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Tikka t3 rebuild pos!


tisme

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Hi

I have a T3 in .223 that I'm not using much, as its a light barrel I don't take it target shooting and for fox I prefer a .204, I have.

 

I'm looking to do a lot more target shooting, so do I sell it and buy something else or re barrel it in a heavy 1-9 twist or can it be re chambered in 6br?

 

Advice needed please.

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Hi

I have a T3 in .223 that I'm not using much, as its a light barrel I don't take it target shooting and for fox I prefer a .204, I have.

 

I'm looking to do a lot more target shooting, so do I sell it and buy something else or re barrel it in a heavy 1-9 twist or can it be re chambered in 6br?

 

Advice needed please.

Obviously (224 barrel and bolt face),you can't just rechamber in 6BR,though that is a very nice shooting 600 yard calibre,on low wind days.You will probably want something a bit heavier all round for semi serious target shooting,but a fast twist 223 barrel does well too to 600yards (yes,I know sometimes more,generally NOT competitive though).What distance(s) will you be shooting,and how often? It really is 'tools for the job' though of course acceptable compromises-performance and cost- are readily available,except at the highest levels.Wanting to reload,or not?

george

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Just a thought, If you want larger boltface i have t3 lite stainless in .243 sat at a gunsmith waiting for rebarrel (barrel is bent!), have lite and varmint stocks, happy to discuss swap/px as my plans have changed for the build i was having and i was going to call him monday to cancel the work.

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Obviously (224 barrel and bolt face),you can't just rechamber in 6BR,though that is a very nice shooting 600 yard calibre,on low wind days.You will probably want something a bit heavier all round for semi serious target shooting,but a fast twist 223 barrel does well too to 600yards (yes,I know sometimes more,generally NOT competitive though).What distance(s) will you be shooting,and how often? It really is 'tools for the job' though of course acceptable compromises-performance and cost- are readily available,except at the highest levels.Wanting to reload,or not?

george

Thanks for the info

I've got a 308 so for long distance so 600 or so would be great. I'm only shooting club targets about three times a month. Looks like I need to look into what twist (1-8 or 1-9) . I already reload so I will start looking at what weight bullet and loads first.

 

Ta

 

Just a thought, If you want larger boltface i have t3 lite stainless in .243 sat at a gunsmith waiting for rebarrel (barrel is bent!), have lite and varmint stocks, happy to discuss swap/px as my plans have changed for the build i was having and i was going to call him monday to cancel the work.

Are you looking to sell the 243 complete? And what size can I go with a .243 bolt face?

 

Ta

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I would get an even faster twist to stabalise up to 90grn target bullets in .224 for long range. some great articles by Laurie Holland in old issues of target sports on the subject. Would be cheap to run and fun to shoot.

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Thanks for the info

I've got a 308 so for long distance so 600 or so would be great. I'm only shooting club targets about three times a month. Looks like I need to look into what twist (1-8 or 1-9) . I already reload so I will start looking at what weight bullet and loads first.

 

Ta

 

Are you looking to sell the 243 complete? And what size can I go with a .243 bolt face?

 

Ta

 

OK -308 is jack of all trades and a good all rounder still-bit of recoil of course.(mod transforms it). Same boltface as 243,and the 6BR case is a short 308/243 essentially,so fits that boltface-see 6br web page,for lots of very good info on 6br (6BR Norma is effectively the same cartridge but originally a longer chamber leade for VLDs) . The 90 g 223 might be attractive too,but needs a fast twist, 1 in 8 very marginal.,1in 7 more like. Check on the 6br site!) 243 with 58g is no slouch,but 6br has the real accuracy edge.

george

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TisMe

 

Short of a bolt swap or gunsmith rebuild of the front-end of the bolt, you're restricted to cartridges in the 222 Rem family - 222 and 223 Rem, .204 Ruger, wildcats based on the 223 case (.20 Practical and Tactical, 6X45mm, 6X47mm - not the much larger Lapua version - and some more).

 

You don't say what distances you plan to shoot over, but a 223 Rem rebarrel is the easiest way to accomodate more target work. Don't go for a 1-9" twist barrel unless you're going to restrict your shooting to 200/300 yards. A suitably chambered 1-8" lets you shoot 68-80s, a 1-7.5" up to 1-7" makes the 90s available. You must have the barrel chambered though to suit these long bullets seated right out. The trick is to get a freebore that suits the 90s, but just lets you use 80s too seated very shallow in the case-neck. The 90gn Berger LR BT and a not particularly hot charge of Viht N150 gives around 2,650 fps from a 26" barrel which may not sound high, but ballistically matches, more often betters, hot 308 Win loads with 155s fired from anything other than 30-32-inch barrel out and out long-range F/TR rifles.

 

I've used two fast twist barrel 223 Rem competition rifles in the last few years, both using the same very long custom chamber. The first was built for national level long-range F/TR and its first (True-Flite 1-7") barrel would give a 90gn Berger VLD 2,910 fps with sub-0.25-MOA precision. It was successfully tried in a practice shoot at 1,200 yards (actually 1,233 yards) at Blair Atholl in June 2011 and held the 2-MOA four-ring with no trouble, around half the shots in the 5-ring, elevation superb bar one four at 6-o'clock. In a Scotland v USA coached team match three days later comprising 2+15 each at at 900, 1,000, and 1,100 yards against the official US F/TR team coached by Nancy Tompkins and Michelle Gallagher, I got the 2nd highest aggregate score only just behind Paul Crosbie who was shooting 210s in his 308.

 

The second rifle is one of a trio of 'affordable' F/TR rifles I've been working on and is closer to what you're thinking of doing. It's a Savage single-shot RBLP Model 12 Long Range Precision Varmint rifle rebarreled from .204 Ruger to .223 Rem with a Bartlein 1-7.5" twist light Palma profile barrel. Because of the sporter stock, the barrel was cropped at 26 inches to keep the rifle's balance etc, but is fine for 600 yards. The 90gn Berger LRBT bullet at ~2,650 is still easily supersonic at 1,000, so the rifle could be used at 800 yards plus too at a pinch, but will start to lose out in the wind to top-spec competition 308s. This rifle gave me three top-four placings in 300-600 yard Diggle comps last autumn in matches that all included some top GB league competitors shooting their full-house long-range 308s despite using a Versa-Pod folding bi-pod and £105 Fox Firearms 8-32X50 Chinese target scope (part of the 'affordable' package). The rifle is a joy to shoot - very accurate and no recoil worth mentioning.

 

The philosophy behind this rifle and its build / spec is covered in the TargetShooter online mag

 

http://www.targetshooter.co.uk/

 

May, June and August 2012 editions - still available free online - just click on the front covers in the homepage for Adobe pdf downloads.

 

If you consider this route, Brian Fox usually has a True-Flite 1-7" twist 6-groove 'Heavy Palma' profile blank in stock and Stuart Anselm (Osprey Rifles) has access to my custom chamber reamer, or can do a slightly shorter freebore compromise chamber, having built several 223 F/TR rifles for people. The Tru-Flite blank will actually provide a 31" barrel, but I'd strongly recommend restricting the finished barrel to 26" or at most 28" on a T3 action and sporter stock.

 

(Incidendentally, the Savage will go on sale shortly once proofed as a clubman's package with mounts, Fox scope, Lapua brass and 90gn bullets and load data.)

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The .243 i have would be up for grabs as a complete rifle, with choice of normal or varmint stocks, and i have a brand new 5 shot mag, bent barrell included FOC. Equally happy to swap it for a shooter of any kind if someone is planning a t3 semi custom

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Thanks all for the very useful info especially from Laurie, loads to think about. Thanks Gary for the offer on the .243 but I think I'll play with the .223 for a while. A call to Brian fox and Osprey rifles on Monday. In the mean time lots to read up on. If I can get this shooting out to 1000 yards it would be better than I hoped for.

 

Laurie why stick to a 26" barrel I thought length would = more distance.

 

I have bought a GRS stock so it should look good and a NF scope so I will be able to see 1000 yards.

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You're welcome Tisme.

 

So far as barrel length goes, you don't get much extra velocity from anything beyond 28 inches with the little .223. I stuck to 26 inches with the Savage LRPV as I think you can 'over-barrel' a factory rifle both for looks and also in handling if you have too much barrel weight out ahead of the short sporter forend and the bi-pod. Remember too that the H-S precision stock used in the Remington 700VS/PSS and Savage Precision Varmint series rifles are rather light and their buttstocks are just hollow shells filled with some sort of lightweight expanding and self-setting foam. Put too much barrel up front and you definitely have to re-stock or maybe find a way to add ballast to the back end.

 

If you're restocking anyway that may not be an issue depending on the design and its weight.

 

I also reckon - a purely personal opinion - that you can stick too long/heavy a barrel on factory actions, especially those configured for magazine operation with a big hole in the floor. Tenon length is an issue. I'm not familiar with the T3, but I've been told that Tikka actions have a rather short threaded section up front. Baldie might like to comment on how heavy a barrel works on them since he's done a lot of work rebuilding these rifles.

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A call to Brian fox and Osprey rifles on Monday. In the mean time lots to read up on. If I can get this shooting out to 1000 yards it would be better than I hoped for.

 

Stuart from Osprey Rifles is in Vegas next week for the Shot Show so leave it a week please before you ring him.

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I,ve built several short , fat barrelled tikka,s recently in fast twist .223,s and the format works well.

 

Having not hung a really long barrel from one i couldn,t comment exactly, but i see no reason why a reasonable weight 28" barrel should not work. OK, the tenon length is not long at an inch , but its no shorter than anything else out there. The action despite being long action, is pretty stiff as it has small feed/ejection ports.

 

I would personally bed the action and a couple of inches at the breech too. That would sort it.

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