Thread: Tikka T3 bolts

Originally Posted by Dougie

On a recent hunt I got a bit of slack for hunting at action with the safety on (front of the group, rifle at ready). Other rifle in the party is a firm believer of half cock. So after we had unloaded and came down a big slippery hill and were talking shit before hunting again, ammo got put away and we carried out some little tests.

The savage DOES NOT HAVE A HALF COCK. If you bump the trigger when "half cock", the rifle will fire and the bolt slam down automatically.

The other rifle didn't have a very solid half cock either...it would fire if the bolt wasn't in the exact perfect position. From memory this was a T3 lite.

Anyway....that's my stand on things ;-) and I store my rifles with the bolt in (unloaded obviously, ammo stored in a different place), I travel with the bolt in, I walk in with the bolt in.

Bolt comes out for cleaning only.

Plus on the Savage you have to have three hands to use the bolt release

Did it actually fire when you pull the trigger in half bolt position, or just drop the bolt but without enough force on the firing pin to fire? I've heard the story that they will fire bounced around the internet, but never from anybody that has actually had it happen. Keep meaning to test it with my 223 but I never remember when I'm out shooting, I've tried it with the 22 and that doesn't fire despite similar stories. Obviously not the safest thing to rely on it though I agree, especially when the rifle has a good safety anyway. The only real reason I know of for relying primarily on half-bolt is a dodgy/worn-out safety.

The safety on the Ruger (also 3-stage like the Savage) has a handy function for people who like half-cock in that you can lock the bolt in a half-open position - bolt up (not halfway), and the safety will lock it there so it can't close or slide back.

I've been known to use a half-bolt as well as the safety at times - as much as anything because giving yourself two things to do before firing can help you slow down and think about the shot for a bit longer.

I store my bolts separately to my rifles (more effort for any potential thieves to slow them down/put them off, and no real extra effort for me) and I've never had any trouble remembering where I keep them! If I'm travelling with rifle/s then if I have to leave them in the car I can keep the bolt in my pocket, again extra security for no real effort. Hopefully I'll never need that extra security, but its not costing me anything to do it. Same reason I have my serial numbers written down.