Who here has a custom Tikka action?

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Minuteman
  • Oct 11, 2013
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    I'm seeing that the face of the Tikka action has a little bevel or chamfer around the circumference. Because of that, you can't spin on a 1.200" barrel without a little trench forming there at the junction. I'm seeing that some people have their receiver faces turned down to eliminate that bevel. My questions are 1. To get it completely flat, do any of the threads start getting removed when facing that receiver? 2. For those of you that have had theirs faced, what are the max barrel outside diameters that you can run now?
     


    I've got a few rifles built on Tikka T3 Actions, 7mm-08 and a 7 RSAUM.

    Both have HV profile barrels finished at 26".

    Both actions have the standard bevel and my gunsmith just turns down the shank to the same as factory.

    No complaints with either and both look fine.

    I'll take a couple of pics later and post here.
     
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    Had 2, once upon a time, that I had faced off. This was 14ish yrs ago, well before anyone was offering Tikka prefits. Going from memory, I believe I used a kreiger LV contour on one and a m24 contour on the other. Both of those are 1.20 and did not hang over the flats of the action. Take a pair of calipers and measure across action flats, as my experience is over a decade ago and I could be mis-remembering.
     
    I think 1.20 is about as big as you can go and not hang over the flats.
    Maybe, on most chassis and one stock I havnt had any issues with 1.25 tennons. Specifically an mdt acc and mannners t6a and eh1. Honestly when I spec a tikka stock now I make sure they cut the barrel channel for 1.25” tennon spec just to keep it more flexible for barrels.

    I would not cut a tikka action face, with their ability to take prefits it destroys resale and even options for the current owner
     
    We're talking two different things. Op was asking max barrel dia that matched action width is taper was turned down on receiver face, not what size barrel fits in stock.
    Yes. I’m just pointing out that the ‘trench” that he referred to in the OP is a non issue as long as it fits the stock. There is zero issues with a larger ten on diameter.

    I’ll even mention that most gunsmiths will turn down a blank to 1.12-1.16” for tikkas for the reason of athletics with the action being slightly smaller.
     
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    The diameter at the action face is a non-issue. the only reason to buy 1.25 vs 1.20 is either availability or the free mass forward of the GC balance point on the 1.25. The spec IIRC is metric (30mm) and its either ~1.20 or something very close like 1.181in ...so within 20 thou.

    Removing material at the action interface on the barrel is a non-issue if you wanted to do it (ie a reverse taper, or simply a chamfer into the action...etc). This is because if you are buying the 1.25 vs 1.20 for balance vs availavility, you only care about mass at the end of the barrel, or more techniclaly, mass in front of the neutral balance point, whihc is somthing like 10-11 inches in front of the trigger...ie way out in front of the barrel tenon/action juncture.

    As mentioned above, not every EU action/ chassis or stock is cut to fit barrels larget than 30mm (see also: AI- ATX chassis, etc).
     
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    I was looking for a heavy profile barrel, and the OD at the breech is 1.200". I was told that it was a possibility that if you turned that chamfer down to get it to look right with a 1.200, you may be into the tennon threads by that point. That's kind of the main thing I was looking for, was to see if anyone had their receiver faces turned totally flat kind of like a normal action.
     
    1.20” is the width, flat to flat, of the action. You’d need a 1.12” to not have any gap at the radius, I have a 1.15”, and I can get a fingernail in. If your smith were to face the action, you could get rid of the radius up to the side flat without removing any significant thread, as they are recessed slightly, but you still have roughly 15 threads…not an issue for accuracy or strength.
     
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