After doing an extensive search here and on several other boards, I'm still not sure what's up with this rifle;





The problem is with the current dovetail type mount/ring system. This is a Tikka T-3 in 300 WSM. It's only been in my buddy's possesion for about 2 weeks,( it was bought new from Sheels super sports store). He just shot it first time last wed. It shot to point of aim the first 3 shots, then started grouping about 6 inches low. The scope appears to have moved forward in the rings.

Question 1 is are these rings the factory supplied rings? Question 2 is will these talley mounts/rings work on this Tikka?
Talley rings
The flat top of the reciever has what I guess is the tapered dovetail groves. It also is drilled and tapped with .875 spacing front and rear,(looks like a 6/48 thread). The specs and use option on midway does NOT specifly the hole spacing OR screw size. I'm sure he would pop for the cost of the mounts IF I can be sure when ordering them.

HELP!

Grizz,

If those mounts are Tikka Optiloc's they will have plastic insert "liners"...From the picture I don't think they are as I think the Optilocs have two screws each side. Are the mounts steel or alloy? if alloy he needsto be very careful when tightening up the screws asits easy to strip the threads..might want to check he has not done so already...

As to whether the mounts need replacing, I would say hangfire just yet.

Firstly get him to check all the action screws ect are tight..degrease and use a dab of loctite if need be..

Next, remove the scope from the mounts and make sure both the mounts and the scope are grease and oil free. Now dab some loctite on the upper half of the rings where they bare against the scope tube...usually you don't need to do both top and bottom rings, but wait and see....

Next reassemble everything and get a very fine tipped permanent black marker pen and draw lines on the scope tube right next to the rings on either side...If the scope moves even a fraction, you will now see it beyond doubt. Black marker will show up on a black scope, but won't be glaringly obvious...use a marker pen meant to right on CD's or similar...You might also want to put similar marks on the dovetail rail on the reciever to see if the mounts a sliding along that under recoil..If they are sliding on the rail, I would look at some sort of recoil stop...should be easy to do with those holes already in place..

If they scope is not moving but the point of impact is still wondering about, I would now suspect either the shooter or the scope...

Regards,

Pete

Thanks Pete. He didn't do anything to the rings/clamp screws. It was mounted by the staff at Sheels. They were pretty tight when I pulled the scope from the rail. So were the ring screws. The whole mess is some kind of aluminum alloy, they don't have any plastic inserts inside the rings.

Here and on other boards, it was said that Tikka supllies rings with their rifles. If this is what they supply, they are total crap! Too flimsy to hold the recoil present with a WSM! They DO have a pin that fits into the hole in the front mount area. That SHOULD stop any sliding of the base on the rail.

Rifle deer season is in 3 weeks, I want to get something decent on this rifle for him well before that. I could do as you say, mark the scope to see if it's staying put. I have a 300 wsm that I load for, so shells aren't a problemo.

I may give midway a call to see hole spacing those talley rings have. If they are 7/8" and flat on the bottom, I'll get them coming.

Doh! I just read the reviews on the midway sight, they say it'll go right on drilled and tapped T-3's! Good! I'll recomend them to my buddy!

My friends that have tikkas are using the leupold bases and rings which seem very strong at a reasonable price.

I had a Tikka similar to this one. I was not impressed with the rings that came with it. The same ones you show. I found that Weaver makes a base for it and was a much better combination than what was supplied by Tikka.

quote:

Originally posted by stubblejumper:
My friends that have tikkas are using the leupold bases and rings which seem very strong at a reasonable price.

Thanks BUT he's not going to want to spend almost $60.00 for leupold. The Talleys would be a better bet.

"I had a Tikka similar to this one. I was not impressed with the rings that came with it. The same ones you show. I found that Weaver makes a base for it and was a much better combination than what was supplied by Tikka."

That would most likely be an even cheaper system than the Talleys. It's good to hear that those junky rings came with the rifle. I'm NOT impressed with the Tikka on an overall quick look. The trigger IS however quite good. I loaned my new trigger pull guage,(lyman digital), to a friend that seems to have forgotten where he got it! I'd guess it's about 3.5 pounds and no creep! I'll get a chance to shoot it after I install the set-up!

Grizz,

Last time I was looking at buying a rifle the Tikka's did not come with rings here in the UK, they were an extra at an additional cost. It seems they may be trying to compete with CZ and Ruger now...

I am not overly fond of Tikkas as they use a lot of plastic/nylon instead of metal ie the trigger guard ect and bolt shrowd..Having said that they have reputation over here for being an accurate rifle at an affordable price.

Please, please beg your mate not to skimp on the cost of mounts..its a receipe for disaster as I am sure you know!!

I'd go with a steel set that used the existing rails, preferably by a known maker. If Talley do some I am sure they will be just fine!

Regards,

Pete

Grizz,

Those Talley's your looking at are aluminium...Personally I would stay away from them as alloy mounts are very prone to having the threads strip if your not careful.

Also looking at the Midway site, its implies Tikka comes with two different types of rails milled into the reciever.

The rifle in your picture looks as if it has a standard Tikka rail milled into the top of the receiver...These rails run parallel to each other..

The other system Midway refers to is the Sako system which is very different. See below:


The receiver is open at the top and the integral bases don't form one long run...Each base has rails which run in a "V" rather than parallel although the photo doesn't show this very clearly..I've not seen this system used on Tikka's only Sako's but as they are now made in the same factory it would not surprise me...

Regards,

Pete

Thanks again Pete! I'm not too scared of the aluminum in the talley rings. Mainly because the rings have 4 screws AND they're torx heads. I've always hated the allen heads, it always seemed like they would round off the allen wrench just when they were getting tight enough.

This Tikka has the parallel milled dovetail. It also has 4 drilled and tapped holes. The talleys are flat on the bottom, so they can be turned around to position the scope where you want it.

I told him what I thought of the supplied rings, he handed me $50.00 and said order what you think is best!

I'm going to take a long look at the leupold dual dove tail system. I looked them up on the midway site, they're a lot less than what we were selling them for at the gunshop I worked at 7 years ago! I can get bases AND rings for less than the Talley set-up.

grizz,
my tikka came with steel mounts similar to the ones you have! They never moved!!! but they also had a machined lug which fitted into the top of the dovetail so they couldn't move with the recoil..
look at:
http://www.jacksonrifles.com
for the ultimate mounts for the tikka.

regards

griff

Just to follow up with the outcome. I ordered the Talley rings. Midway had them here in 2 days as usual. I'm real impressed with how solid they are, built like a tank. The quality of the threads and workmanship is excellent.

Now for the funny part! I mean dumb funny, if you get my drift. Taking the plug "screws" out of the mount holes. They're soft plastic with no real threads on them! The down pressure required to keep the screw driver in the slot, prevents the plug from turning out! So I worried three out but the forth one, the rear hole in the front mount refused to back out. I finally realized the hole was drilled and tapped all the way through the reciever right above the head of the bolt. So I turned it all the way down and out the bottom. The rest was standard mounting, the scope seems to be real solid now.

mark the scope where you want it to be, take the rifle to the local smith and have him drill and tap the base for a stop screw.