Tikka Accuracy Problems

[wasgas]

The first time i shot it sighting it in it seemed to be adjusting correctly then since that it has done what you said. Any suggestions on copper solvent?

I have been using Barnes CR-10 and also used bore foam and both seems to work well. I do this outside as it is a bit messy.

1 Remove bolt
2 place muzzle down on rag, vertical
3 apply lots of cleaner to chamber and allow it to find its way to muzzle thru riflings
4 let it soak for about 30 minutes
5 patch it out
6 KEEP DOING THIS UNTIL THE PATCHES ARE CLEAN OF POWDER AND COPPER BOTH (no green, blue, or black)
7 apply oil or Hoppes as normal in the barrel
8 run a dry patch thru it to remove excess oil


I have not seen any issues with the solvents hurting any finishes but always try to keep them off of the other parts of the gun. I do this on all of my bigger rifles but my Tikka 270 is the worst, followed by my Sendero 270, not sure why, but these two also shoot the tightest groups when clean.

 

[gillettehunter]

I have a couple of Tikka T-3's. My .300 WSM copper fouls quickly. 2 years ago before going to Kyrgyzstan for Ibex I found a good load for that gun. Got 1 1/2 inch group at 300 yards. No work on action or barrel all factory. After about 10 shots the groups double in size. Lately I've been using bore tech to clean it.
My Tikka's have the clips so it limits how far out you can seat your bullets. Mine jump a bit to get to the lands. I got my best groups by using Barnes TTSX which seem to generally like to jump into the lands. Some bullets like Berger usually don't like to jump that much. If you reload at all try the Barnes bullets. They are also available in factory loads. Be a good bullet to try. Keep it clean and try several different brands of ammo. Ditto on changing the scope. Good luck. Bruce

 

[tikka270win]

I have one more question about the gun. I bought a hornady oal gauge and tried it yesterday with a vmax bullet. I also used a bullet comParator to measure the oal. Although i do not remember the length i get it ended up being about .040 shorter than winchester factory ammo, i double checked myself and still got this. Could there be something messed up with my chamber? The tool is Pretty simple to use and i made sure everything was tight, so im pretty confident im not using the tool wrong. Im measuring to the ogive so oal shouldnt change bullet to bullet should it? Should i just check everything with a bore scope?

 

[bruce_ventura]

...Could there be something messed up with my chamber? The tool is Pretty simple to use and i made sure everything was tight, so im pretty confident im not using the tool wrong. Im measuring to the ogive so oal shouldnt change bullet to bullet should it? Should i just check everything with a bore scope?

It's possible the chamber was reamed wrong, but unlikely in a factory rifle. Yes, ogives are different for different bullets. You should use a comparator. You can tell if you're jamming the bullet into the lands. Mark the bullet ogive with a colored marker - dry erase works well. chamber the round, remove carefully and inspect for marks on the ogive.

Based on what others have said, I would also carefully inspect the action screws for tightness and the muzzle crown for damage and/or uneven powder residue.

 

[tikka270win]

It's possible the chamber was reamed wrong, but unlikely in a factory rifle. Yes, ogives are different for different bullets. You should use a comparator. You can tell if you're jamming the bullet into the lands. Mark the bullet ogive with a colored marker - dry erase works well. chamber the round, remove carefully and inspect for marks on the ogive.

Based on what others have said, I would also carefully inspect the action screws for tightness and the muzzle crown for damage and/or uneven powder residue.

I used the hornady comparator thats why i was confused when the maximum length found with my oal gauge and a vmax bullet was .040 shorter than the factory winchester to the ogive. I have checked action bolts. Next im gonna look at the barrel with a borescope to make sure its ok then clean well with copper solvent and see what happens

 

[RyanG]

I would have the rifle's chamber checked with a "GO" NO GO" gauges. I have a Remington 700 SPS that took a NO GO gauge. Long story short the barrel was bad from the factory. A brand new unfired barrel that was bad. I noticed that my primers were showing signs of pressure and dimpling. This was with several different types of factory ammo along with some hand loads that were not loaded hot at all.

Like I said before you invest in a new scope or anything else. Just check the chamber. It will save you a lot of time and trouble. And it will give you a place to start

Ryan

 

[tikka270win]

I looked down my barrel with a flashlight and could see yellow streaks. I bought a bottle of butchs bore shine today and plan to clean it and possibly shoot it tomorow. Hopefully that copper is what is affecting my accuracy

 

[Bman940]

Your issue's are not consistant with the Tikka's I have come across. Their attention to detail and consistant good accuracy out of the box is what help's maintain their good name.
I would think sending it back and having the manf. evaluate the rifle/barrel would be your best bet.
You have received a lot of great advice here and sometimes it really can be as easy as changing ammo. Heck I have a .300 Win. that shoot's 2in+ with 180 gr. bullet's and .5 in. with 190 gr. bullet's.
Good luck,

 

[tikka270win]

Your issue's are not consistant with the Tikka's I have come across. Their attention to detail and consistant good accuracy out of the box is what help's maintain their good name.
I would think sending it back and having the manf. evaluate the rifle/barrel would be your best bet.
You have received a lot of great advice here and sometimes it really can be as easy as changing ammo. Heck I have a .300 Win. that shoot's 2in+ with 180 gr. bullet's and .5 in. with 190 gr. bullet's.
Good luck,

I agree, i honestly bought a tikka because of their reputation. I have cleaned the bore with butchs bore shine and gotten rid of the yellow streaks. If it doesnt group well when i shoot it tomoro, next thing i am going to do is borrow a leupold scope that i know is good. If its neither of those then i will send it out. I am really hoping it doesnt come down to that though.

 

[bubbagump11]

Just my two bits..

My process since purchase.
I have a T3 Lite in .22-250 Rem. After proper barrel break-in I used some JB's to polish up the bore to ease the cleaning process and increase shots between. I did this after each time I cleaned for the first 3 cleanings, after break-in, not including, and it's worked so far.

Sometimes I was having as much as a 3/4" difference in group size shot at the same time with the same load, and the smaller group wasn't always shot first so i ruled out barrel fouling and I was using temp insensitive powder so I didn't think it was the weather. It just never shot as solid as other guns that I've shot, it recoiled... odd I guess is the only way to describe it. I know it defeats the purpose of buying the lite, but I filled the hollow stock up with a repair putty since I didn't feel like spending money on a solid replacement stock without knowing if that was the cause of the weird accuracy issues I was having- so far, it's a night and day difference. It's shooting as good as I could have hoped, it's shot under .2 (including a nice .121) since.

Might want to consider a real stock if everything looks kosher with your barrel and the scope doesn't fix it, because if the 'recoil' on a .22-250 can make the accuracy as erratic as it did mine, it could be the case with a larger caliber?

Like I said- just my two bits.. Good luck.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I had a new Nikon Monarch, that I bought last year, that was bad from the start. I had to send it into them twice before they replaced it.

I'm dealing with Nikon on another Monarch scope that I think is bad. They just sent it back to me this week for the second time. I've got it mounted on the gun again and need to try it out at the range.

 

[schwabdog]

1st check if the barrel is free fluting. (Mine was not and after floating it help)
2nd the Scope Nikon is NOT a quality scope
3rd the ammo
4th YOU, how good are you
My Tikka t3 shots 1.5 cm groups and it didn't always do that TRUST ME

its NOT the gun​

 

[RUMBALL]

I have tikka 270 laminated stock that shoots tight the only time I had issues with this rifle was when I removed stock to put lanol grease on recoil lug to stop corrosion from the alloy on stainless contact.
IT took me some time but it was action screw tension ended up liking 30 inch lbs.
I have put sixty cold barrel shots in a inch at 100yrd before accuracy went awol.
If your barrel is fouling to quick - My sendero was fouling quickly so I used Autosol on cotton patch wrapped around a jag and focused on the chamber and muzzle end.
Fire a few rounds then look at muzzle end on an angle unloaded of course if you have copper fouling swab with sweets an scrub with wire brush jag not exiting muzzle end and dragging back in as to prevent crown damage.
Let sit for 10-15min swab out then nuetralize with hoppes 9 repeat until no sighns of copper.
Then polish chamber end and muzzle end with short fast strokes and long easy strokes mid barrel.
Run clean patch to remove autosol then shoot a 2 0r 3 rounds if you have heavy fouling repeat process again until it stops if it seems stubourn then use scotchbrite and autosol with the same process but dont go crazy with the scotchbrite if this fails to stop your fouling you may need firelapping.
Hope this helps you in some way.
I can direct you to a site that I got this process from for my sendero for a more indepth read on barrel break in and fouling.

Cheers Rumball.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

1st check if the barrel is free fluting. (Mine was not and after floating it help)
2nd the Scope Nikon is NOT a quality scope
3rd the ammo
4th YOU, how good are you
My Tikka t3 shots 1.5 cm groups and it didn't always do that TRUST ME

its NOT the gun​

I hate to say it but schwabdog is correct, the nikon line has taken really bad turn quality wise the last # of years. They rate in with tasco imo lately.
The lighter rifles like the t3 really take shooter control to shoot well, so the how good are you comment really resonates.
If your rifle doesn't like the bullet, it nothing else matters, so switching loads may help.
I've got a tikka t3 lite stainless lh in 270 and it is simply the easiest rifle to shoot well I have. It wears a 10x bushnell elite and consistantly shoots 1/2" 100 yard groups and will do so for about 40 rounds or more before cleaning.