What would you change?

[blueprairiedog]

Barrel first then you know what it ain't

 

[WYOHTF]

Barrel first then you know what it ain't

A competent gunsmith can plug a barrel and tell you what is wrong, which in many cases is much cheaper than a new barrel

 

[Idaho Lefty]

I do like tikka as well. Haven't upgraded my spring yet tho. How difficult is that to do.. do you do it yourself?

Yes, I do them myself. I own three Tikka's and ALL with, New Springs,.. Search it, on YouTube under, Tikka modifications.
Most Tikka's, can be adjusted with the Factory spring to, a crisp 2.5 - 3 Pounds and your Instruction Manual should show how to do this,.. IIRC.
New Springs, require taking the Trigger unit, OFF the Action, to replace them ( still not, hard to do ).
Be careful, choosing your Spring, as some ( like the Elay Precision ) are, VERY, Light, and good only for, precise, Target and Varmint shooting, use,.. IMO ( as they are only, 1.0 to 1.5 Pound, pull weight ! ).
My .270 WSM Tikka, used as my Elk Hunting Rifle, has a Yo Dave Spring set at 1.75 to 2 Pounds ( I carry shells in Magazine, UNTIL ready to, shoot ).
Good luck and BE,.. Safe !

 

[Chas1]

for me it depends on whether or not there's substantial recoil, if so muzzle brake. If not trigger.

 

[Karey Kimmel]

If you can choose the one best thing you could do to make a firearm shoot better what would it be, which one thing would you change over everything that would make the biggest difference, basically the first thing you would do to make a gun shoot better, but can only do one thing, what's most important.

I am assuming first that you have some good optics on the rifle and at least have the basics down to shoot and are looking for the next logical thing to do to achieve a better grouping….. I would need to know some other things as well…. Do you have an existing rifle that you want to improve or are you planning a build, and what is your budget? Then, do you reload? If I were to assume the existing rifle upgrade, I personally would recommend 1) a trigger because it is much less costly than a new barrel, you may be able to do it yourself, and it can yield a marked improvement; and 2) Load development because it can make an over the counter rifle perform better. There are several dozens of things to do to improve rifle accuracy and precision. Many opinions and options exist. It's hard to provide you with the single "best" improvement without knowing a lot mor info about your starting point, budget and ultimately your objective.

 

[WYOHTF]

Barrel first then

 

[WYOHTF]

That was weird

 

[6pakzak]

I am assuming first that you have some good optics on the rifle and at least have the basics down to shoot and are looking for the next logical thing to do to achieve a better grouping….. I would need to know some other things as well…. Do you have an existing rifle that you want to improve or are you planning a build, and what is your budget? Then, do you reload? If I were to assume the existing rifle upgrade, I personally would recommend 1) a trigger because it is much less costly than a new barrel, you may be able to do it yourself, and it can yield a marked improvement; and 2) Load development because it can make an over the counter rifle perform better. There are several dozens of things to do to improve rifle accuracy and precision. Many opinions and options exist. It's hard to provide you with the single "best" improvement without knowing a lot mor info about your starting point, budget and ultimately your objective.

Your assumptions would be correct, and just changes to gun, no training, your technique let's assume is good, BTW you are making me re think my thoughts

 

[Karey Kimmel]

Your assumptions would be correct, and just changes to gun, no training, your technique let's assume is good, BTW you are making me re think my thoughts

I have an inexpensive (i.e. Not custom) OTS 30-06 that I developed loads for and can shoot inside a dime @200 yds. I dropped a trigger in, had it bedded, good optics and hand loads. It's my go to hunting rifle ( vs. my .308 Bartlein barrel custom build….).

 

[6pakzak]

Also let's assume your scope base and rings are also good , just the gun.

 

[HunterMann]

If you can choose the one best thing you could do to make a firearm shoot better what would it be, which one thing would you change over everything that would make the biggest difference, basically the first thing you would do to make a gun shoot better, but can only do one thing, what's most important.

Make sure all the stock/action and optic screws are torqued down to the proper spec. I can't tell you how many people complain about a rifle, only find out something is loose.

Then work the trigger. A smooth trigger really helps. Also dry firing to learn/break in the trigger...

 

[Karey Kimmel]

Also let's assume your scope base and rings are also good , just the gun.

Yeah, it's a Leupold VX6.

 

[Mark37082]

Wow! I can't believe I made it to the end. OP had a reasonable post and received some reasonable responses. 6paczac's responses completely lost their effectiveness when getting caught up in a battle with others on this thread. A simple "I disagree" would suffice. I always try to eliminate equipment issues from the equation first and continue to work on becoming better shooter with fundamentals and practice. Good luck with your rifle.

 

[Alberta Wexit]

More trigger time. I believe most of best shots have come from military background. practice, practice, practice. I think last count I have 45 different center fire rifles. Only two have after market triggers. Quite a number have triggers which can be adjusted quite easily. I'm able to shoot them all with in my minimum hunting accuracy which is 13/16" outside to outside of three shots fire at 100 yds. Three shots covered by dime for varmint rounds. We all know every trigger breaks differently. But practice is the best thing to get to know any rifle. Tuning with reloading gets me to what I require for accuracy.