So since I have got the gun I have been playing with the load. It's a 260 rem and I was new to the cartridge so I had alot to learn. The last few times out I had the 147s doing under .5 and the 153 a tips from.375 down to .262. I changed the trigger to a single stage and cleaned the barrel. Then a few days later I got in a little bastard brake and a hellfire. Took it out and swapped brakes a few times to try and find the softest and the shot a group with the LB and it was horrible. Looked over a inch. So today I loaded some and put on the hellfire. It was .5 to .75 then shot one group around a inch. So I tossed on the the old brake and it was better but still not as good as it was. So at this point something has changed. I checked seating depth and we're good there and no erosion since the good groups. Im torquing the action bolts to 65 like before. So I'm wondering if there is any way a trigger can do this or is there any way that the 2 small bolts by the barrel nut have a torque spec I haven't found. First match is in 2 weeks and I have to get this figured out. I'm considering swapping the trigger back to the 2 stage. And would love to find the torque of the 2 small allen bolts by the recoil lug.
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Tikka Tac A1 accuracy question
- Thread starter Andrew863
- Start date
Changing brakes is changing the barrel harmonics...find the brake you want to use and retune your load
The question is can you consistently shoot groups like that, meaning every time you get behind the gun can you shoot in the .3’s. I have shot 5 shots into 1 hole before, I cannot do that every time.
Well I think so ,but I know for a fact I can shoot better then what I'm getting. I know I can shoot .5 but I'm not sure about better. My SD and ES were still good to go. With 7 and 19 but something feels off. I'm going to swap back to the 2 stage trigger and try to find a torque spec for the two front small bolts. I hopefully can hit the range one more time bf that comp.
For factory rifles I started a while ago taking them apart when I get them. I torque chassis/stock to spec/retorque scope base. For savage rifles which I have and many friends have I check the rear tang to be free floated etc
I learned long ago to set the rifle up exactly as I would if I decided to take apart. For the reason that I can expect the rifle to shoot the same in the future if I needed to take apart
This way if I add something later I can attribute a change to whatever I added or swapped out
Just guessing but this could be a trigger contacting chassis, bad torque spec on the chassis to action or a barrel cleaning issue. Some rifles shoot better when fouled a bit
I learned long ago to set the rifle up exactly as I would if I decided to take apart. For the reason that I can expect the rifle to shoot the same in the future if I needed to take apart
This way if I add something later I can attribute a change to whatever I added or swapped out
Just guessing but this could be a trigger contacting chassis, bad torque spec on the chassis to action or a barrel cleaning issue. Some rifles shoot better when fouled a bit
I am wondering about the cleaning. I just cleaned it before I took it out and shot the first bad group.
Like anything you control variables and diagnose. Could be dozens of things but only you can find out why.
I have only be shooting long range for a few years and there is alot of knowledge on this forum. I was just hoping to hear some other options. Im not just setting back waiting for someone to solve my problem. I have already tore it down and checked the torque on everything and I'm going to go ahead and put the 2 stage trigger back in it and give it one more clean till the barrel is perfect (with the bore scope). Then hopefully I can go back to the range next weekend and give it another try. I'll more then likely toss on the old brake just to make sure one more time before I say for sure that's not the issue.
How many rounds did you put down range after you cleaned it? Also what is your cleaning process? I don't think cleaning it a second time will change anything, I don’t clean my barrels till accuracy starts to fall off and it doesn’t sound like a dirty barrel is your issue. Have you checked the crown? If not I would look at the crown and run your borescope into the chamber and look at the throat. Ive always just snugged the barrel nut bolts by hand with no issues. Is there any chance that the recoil lug fell out when you disassembled the chassis and didn’t notice? Honestly its a process of elimination when diagnosing something like this, the best we can do is point you in the direction of things to look for
this is what happens when you change things and is why you put your rifle together how you want it then find a load...ESPECIALLY with a factory rifle...this is a simple thing to fix unless you make it hard!
the trigger hitting the stock is a possibility but i think youda noticed this when you put the gun back together...or at least id hope you would.
now when the gun was shooting these great groups how many rounds where though the barrel?
is this the first time you have cleaned the barrel? and how well did you actually clean the barrel?
how many rounds did you shoot after the cleaning before you determined the groups were bad?
is everything the same? bullets,primers,powder all same lot as before?
these little screws near the barrel nut...did you change them at all?
when you put the gun back together did you make sure the recoil lug was seated properly and the action screws were not binding?
i could go on with the questions but i think you get the idea of just a small part of what can effect how a rifle shoots.
now my suggestion to you is to keep this simple...you say your ESs and SDs are good and i agree if they are in fact 7 and 19.
question about the load...when you found the original load did you take the best grouping load? the load with the best numbers and tune it with seating? if best group was the groups on either side of the best group pretty good? if best numbers were the numbers on either side pretty good? i ask because its possible your load was right on the edge and was actually not a good load.
simple fix...do what @hafejd30 said and make sure the barrel is fouled like it was(or close to)when it shot good...go back through and check/torque everything....put the brake and trigger on that you are going to use...load up some rounds that produce the 7 and 19 and do a seating test and when you find a new load leave the gun alone...seating test tip...get a lee hand press seat all bullets long at home and do your seating test in the field...shoot 2 rounds and if they are not touching(or very close)move on....and dont be afraid to jump the bullets....i start at .070 off the lands.
lastly...and this is not meant as bragging or anything its just to get a point across....i have shot out over 30 barrels in 17ish years and still can not go out and shoot 1 hole groups every time i shoot...in 17yrs of doing this ive met one guy that can shoot 1 hole groups 99% of the time so just be sure YOU are not part of the problem...the first few years for me i use to love blaming the gun and chased my tail pretty much the entire time.
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I am starting to wonder if it was some me, my blood pressure was up yesterday and also my barrel was around 100 rds since I cleaned it when I shot it's best groups. When I started yesterday I was only at 13 and shot 30 and now that I look at my groups they were getting better the more I shot. I think we may be on to something. My barrel as of the end of yesterday is at 479 rds. I may have to test this theroy and get some more shots down the barrel and see if it comes back. I also checked torque on my rail bolts and one was a little suspect but not lose so we'll see how it goes next weekend.
Right now it's back in the gun but if it goes up for sale u have one guy in front but I'll let y'all know.How much for the old junky 2 stage trigger you removed?
I took the gun out over the weekend and the it shot .5 again. I left the barrel dirty and the more I shot the better it got so from not on i'm going to wait till accuracy falls off before I clean. I also put the 2 stage trigger back in and torqued the small bolt to 25in lbs just to make sure they are consistent. After the comp this weekend i'm going to try the single stage trigger again and make sure that don't have anything to do with it, but for now i'm going to leave it alone till after the comp. Thanks for the advice guys.
