Thread: Taking out the action - change of POI?

I took the Tikka for a swim recently - I knocked some skin off my hand and got rather wet - but don’t think I bumped the rifle on a rock
I took the action out of the stock later to dry it out - do you think that will have changed the POI too much
I will get down to the NZDA range first chance I get but might have a chance up the hill earlier

I would definitely be checking the zero before hunting with it, any change in how it sits in the bedding or on the torque of the action screws could potentially affect the poi.
Happy to be corrected but that's my opinion

I take mine on and off all the time with no POI shift.

Wooden stock there is likely to be some change due to water swelling the wood, this will settle back down when the timber returns to equilibrium. Synthetic stock no unless you over tighten or loosen off the action screws. Like tikka I regularly take mine out to clean the crap, leaves and twigs out of the barrel channel then put it back with no change in poi. I done even torque the screws, I just have 2 witness marks that I align.

Some do, some don't. You'll have to check to be sure.

Never had an issue with poi shift. I always strip and re assemble my rifles, especially if they get wet hunting. If the rifle is bedded properly and is re assembled corretly and consistently there should be no issue. But there is no harm in checking.. my experience won’t be others experience

Be very careful not to over tighten action screws on Tikka in synthetic stock. Any more than 25 - 30 lbs torque and you can crush the stock you’ll have much than poi shift to deal with

If the tikka action dosent slip back into its recoil lug you get all sorts of odd things happening
Otherwise there should be no issues if the screw tension is the same

Just check it when you put it back in on paper

This used to be a big No No but in recent years with rifles like the Tikka on plastic stocks I've heard of the point of impact going back to within 4 or 5 cm at 100m when the stock is put back on. My Sako 85 does.

So it should be OK for a bush hunt.

Try it out on the range a couple of times and you might find you can just do it and save some ammo and petrol resighting over the years to come. Do recheck your point of impact with a 5 shot group every 6 to 12 months too even if you haven't done anything drastic and that will give you confidence your rifle holds zero or at least you know how much it wanders (shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 cm from one session to the next, assuming you are shooting a 5cm group of 5.

For those that have no POI shift are you using a torque wrench to get the same ft/lb of pressure or are you going off purely by feel?

Thanks for the input Guys - it is a plastic stock - but I will take it down to the range on Saturday - I still have to do one more induction trip so I can get a range key - needs to be right for a trip down the Parapara the weekend after - will let you know what I find

The rifle is a 243 - I checked the two mounting screws by hand again this morning and got a bit more out of the rear one
Before I took it apart it was 1 inch high at 100m
Today the first shot was 2 inches high - so I moved it down 4 clicks - I then fired two more shots and decided it was near enough for me
It looks like changing the torque on those two mounting screws can shift the elevation up or down a little - but hard to tell without a torque wrench

Almost all rifles will change POI when you take them out of the stock. One trick is to mark where you have the action screws turned to with a marker, and then match that exactly when you put it back in. This usually will result in the change only being in elevation, it seems to reduce the left and right. I don't know why that might be so.
Then when you get to the range fire a couple of shots before you shoot at target -to settle it back into place.
This process seems to reduce the amount of difference you might have to correct for.
You will always have to check zero after taking it out of the stock. An observation I have made is that less recoil seems to mean less of a change in my experience.