Tikka T3 Action

[avidflyer]

Picked up a left-handed Tikka T3 action for a build for a buddy. Who has experience truing or building on that action? I did notice the end of the action has a bevel to it. Do most remove the bevel? I know the bottom of the action has an internal notch for a recoil lug. Do most just make it a shoulder barrel system? Any other options, just looking for input.

 

[Doug Beach]

They’re a fantastic action. You can remove the bevel, just note that this will eliminate the option of prefit barrels.

 

[STOMP442]

No need for truing that I have ever seen. Just screw a barrel on and go shoot.

 

[gme]

built a ton of rifles on them, they're as good as many customs, dont mess with it

 

[X Count]

I don't like the idea of removing the bevel because you can't interchange barrels but I do think some improvement in the recoil lug setup is worthwhile. I run an end mill through the recoil lug slot just to clean it up on all faces then make an oversize lug from stainless that is a snug fit.

 

[GenePoole]

If you don't remove the bevel, how do you cut the barrel tenon to mate with the bevel? I suppose you could just match the existing barrel, but I'm not sure if this action has a factory barrel (I'll be the one doing this barrel job).

 

[tobnpr]

^^^
It's a 1.140 shank (IIRC) to match the diameter at the bevel.
You'll need to turn down the shank on a standard 1.20 or 1.250 blank.
Since you're doing a "typical" rebarrel (not a prefit), the OP might consider having you remove the bevel on the receiver, which is typical if they want a full diameter barrel mating to the receiver ring.

I'm not sure why Tikka does the bevel, probably to save a little weight on the barrel?

 

[X Count]

Not 100% sure what you mean but

There is a flat face at the bottom of the bevel that the barrel shoulders against. Measure from that face back to the bolt face / bolt nose to get your tennon and head space lengths as you would with any other barrel. You need more clearance front the bolt nose to the back of the tennon, than you would with a REM, to allow for the Sako style extractor to pivot over the rim.


What I've done to work around the issue without modifying the action is to bevel the back of the barrel so the mating surface on the barrel shoulder and the action are the same diameter. Basically have a small chamfer on both the action and the barrel.

No worries facing the action but it can't be undone. Although the barrel matches up somewhat better the barrel shoulder will still overhang the action at the "flats" and be fairly flush on the corners. If I was going to the trouble of facing the action is fit a rem style recoil lug and move away from the factory tikka style that needs some work.

Here's a link to another thread on the topic. If I get a chance I'll post a pick of my chamfered barrel.

Post in thread 'Heavy varmint on Tikka action'

May 5, 2024

How would you modify the action face?

They cut back the chamfer-roll shape on the Tikka action face. Otherwise, if you leave the Tikka action alone the barrel shank needs to be about 1.150".

A heavy Varmint barrel starts out at 1.250". If you turn it down to 1.150" it'll look close to a straight diameter. The M24 starts out at 1.200". This is closer to where you need it but after turning the shank down to 1.150" you'll still have a rather long straight diameter length.

Personally, I like to leave the Tikka action alone.

• ShtrRdy

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[BuffaloBill]

If you remove the bevel, then a shank dia of 1.2” or so mates up very nicely. On one build I used an MTU contour having a short length, standard 1.25” dia shank. Turning the shank down to 1.205” resulted in a shank length that wasn’t terribly extra long. Krieger had in-stock a 1.200” shank barrel blank for a second build.

I choose to remove the bevel as in the pic below. I turned the shaft for a low-clearance fit to the raceways and used an action screw to lock it to said shaft. The pic was taken at the first use, so had used the 3-jaw when turning the shaft, etc. For successive uses the 4-jaw to dial it in, etc. The two Tikkas I built as 6 Creedmoors turned out to be excellent shooters.