Tikka heavy bolt lift

[Dos XX]

Can you close the bolt easily on a fired case, no bullet?

Can you resize a case? Don't know if you reload or not. If you do, see if you can bump shoulder back a few thousandths at a time and find a length it will chamber.

 

[Lawnboi]

Have you tried different kinds of ammo? Sometimes you get a lot that the brass is a little long on

 

[Macintosh]

I had this happen with one particular batch of ammo. In searching for a solution it appears at least a handful of others have had this issue--I have heard tikka holds headspace to pretty close tolerances, but my guess is that they hold it to the small-end of the allowable tolerance? So any ammo that is at the large-end of aceptable length or slightly over would cause this. In my case, I sent the ammo back to the manufacturer who said they would replace it no questions asked...aside from waiting forever for replacement, that's great. But sounds like you have it with a bunch of ammo, so perhaps its even smaller? Anyway, if you tried multiple brands of ammo and they are all hard close/open and your other bolt also is hard open/close, it sure sounds like a headspace problem caused by the barrel or the action. What caliber is it? Maybe someone has headspace gauges you could borrow to at least get a definitive sense of the problem that you could use to work with beretta? (i.e. send them a video of it not closing on the go gauge with both bolts or something like that and they are more likely to go right to the proper fix?). Did you buy the gun through a retailer that could help you or help get you in touch with someone at beretta that could offer some guidance?

Edit: I see you said it was also a 270. Know anyone local with a 30-06/270 go gauge?

 

[TAArrowood]

Not saying that headspace isn't/could be the problem, but it is really hard to imagine that the rifle which is supposed to be test fired with live ammo at the factory would have left the factory with this issue... I have several Tikkas and have never had this issue with factory ammo... With handloads yes, but not with factory... Good luck.. Hope you get it resolved.. Check the locking lugs on the bolt and in the receiver to be sure they are smooth with no machining marks... Wouldn't take much, especially if your headspace is really close to min.. of tolerance..

 

[Western Hunter270]

I had this happen with one particular batch of ammo. In searching for a solution it appears at least a handful of others have had this issue--I have heard tikka holds headspace to pretty close tolerances, but my guess is that they hold it to the small-end of the allowable tolerance? So any ammo that is at the large-end of aceptable length or slightly over would cause this. In my case, I sent the ammo back to the manufacturer who said they would replace it no questions asked...aside from waiting forever for replacement, that's great. But sounds like you have it with a bunch of ammo, so perhaps its even smaller? Anyway, if you tried multiple brands of ammo and they are all hard close/open and your other bolt also is hard open/close, it sure sounds like a headspace problem caused by the barrel or the action. What caliber is it? Maybe someone has headspace gauges you could borrow to at least get a definitive sense of the problem that you could use to work with beretta? (i.e. send them a video of it not closing on the go gauge with both bolts or something like that and they are more likely to go right to the proper fix?). Did you buy the gun through a retailer that could help you or help get you in touch with someone at beretta that could offer some guidance?

Edit: I see you said it was also a 270. Know anyone local with a 30-06/270 go gauge?

I bought it from sportsmans warehouse so I'm sure they could get me in touch with someone. And no I don't know anyone with a gauge but I'll start asking around for sure.

 

[Western Hunter270]

Have you tried different kinds of ammo? Sometimes you get a lot that the brass is a little long on

Yes, I've tried at least 6 different kinds of ammo

 

[TAArrowood]

Sometimes if the threads on the barrel or receiver are not perfectly clean or the threads don't mate/start perfectly it can kick up a tiny sliver of metal that can find its way into the locking lug area and still be attached to the barrel or receiver and just enough to snag and constrict the locking lugs as they try to seat themselves on bolt lockup.. It sure would be nice to have a borescope or similar and inspect the locking lug area for anything that might be binding the lugs... Don't force the lugs too much you can gall the lugs and make the problem worse.. I think I would use some black magic marker on the back of the bolts locking lugs and insert and cycle the bolt with live round to see if you are showing any unexpected or uneven contact on the lugs.

Another thing to check... Take the bolt out of the receiver and look at the end of the barrel around the chamber... Does it look shiny.. Tikka stamps the caliber, etc into the end of the barrel around the chamber (between chamber and barrel threads.. If the stamped info was stamped too deeply it would cause the area around the stamp to raise up and possibly contact the tip end of the bolt on close up.. That would be the area on the bolt that surrounds the cartridge head and comes closest to the barrel on lockup.. Just throwing out ideas for things you can easily check yourself.. if it were this it could make it look like a headspace problem, but may/may not be..

 

[Gila]

With a new rifle, I clean the crap out of the bore. I brush out the bore with bore cleaner and pay attention to the chamber when running patches through. I also take a dry cotton swab after I clean the bore to be sure the rim of the chamber is clean. Tikka test fires their rifles before leaving the factory so the possibility that the headspace is off is almost nil.

The issues you describe can happen if the bullet is sticking too far out of the case and is jammed into the lands. If so, you should see lands marks on the nose of the bullet. Also look for marks on the brass at the base of the neck. All factory ammo should have a max COAL of 3.34” and should fit. Also if it is a reload and you are using new brass without full sizing could cause it. If you are using brass fired in another rifle and didn’t do a full resize could cause it as well.

 

[Macintosh]

A search on this site will show several threads from people with this issue involving one lot of ammo--sharpie on the brass will show it is making contact with the front of the chamber and bolt and causing the hard bolt movement. That's exactly what happened to me. On mine, I colored brass shoulder and base with sharpie and cycled it in the action--sharpie was rubbed off from the shoulder and base, showing the brass was contacting the chamber and bolt face hard enough to wear it off. If this is the same--sounds like it, you can try that for free--it's happening with 6 different brands of ammo (eliminating the "one lot of ammo" theory), and 2 different bolts (eliminating the "it's the bolt" theory). coloring the shoulder on some brass and seeing if it wears the color off the brass should show if its a headspace issue versus something else preventing normal lockup. At that point I don't understand what it could be other than a headspace issue? I'm no pro, so if I'm missing something I'm all ears, please edumacate me--having had it happen myself to a lesser degree I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Western Hunter270]

A search on this site will show several threads from people with this issue involving one lot of ammo--sharpie on the brass will show it is making contact with the front of the chamber and bolt and causing the hard bolt movement. That's exactly what happened to me. On mine, I colored brass shoulder and base with sharpie and cycled it in the action--sharpie was rubbed off from the shoulder and base, showing the brass was contacting the chamber and bolt face hard enough to wear it off. If this is the same--sounds like it, you can try that for free--it's happening with 6 different brands of ammo (eliminating the "one lot of ammo" theory), and 2 different bolts (eliminating the "it's the bolt" theory). coloring the shoulder on some brass and seeing if it wears the color off the brass should show if its a headspace issue versus something else preventing normal lockup. At that point I don't understand what it could be other than a headspace issue? I'm no pro, so if I'm missing something I'm all ears, please edumacate me--having had it happen myself to a lesser degree I'm genuinely curious.

I didn't mention it in my post but I did try coloring the neck and shoulder of one of my casings and there were no noticeable marks and it surely didn't rub any off like in your case.

 

[Dos XX]

I didn't mention it in my post but I did try coloring the neck and shoulder of one of my casings and there were no noticeable marks and it surely didn't rub any off like in your case.

Just to prove that the bullet is or is not touching the rifling, try to chamber a fired piece of brass, no bullet in it.

 

[Western Hunter270]

Just to prove that the bullet is or is not touching the rifling, try to chamber a fired piece of brass, no bullet in it.

I just tried and it does the same thing with a spent casing as well

 

[SDHNTR]

Dumb question…. Is it stiff when working the bolt unloaded?

 

[SDHNTR]

Also, with bolt removed can you actuate the ejector plunger?

 

[Western Hunter270]

Dumb question…. Is it stiff when working the bolt unloaded?

No. It's smooth as butter when unloaded.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I didn't mention it in my post but I did try coloring the neck and shoulder of one of my casings and there were no noticeable marks and it surely didn't rub any off like in your case.

Color the base/head area. Hell color the whole shell. It sounds to me like it may have been chambered with a worn reamer and you're getting brass bind somewhere in that chamber, you just need to identify where, and why.

 

[Western Hunter270]

Also, with bolt removed can you actuate the ejector plunger?

Yes. It feels pretty normal to me and is the exact same stiffness as my other tikka bolt

 

[SDHNTR]

Color the entire case with a sharpie. It could be rubbing somewhere other than the shoulder and neck.

 

[SDHNTR]

Color the base/head area. Hell color the whole shell. It sounds to me like it may have been chambered with a worn reamer and you're getting brass bind somewhere in that chamber, you just need to identify where, and why.

Yes, this.

 

[Western Hunter270]

Color the base/head area. Hell color the whole shell. It sounds to me like it may have been chambered with a worn reamer and you're getting brass bind somewhere in that chamber, you just need to identify where, and why.

Color the entire case with a sharpie. It could be rubbing somewhere other than the shoulder and neck.

I'll give this a try after dinner. Thanks fellas.