Why I won’t buy a Tikka

jjjjeremy

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The bolt slop. I can’t stand that wiggly rattle bolt slip that feels horribly cheap. I know they’re great rifles, I know the trigger is great, I know the accuracy is unmatched in consistency for factory rifles, etc etc.

But I just can’t stand the bolt slop. If you’ve handled a prewar W70 or W54 you know the feeling of having a cartridge firmly but smoothly guided into place. With no slop.
 

LightFoot

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The bolt slop. I can’t stand that wiggly rattle bolt slip that feels horribly cheap. I know they’re great rifles, I know the trigger is great, I know the accuracy is unmatched in consistency for factory rifles, etc etc.

But I just can’t stand the bolt slop. If you’ve handled a prewar W70 or W54 you know the feeling of having a cartridge firmly but smoothly guided into place. With no slop.




>>>——JAKE——>
 

mxgsfmdpx

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I’ll bite. Which current production off the shelf rifles have the “lack of bolt slop” like a pre-war model 70 or 54?
He’s talking about the Mauser type action and true CRF, which is quite nice on guns where it works correctly.

A Tikka or Sako have not once, not let me kill an animal because it wasn’t CRF. I’ll take reliability, repeatability, general accuracy, and barrel life over CRF 10 times out of 10.
 

Macintosh

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I know about crf, but with the “ pre war” specificity it seems like more than that? (Unless maybe we’re talking about the vietnam war?) Regardless, which off the shelf rifles have this feel today? Is the answer “none”?
 
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mxgsfmdpx

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My reticle never left a 6” target out the window of my office at 100 yards, doing this off hand dry fire drill (one full 4 round magazine from my .223 Tikka). I do this while actually firing as well at least once per week.

Look at how much that “slop” wouldn’t let me kill something…

 

waspocrew

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Apr 2, 2022
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Can't say it's really bothered me at all.

Like others have mentioned - you'll be disappointed cycling plenty of other factory actions out there.
 

Seeknelk

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Jul 10, 2017
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The bolt slop. I can’t stand that wiggly rattle bolt slip that feels horribly cheap. I know they’re great rifles, I know the trigger is great, I know the accuracy is unmatched in consistency for factory rifles, etc etc.

But I just can’t stand the bolt slop. If you’ve handled a prewar W70 or W54 you know the feeling of having a cartridge firmly but smoothly guided into place. With no slop.
oOoOOk...perfect. Now what are the solutions you can offer?🙂 What actions have " no slop" and aren't too tight and crud up easy like some customs do that feel nice at home, but a little pinch of dust or a pine needle getting in some of them can lock them up.
 

BAKPAKR

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May 10, 2018
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LOL, I was at the range today and had a guy telling me about the bolt on his Defiance Ruckus sometimes binding. I would take “bolt slop” over binding any day.
 
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