Tikka Nitriding

[swavescatter]

I have a feeling that more of the dragging you are feeling is the deep flutes cut into the bolt.

Was the bolt fluted prior to the lightening job you had done?

Not sure. It was all done in parallel I believe before nitriding. I gave it the old Hawk Tua with CLP and it’s fine now. No better than stock as far as I can tell.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Interesting
I know nothing of PRS so I’m interested in how bolt lift would improve your scores or hinder your scores?


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It won’t. And PRS is gay anyway.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I have a feeling that more of the dragging you are feeling is the deep flutes cut into the bolt.

Was the bolt fluted prior to the lightening job you had done?

Factory fluted tikka and Sako bolts have zero “drag” feeling. If I handed you one of each blind folded and told you to run the action 50 times, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Maybe the aftermarket flutes are deeper.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The “lightening” and “nitriding” or “coating” of Tikka actions is just plain not needed at all. A well done nitride job can have benefits but it’s rarely done well, and when it’s not done well it’s a net negative. The lightening of the action and fluting of the bolts are net negatives across the board.

Leave the guns alone and spend that money on ammo and gas money to your shooting spots. Shoot enough that you need that money for another barrel instead.

 

[swavescatter]

Factory fluted tikka and Sako bolts have zero “drag” feeling. If I handed you one of each blind folded and told you to run the action 50 times, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Maybe the aftermarket flutes are deeper.

The UM (Kampfeld?) flutes on the bolt are much sharper than the factory flutes on my Ember.

The “lightening” and “nitriding” or “coating” of Tikka actions is just plain not needed at all. A well done nitride job can have benefits but it’s rarely done well, and when it’s not done well it’s a net negative. The lightening of the action and fluting of the bolts are net negatives across the board.

Leave the guns alone and spend that money on ammo and gas money to your shooting spots. Shoot enough that you need that money for another barrel instead.

Agreed. Learned a lesson here...

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Preference on lube?

Use whatever your wife has out on the counter in the kitchen. A little goes a long way. I bring the bolts in, apply with a paper towel, and I’m out before she notices.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I don’t think it has to do with the flutes, I just think the surfaces need to adsorb some oil, esp in areas we took for granted were already lubed/didn’t need it on the factory action.

 

[ljalberta]

I’m getting the nitride, pockets and fluting done on one for the heck of it, but suspect I won’t touch the actions and bolts of my other Tikkas. Sure looks pretty cool though.

 

[khuber84]

I just disassembled a stainless T3X action and bolt to send to H&M for nitride, you guys say no? It's more for elemental protection, as I'm hard on shit. My first tikka stainless did slowly acquire a small bit of spot rust on the outside surfaces.

 

[swavescatter]

I live in the desert, so it's a hard pass for me. Your money, but don't expect it to run smoother as I was led to believe. Maybe that's true on non-Tikka actions.

 

[Marbles]

I just disassembled a stainless T3X action and bolt to send to H&M for nitride, you guys say no? It's more for elemental protection, as I'm hard on shit. My first tikka stainless did slowly acquire a small bit of spot rust on the outside surfaces.

I would nitrided the action, but not the bolt. Having one surface be harder than another is more likely to be smooth than making both surfaces the same.

Nitriding stainless can actually reduce its corrosion resistance. I forget all the details on why and how though.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Factory fluted tikka and Sako bolts have zero “drag” feeling. If I handed you one of each blind folded and told you to run the action 50 times, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Maybe the aftermarket flutes are deeper.

I have 2 tikka rifles with fluted bolts. The fluting isn’t very deep and the seem to have done well with knocking the sharp edges down.

The fluting on his bolt seeks to be much more aggressive, tighter twist deeper and possibly not smoothed on the edges.


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[Mike D Texas]

The “lightening” and “nitriding” or “coating” of Tikka actions is just plain not needed at all. A well done nitride job can have benefits but it’s rarely done well, and when it’s not done well it’s a net negative. The lightening of the action and fluting of the bolts are net negatives across the board.

Leave the guns alone and spend that money on ammo and gas money to your shooting spots. Shoot enough that you need that money for another barrel instead.

I came to this thread because I recently picked up a Roughtech stainless. I already have a Roughtech that is black (not sure if that’s nitriding or cerakote). The stainless ones bolt feels a bit sticky but the black one I have runs much smoother. I was wondering if nitriding would smooth up the stainless action.

I’m not interested in lightening mine but was interested to see opinions on nitriding helping get rid of the sticky feel.


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[ACHILLES]

I would think so otherwise kelbly, areo, bat, lone peak, impact, ARC,curtis, terminus, falkor, defiance, and more wouldn’t be taking the extra time and cost to nitride a lot of their stainless actions. Smoothness, corrosion resistance, and minimal thickness compared to coatings like cerakote are the benefits. I’ve owned and shot many more nitrided actions, while some are smoother than others in a general sense they were all pretty smooth. So if some one got a rough one back from nitriding sounds like they botched it. I have tikkas with fluted(wrought iron, Ti spiral, twisted wrought iron) and unfluted bolts and they’re all smooth to me. But of course the unmodified tikka bolt will always have smoothest “feel” to it.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I came to this thread because I recently picked up a Roughtech stainless. I already have a Roughtech that is black (not sure if that’s nitriding or cerakote). The stainless ones bolt feels a bit sticky but the black one I have runs much smoother. I was wondering if nitriding would smooth up the stainless action.

I’m not interested in lightening mine but was interested to see opinions on nitriding helping get rid of the sticky feel.


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Nitride can help with this, if done properly. I've seen it go backwards too many times to fuss with it anymore.

Oil your bolt and run the action hard a few hundred times, none of mine ever feel "sticky" after that.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Nitride can help with this, if done properly. I've seen it go backwards too many times to fuss with it anymore.

Oil your bolt and run the action hard a few hundred times, none of mine ever feel "sticky" after that.

I will run it a bit before I decide to do anything. I’ve stripped and degreased it but have reassembled and lubed the lugs and raceway.


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[amassi]

If you want to flute a bolt for whatever reason
The best pattern I’ve found is wrought iron by LRI
It’s smooth and won’t bind


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[WI-Carcosa]

Welp I have an order with UM that is nitriding a tikka action for a custom build I hope it works smoothly. I will report back when I have it with how it turned out.

Thanks for the olive oil trick, I have an old T3 from when they were first released that had a gritty bolt run and the olive oil made it perfect and smooth again.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Welp I have an order with UM that is nitriding a tikka action for a custom build I hope it works smoothly. I will report back when I have it with how it turned out.

Thanks for the olive oil trick, I have an old T3 from when they were first released that had a gritty bolt run and the olive oil made it perfect and smooth again.

Or you could do what I requested from them to ensure that it does run smooth, which is full nitride with action cuts, but leaving the bolt alone. No fluting.

 

[amassi]

Just say no to bolt flutes


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