tikka bolt half cocked safety mod?

[Eo12]

has anyone done this modification? and if so, would you recommend it? thanks.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Well thats the dumbest thing I'll see today

 

[BLJ]

Well thats the dumbest thing I'll see today

Made it to 3:16.

I’ll take your word for it.

 

[eightyeight mag]

That’s a great way to sheer your bolt handle off when you drop your rifle.

 

[Dave Thomas]

Why not just use the safety and also keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot? I haven't watched the video and don't plan on it but I'm not modifying anything to have some half cocked safety.

 

[Black-tailed]

Here's something constructive for you from someone who's actually done the modification.

I've been running this mod for a few years on my .308, had it done by a gunsmith, and it's become one of the most valuable things on my hunting rifles ... but only because of the specific way I hunt.

I chase blacktail deer in thick timber on Vancouver Island (similar to the kind of bush hunting, the guys referencing in New Zealand), where the majority of shots are under 100 yards and encounters last seconds. The deer appears, the deer disappears. In that context, any noise during the transition from carrying to shooting can end the stalk. The half-cock position lets me carry with a round chambered and the firing pin physically disengaged - mechanically safer than a standard safe-carry with a cocked firing pin - and go into battery with a silent downward push of the bolt rather than a noisy cycle.

To the replies here: if you're hunting from a stand, walking open country, or anywhere a conventional bolt cycle gives you enough time, you genuinely don't need this and I wouldn't bother. It solves a very specific problem for a very specific style of hunting.

On shearing the bolt handle: Tikka bolts are hardened steel, and if a drop were violent enough to shear a bolt handle at that point, the rifle would have bigger problems regardless of whether the modification had been done. It's the kind of theoretical concern that sounds serious until you think about the actual forces and materials involved.

On "just use the safety" — agreed, and I do. The half-cock position uses the safety to hold the bolt. The firing pin isn't cocked. It's a more mechanically inert state than standard safe-carry, not a less safe one.

Not for everyone. Very much for the hunting I do.

 

[Grizzle]

Fair enough but from another van isle jungle hunter the factory safety works just fine. Years of hiking around the thick bush with no no issues. Sounds a bit like a solution looking for a problem but if it makes you feel safer all the best.

 

[Black-tailed]

Fair enough but from another van isle jungle hunter the factory safety works just fine. Years of hiking around the thick bush with no no issues. Sounds a bit like a solution looking for a problem but if it makes you feel safer all the best.

Fair point - the factory safety works fine and I'd never argue otherwise.

The mod isn't about the safety failing (that's rare on a Tikka unlike other rifles we won't mention), as much as it is about eliminating the last bit of noise and movement when a deer is standing at thirty yards. Disengaging the safety, however quietly, becomes one less thing between you and the shot. Bolt goes quietly down a few degrees, rifle is ready.

There is also a mechanical preference underneath it. I'd rather carry with the firing pin disengaged entirely than rely solely on the safety holding a cocked firing pin away from the primer. The firing pin isn't cocked, and I prefer that regardless of the noise argument.

I understand why gun manufacturers wouldn't offer this from the factory as the liability and the complexity of explaining it to a general market just isn't worth the hassle and potential lawsuits.

Whether any of it matters depends entirely on how you hunt and your personal comfort level carrying a loaded firearm with only the safety between the firing pin and the primer.

Good hunting out there.