Got ya! Yea I knew they were supposed to have a certain finish to grip the case, but didn't know exactly what that would look like. If it looks like a decent finish, then awesome. Now I know!
Should I send this back for warranty work?
- Thread starter Tac-O
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Got ya! Yea I knew they were supposed to have a certain finish to grip the case, but didn't know exactly what that would look like. If it looks like a decent finish, then awesome. Now I know!
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Rough finish does not equate more grip in a chamber, it's the opposite most people think!!
year.0
Member
This thread makes me miss my .308 Axis! I bedded mine and filled the forend with JB Weld to stiffen it up, put a lighter trigger spring in it, shot under an inch with SSA 175 gr, right at an inch with Lake City M80s, good gun for very little money. I would definitely get it warrantied and hang on to it even if you do buy another rifle. Haven't had a Savage yet that I didn't like.
Like everything, it is a balance. Too smooth is not good, especially if there is oil present, too rough is just as bad. What you are shooting for is 6-800 grit to Flitz level of finish on the chamber. If it is rougher than that then you are correct that it will actually start to cause issues too.
I went out to the range with the new Tikka 7mm08 yesterday. I did a short break in procedure with 4 shots then went to shooting groups. It shoots!
First picture is Hornady American whitetail. The four extreme outliers are the break-in shots. The stuff in the ~1.25" group includes a fouler shot.
The next picture is Hornady reduced recoil. There's 6 shots in the big hole on bottom. The three high shots had very stiff bolt close.
Not pictured is a few rounds of federal fusion, which the gun certainly didn't like.
I am pretty sure this gun has a short freebore for some reason. There were a few rounds on the American whitetail that had a stiff bolt close, and the reduced recoil all had stiff bolt close. The three reduced recoil fliers had a really hard bolt close and I had to put a bit of forward pressure on the bolt to close it. If it is a short freebore, the different poi for the three reduced recoil would make sense since those would be jammed farther into the lands. There was no stiff bolt close with the federal fusion.
I swabbed the chamber to make sure there was nothing in there as well as made sure the bolt face was free of any debris. Still stiff close. I didn't think to eject a chambered u fires round to look at the bullet to see if there was any markings from the lands. I was thinking it was a headspace issue.
I unfortunately shot all the cartridges, so I didn't have any loaded ones to make measurements on when I got home. And now I also don't have any to chamber to see if it leaves markings on the bullet. But I did take the cases, deprimed a few, and measured their base to datum with my comparator. The federal fusion, which closed very easily, had a longer base to datum measurement than the two Hornady! Also, all the fired cases chambered very easily, so I know the chamber headspace is just fine. Since I've been having the kids practice with Hornady reduced recoil, I'll be able to see if it leaves any marks on the bullet next time we go shoot.
Does it sound like a short freebore? I just can't win with my kids' gun! At least it shows it will shoot well, so it's definitely useable. Since I load my own, a short freebore shouldn't be a problem unless I want to load long heavy bullets. But I won't be doing that for my boys. But, I'm now afraid to buy any premium hunting ammo for fear that it won't chamber easily enough for a hunting scenario! I did kind of want to find a good factory load for it so I can focus more on bowhunting. Tikka has a 2 year warranty, so I could just send it back to them after season.
On a side note, when a rifle has a chamber that is within saami spec for headspace, etc but has a short freebore, how does that happen and how is it remedied?
First picture is Hornady American whitetail. The four extreme outliers are the break-in shots. The stuff in the ~1.25" group includes a fouler shot.
The next picture is Hornady reduced recoil. There's 6 shots in the big hole on bottom. The three high shots had very stiff bolt close.
Not pictured is a few rounds of federal fusion, which the gun certainly didn't like.
I am pretty sure this gun has a short freebore for some reason. There were a few rounds on the American whitetail that had a stiff bolt close, and the reduced recoil all had stiff bolt close. The three reduced recoil fliers had a really hard bolt close and I had to put a bit of forward pressure on the bolt to close it. If it is a short freebore, the different poi for the three reduced recoil would make sense since those would be jammed farther into the lands. There was no stiff bolt close with the federal fusion.
I swabbed the chamber to make sure there was nothing in there as well as made sure the bolt face was free of any debris. Still stiff close. I didn't think to eject a chambered u fires round to look at the bullet to see if there was any markings from the lands. I was thinking it was a headspace issue.
I unfortunately shot all the cartridges, so I didn't have any loaded ones to make measurements on when I got home. And now I also don't have any to chamber to see if it leaves markings on the bullet. But I did take the cases, deprimed a few, and measured their base to datum with my comparator. The federal fusion, which closed very easily, had a longer base to datum measurement than the two Hornady! Also, all the fired cases chambered very easily, so I know the chamber headspace is just fine. Since I've been having the kids practice with Hornady reduced recoil, I'll be able to see if it leaves any marks on the bullet next time we go shoot.
Does it sound like a short freebore? I just can't win with my kids' gun! At least it shows it will shoot well, so it's definitely useable. Since I load my own, a short freebore shouldn't be a problem unless I want to load long heavy bullets. But I won't be doing that for my boys. But, I'm now afraid to buy any premium hunting ammo for fear that it won't chamber easily enough for a hunting scenario! I did kind of want to find a good factory load for it so I can focus more on bowhunting. Tikka has a 2 year warranty, so I could just send it back to them after season.
On a side note, when a rifle has a chamber that is within saami spec for headspace, etc but has a short freebore, how does that happen and how is it remedied?
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@J E Custom , do you have any knowledge and/or opinion the the short freebore issue in my previous post?
Update:
I prepped some brass for the new Tikka last night and also measured the max COAL for the bullet I plan to make a hunting load with. It is a 145gr Speer hot cor. So it's just a standard flat base cup and core bullet. The max COAL was crazy long!!!!! So long that it won't fit in the magazine. I know this bullet is a much different ogive shape than the 120gr SST that is in the Hornady reduced recoil cartridge, but I really don't think it would be so different that the Hornady cartridge bullet was being jammed into the lands. So, the gun may not have a short freebore after all. I won't know for sure until I buy some more of the Hornady cartridges so that I can measure the CBTO on them. So I'm not sure what else it could be. Maybe something to do with the chamber. I'll have to measure them and inspect them after chambering and ejecting without firing.
I prepped some brass for the new Tikka last night and also measured the max COAL for the bullet I plan to make a hunting load with. It is a 145gr Speer hot cor. So it's just a standard flat base cup and core bullet. The max COAL was crazy long!!!!! So long that it won't fit in the magazine. I know this bullet is a much different ogive shape than the 120gr SST that is in the Hornady reduced recoil cartridge, but I really don't think it would be so different that the Hornady cartridge bullet was being jammed into the lands. So, the gun may not have a short freebore after all. I won't know for sure until I buy some more of the Hornady cartridges so that I can measure the CBTO on them. So I'm not sure what else it could be. Maybe something to do with the chamber. I'll have to measure them and inspect them after chambering and ejecting without firing.
Here's an update.
I'm not sure what was up with the Hornady reduced recoil cartridges in the new Tikka. I bought some more and they chambered much more easily
Anyway, I think I've found a good load for them
Speer 145gr hot cor
Hornady 1x brass
Cci200
H4350 46.9gr
I'm not sure what was up with the Hornady reduced recoil cartridges in the new Tikka. I bought some more and they chambered much more easily
Anyway, I think I've found a good load for them
Speer 145gr hot cor
Hornady 1x brass
Cci200
H4350 46.9gr
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cahunter805
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Messages
- 610
Here's an update.
I'm not sure what was up with the Hornady reduced recoil cartridges in the new Tikka. I bought some more and they chambered much more easily
Anyway, I think I've found a good load for them
Speer 145gr hot cor
Hornady 1x brass
Cci200
H4350 46.9gr
Looks like a shooter!
Regarding the tight chambering rounds it's more than likely just the new brass they used. Could be the shoulder was a bit forward or your chamber is on the tight side.
