Rebarreling a Tikka T3

[LVLAaron]

Seems like a LOT of Tikkas being rebarreled. Is a survey in order? I'd like to hear if there is a common denominator...throat erosion, pitting, tendency to collect gilding metals, etc.

Perhaps, they're just very nice actions that people shoot a lot.

 

[FeMan]

Seems like a LOT of Tikkas being rebarreled. Is a survey in order? I'd like to hear if there is a common denominator...throat erosion, pitting, tendency to collect gilding metals, etc.

Most of the ones we do are brand new. People buy them for the action and want a cartridge change. I think we have three brand new, never fired Tikkas we are doing now in 7 PRC.

In addition to the actions and triggers being nice, one other benefit I like about the Tikkas are you can change the action length by changing the bolt stop.

 

[Dimner]

Seems like a LOT of Tikkas being rebarreled. Is a survey in order? I'd like to hear if there is a common denominator...throat erosion, pitting, tendency to collect gilding metals, etc.

The common denominator is that their actions are the best of any factory action. So people love them and want to swap out the thin sporter profile barrels for something more oriented to target shooting and with target shooting cartridges.

I tried for 2 years to swap my T3x 270 for a T3 or T3x 30-06. Finally got fed up and decided to rebarrel and get a heavier profile for less muzzle rise and a bit stiffer. I got the 30-06, because I adore that cartridge and a long action bolt cycle.

For my T3.... since I now had the 30-06, my T3 308 was redundant. So I went and picked a caliber and cartridge I always wanted to play with 7x57. I setup this rifle in a form factor where I could easily do barrel swaps and play around with different cartridges. My next homework assignment is to figure out how thick of a barrel profile is feasible to hang off a tikka action. Given they are a very light hunting action, I do not think they would do well with a 28" straight 1.200. That's the only real drawback building on them. Next cartridge will be something like a small capacity 308 bolt face 6.5cal.

 

[Dimner]

Most of the ones we do are brand new. People buy them for the action and want a cartridge change. I think we have three brand new, never fired Tikkas we are doing now in 7 PRC.

In addition to the actions and triggers being nice, one other benefit I like about the Tikkas are you can change the action length by changing the bolt stop.

Thanks for mentioning that. It's one of my favorite parts of the design. You can shoot short/med/long action cartridges in them. So versatile.

 

[pilediver]

I switched my T3 223 barrel to an X Caliber MTU profile 223 nut barrel , bought a barrel vise. and some heat on the action and a large outside wrench and a single smack with a hammer on the wrench and it was free.
Put the new setup in a KRG Bravo and it's definitely a shooter.
I did the same thing to a CTR Tikka and screwed on a 6 BR barrel, another KRG Bravo, another great shooter.