Wind was calmish on Saturday and it went decently for everyone’s guns. One gun quit making hits and it turned out to be a loss of zero (Leupold Mark 5).

Sunday the wind and dust picked up really bad. We pressed on and continued the 10 hour match to close it out. We got our asses kicked by those conditions.

We had 3 actions fail to chamber and shoot due to dust and dirt getting in the guns. 2 were Lone Peak and one was a BAT. All of the Tikkas and Sakos ran with zero issues.

I would say it depends on the type of competition you’re in.

Which BAT?

 

[SanAntonioShooter]

I have been following folks building off Tikka Actions. Is the Tikka action once you do all the upgrades really as good as a custom action or is the modularity of the action iswhat draws people to them. I have zero experience with a Tikka I have handled one in the LGS.

I have been thinking about buying one to see. I have defiance actions, bat vesper , lone peak and impact precision. Can anyone that has both Tikka action builds and custom action builds. Give some insight and honest opinion ?

It would be nice to purchase just the tikka action and start there but buying the rifle is cheaper smh

 

[Timberline001]

It would be nice to purchase just the tikka action and start there but buying the rifle is cheaper smh

Takes an extra 3 minutes to relief cut and remove the barrel. Makes it more fun if you ask me

 

[SanAntonioShooter]

Takes an extra 3 minutes to relief cut and remove the barrel. Makes it more fun if you ask me

Why relief cut?

 

[Marbles]

Why relief cut?

Not aways needed, but the factory spins barrels on tight and it can be hard to break it free in some cases.

 

[Timberline001]

Why relief cut?

Makes it quick and easy and no stress on the action. Without the relief you can end up wrenching its fo an hour or more.

 

[SanAntonioShooter]

Makes it quick and easy and no stress on the action. Without the relief you can end up wrenching its fo an hour or more.

I’m a noob so that’s good to know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Timberline001]

I’m a noob so that’s good to know.


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It’s silly how easy they pop off once relived and I just use a sawzall. I’d much rather do that than put stress on the action to possibly re-sell a barrel for $40-$100

 

[gtriple]

It’s silly how easy they pop off once relived and I just use a sawzall. I’d much rather do that than put stress on the action to possibly re-sell a barrel for $40-$100

How does unscrewing a barrel put any more stress on the action than when the barrel was screwed in?

I've removed a dozen Tikka barrels. Just have it secured tight and whack the Wheeler wrench hard with a rubber mallet or sledgehammer. They've all spun off.

 

[Timberline001]

How does unscrewing a barrel put any more stress on the action than when the barrel was screwed in?

I've removed a dozen Tikka barrels. Just have it secured tight and whack the Wheeler wrench hard with a rubber mallet or sledgehammer. They've all spun off.

Hitting hit with a mallet certainly is more stress than screwing one on on and torquing it to 80lbs.

After doing 20-25 and having a few that took my entire body weight and someone sitting on my bench I started relief cutting and havnt looked back.

 

[gtriple]

Hitting hit with a mallet certainly is more stress than screwing one on on and torquing it to 80lbs.

After doing 20-25 and having a few that took my entire body weight and someone sitting on my bench I started relief cutting and havnt looked back.

I disagree. The shock/impact of a mallet hitting a wrench is much less likely to stress the action than when it was torqued on originally. All that is doing is overcoming the torque + static friction.

When they torque on the barrel, they are placing continuous stress on the action.

I'm a mechanical/civil PE and have worked around steel fab for 10+ years.

You definitely should not try to pry a barrel off. That will absolutely cause more stress to an action than either of the above. It is all about a sharp impact.

 

[SloppyJ]

Add some drywall tape before you hit it with your purse next time.

Yeah they can be a pain but there's nothing special about it. Just torque the vises down as much as you can and then pop it with a deadblow hammer while holding pressure.

Buy the complete rifle that you can get a deal on and sell the extra parts and barrel.

 

[Timberline001]

I disagree. The shock/impact of a mallet hitting a wrench is much less likely to stress the action than when it was torqued on originally. All that is doing is overcoming the torque + static friction.

When they torque on the barrel, they are placing continuous stress on the action.

I'm a mechanical/civil PE and have worked around steel fab for 10+ years.

You definitely should not try to pry a barrel off. That will absolutely cause more stress to an action than either of the above. It is all about a sharp impact.

Or just stress relieve the barrel and give it a tap and be done.

 

[SloppyJ]

Or just stress relieve the barrel and give it a tap and be done.

Why waste a perfectly good barrel?

 

[Timberline001]

Why waste a perfectly good barrel

Because I view tikkas as donor actions. I’m going to do everything I can to preserve the action and saving a factory barrel isn’t a concern of mine.