Thread: what modifications

Some snap-caps, (read: dry-fire practice) and a decent trigger. If you get some good help with the fundamentals, and don't learn bad habits, you'll be set.

A titanium recoil lug will do nothing that a steel one doesn’t. Make sure your recoil lug doesn’t touch the underside of your action. It should only contact the front wall of the recoil lug recess.

Tikka triggers are easy to adjust - screw the hex screw out as far as it will go and you will be at approx 1.5 lbs pull.

Tikka barrels are very good and almost always shoot well, but they are light and magnum recoil can be brisk. A moderator or brake will make it more pleasant. A Bartlein or similar will set you back as much as the rifle after threading, fitting and reaming.

Get someone who can shoot to train you and learn reloading from someone who knows what they are doing.

Good luck, and enjoy.

Find an ammo that works... try different ones... and not necessarily the most expensive.... I find I vary between a nice honest sub MOA, out to a dismal plus 2 MOA from one ammo to the other.

That applies to the 223 and 6.5 bolt actions I currently shoot.

Originally Posted by gundoc

The main question is 'What are you wanting to shoot?' Different things have different requirements, ie; deer in the bush versus rabbits at 300 metres. That difference equates to 2.5 MOA against 0.5 MOA. If a rifle won't achieve the first then it could be a real problem tuning it to meet the second. The type of rifle, the barrel, the cartridge, the trigger, the sighting system, and the shooter all play a part. Give us some details so we can give you some correct answers.

tikka t3x 300winmag, DPT long range chassis, maniatis suppressor. spring kit and titanium lug on its way. shooting deer, I would like to be able to line up a clean kill shot head or organ with confidence. and Yes, I understand it comes to the shooter also, but i would like to eliminate as much of the rifle as i can while learning to shoot.

thakns

I found trigger time behind a t1x shooting rabbits at 80-100m helped a lot with shooting my t3. Same trigger, same stock configuration, same bipod, etc. Lessons learnt on the .22 were also relevant on the 6.5x55. And a lot cheaper to shoot too.

A TX3 in .300 Win Mag should be perfectly adequate straight out of the box to any realistic range for deer shooting, without any other 'add-on'. What sort of 'scope are you using? Are you capable of shooting a MOA or less group at 100 metres with any other rifle? The .300 Win Mag may just be a bit big for what you need.

I think you're right to set up all the "modifications" before you start.

When people talk about practice, sighting in, dial adjustment verification, trajectory, learning wind and so on, you really only get the full benefit if you use the same system over a decent period of time. Incremental tweaks undo much of that experience.
Do your best to set it up at the start, then stick to the same stock, scope and load.

Don't spend too much time honing the reloading. If you can get 5 shots under 1 MOA (30mm) at 100m over 3 or 4 groups, leave it at that. (you do need 5 shot groups, not 3) If you can afford it, buy up powder 1 or 2 kg at a time, primers by the thousand and projectiles 3 or 500 at once so you don't have to waste time re testing different batches. I'd suggest getting a couple of boxes of a top grade factory ammo as a benchmark to compare your reloads to. It's a fair bet that a factory tikka with no mods will shoot something like Norma close to the MOA and only if it doesn't do it for a couple of competent shooters then you'd look at further mods / check sighting system or return under guarantee.

YEs, I can shoot withi in moa at 100m. and 1.5@ 200m. I never said I was a bad shot, and i never said my tikka was inaccurate. I would just like to know what i can do to help improve accuracy... so that if i were to take a headshot at 300,400,500 i could be happy to pull the trigger knowing the animal will go down.

I wouldn’t have thought it was ethical for anyone to attempt a headshot at those ranges.

Maybe not what you want to hear, but this is the truth of it.

1. ammo - hand load developing - yes can certainly increase accuracy

2. Crisp trigger - makes it easier to shoot accurately. Does not increase accuracy as such, especially if we take the shooter out of the equation.

3. bedded stock ? ( what happens in the case of a aftermarket chassis? ) - Yes, No, maybe. It will only be of benefit if there is something wrong with your current stock. Chassis generally do not need it and will see no benefit from bedding though there are always exceptions. There is however generally nothing to loose by doing it, you will hardly ever make it worse, and you may or may not see an improvement.

4. Good rings + base + scope. - this will not increase the rifles accuracy unless your scope is moving in its rings, or if the base is loose or something. Reliability and ability to accurately dial for elevation, sure, but shooting tight groups at a fixed distance, maybe not.
A nice scope is nice and all, and if you were dialing elevation then a mechanically perfect scope gets more and more important - but, if I put a cheap but functional setup of rings/scope etc (holds zero) on a high-end rifle, and shot a group at 100m with it, then went and put a $7k scope on it along with a Spuhr mount I would expect the 100m group to be the same. Dialing from 100m to 1000m and everywhere in between and expecting the cheap scope to track the same as the expensive one if a whole nother ball game though.

5. Aftermarket recoil lug ? I see you can get titanium ones ? - This is a fad. It will do exactly the same as the factory steel one, with the potential the steel one might actually be better. (properly hardened alloy-steel is harder, stronger, and more wear resistant than titanium) The benefit of titanium is its light weight by comparison to other metals with similar properties. Think of it as saving you like 2 grams of weight and being functionally the same as the steel one.


6. Custom barrel as opposed to factory ? - yes this could certainly aid in accuracy, however Tikka barrels generally shoot very well. Half moa or less is not uncommon. If you are having accuracy issues I would look at everything else before jumping in and getting a new barrel and expecting better accuracy.

If its a new rifle and is not shooting well then get it looked at under warranty.

chrisw - Nothign wrong with your reply! thanks. I appreciate it!

After writing all that I don't think I actually gave any advise to improve your groups.

If you are not happy with your accuracy, this is what I would do.

1. Adjust the trigger as light as it will go. They can generally go low enough for the vast majority of users and have a nice clean break.
2. Loctite everything with blue loctite. The base, rings etc. Don't lap the rings. Could tell some stories about people lapping rings then having expensive scopes slide within their lap job rings damaging the scope.
3. Make sure the action is sitting in the stock correctly and that the action screws are nice and tight.
4. Make sure your barrel is clean. Proper clean, a bore snake does not = proper clean. Yes there is a lot of debate about this one, but just do it..once your rifle shoots well and you have a decent baseline then by all means do what you want, but imo testing real accuracy potential and dirty barrels do not go together. Fire one round from a clean barrel before shooting for accuracy.
5. Check the crown for any nicks, burrs, scuffs etc.
6. Ammo. Try a few different loads in your rifle and/or test a bunch of reloads.

If you cant shoot decent groups (with a good rest) after going through the above then id think you either have;

A dodgy scope, rings, or base.
Rifle is faulty.
Shooter needs more practice

You should not "need" any of those things you listed to get a reasonable degree of accuracy assuming all the peripherals (scope etc) is working and holding a zero as it should, and the ammo is not something it particularly hates.

I guess its more trouble shooting then modifications..but anyway.

Head shots - I’m not a fan as it’s too easy to get wrong. I have taken a few at less than 100m, but I wouldn’t dream of trying it with any of my rifles at the ranges you mention. It’s too easy to mess it up and cause suffering and there’s no point when the vitals are so much bigger. Please leave the trick shots alone and go for the vitals instead.

shooting a deer brain sized target cosistantly at those ranges should see you shooting for nz at the olympics

At those ranges. You're far more effective if you aim for the base of the neck.