Little accident I had with my little Tikka T3

[nelson]

So I shot a Coyote 2 weeks ago and after shooting this mangy little vermin I had to go for a run and see so anyway I set the gun against the seat in my truck and took off into the field to have a look. Busted up that dog soooo good. So after all that excitment I decided to have a quick pee. So of course being a modest gentleman I opened both doors on that side so I wouldn't offend oncoming vehicles well then I heard a big old clunk and to my dismay my little .223 hit the ground barrel end first. Anyhow I took the gun to the range to check if zero had changed etc and found that the groups doubled in size since the drop. The damage seems minor located on the outside edge of the barrel crown. So now what do I have to get the barrel recrowned? If so I might take 2" of the barrel length does anyone know how much of a loss in accuracy this will cause. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[fenceline]

unfortunate incident.
i had gotten , a mossberg ?? at one time in 22 magnum where end of barrel was split cut end of barrel of app. 6 " and re crowned and it shot very well if it is done right there should be no problem mabye just a little velocity loss

[Fiftydriver]

Varmicide,

To clean up the muzzle there should only be very little barrel length needed to be removed.

If you want to shorten the barrel that would also be fine. The 223 is not going to loose much velocity from dropping 2" off the barrel length.

Also remember that accuracy is function of stability and consistancy. This comes from rigidity in the barrel along with bedding and machining of the rifle.

The shorter the barrel the stiffer and more rigid the barrel which generally translates into better accuracy. THis is why you see 20" Bull barrels on 100 and 200 yard BR rifles and not 24 and 26" barrels.

A longer barrel is not a more accurate barrel just because it is longer. In fact give two barrels of equal cross section, the shorter barrel will on average be the most accurate of the two.

It should really be a cheap fix to get your rifle back up and running. In my shop I charge $15 to recrown and $25 to cut a barrel back. Not that this is what you will get charged in Canada but it should not me alot of money to get this corrected.

Good Shooting!!

Kirby Allen(50)