Blueprint a Tikka T3 or save my money for ammo and range time?

[MidRangeCrisis]

I am having a Proof CF barrel installed on a new-to-me Tikka T3 and the gunsmith offered a good enough deal on doing a full blueprint while he has it.

Thing is, same guy sorta talked me out of the same when he rebarreled a previous target rifle saying that the Tikka actions tended to be very square in the first place and mine lived up to that reputation. The gun shoots lights out past 1000 yards and if there is a problem caused by not having had it blueprinted, I cannot detect it.

So, what's the consensus? Do it now or roll the dice?

 

[bassmaster07]

NO. You would be unable to buy prefit barrels afterwards......NO.

 

[XLR308]

If you can buy prefit shouldered barrels for a Tikka T3 does it really need to be cleaned up ?
Food for thought

 

[jcmullis2]

Your action is fine the way it is. Any action built close enough to spec that you can buy shouldered prefit barrels for can’t be too bad. Just my $.02

 

[MidRangeCrisis]

That's definitely an aspect I had not considered. It's not super compelling in this case as I have three other Tikka T3s that will never get this kind of attention. That said, the logic of anecdotal evidence is convincing.

Now you guys have me thinking about moving the barrel onto one of my other rifles when the time comes. Once it's shouldered and chambered on this gun, the barrel should be good enough for any other right?

 

[jcmullis2]

In theory but always check the headspace. I don’t see the logic in taking a barrel off one and putting it on another but I’m sure there’s a good reason.

 

[MidRangeCrisis]

In theory but always check the headspace. I don’t see the logic in taking a barrel off one and putting it on another but I’m sure there’s a good reason.

I won't say the reason is particularly good but if this barrel shoots well, I'd like to have it on a stainless action in a more assertive chambering for the latter half of its useful life. It's a spendy tube and I'd like to at least have in mind to get a lot of its useful life out of it.

First go is at a lighter weight XM40A3 style (not spec build obviously) rifle for intermediate, long, and ELR experiments. I suspect I will get bored or otherwise culminate on that configuration sometime around the 3000 round mark.

 

[b6graham]

if your smith thinks a tikka needs to be blueprinted you should find a new smith...dude just wants free money he wont do a thing to it

Tikka Pre-Fit

proofresearch.com

 

[MidRangeCrisis]

if your smith thinks a tikka needs to be blueprinted you should find a new smith...dude just wants free money he wont do a thing to it

Tikka Pre-Fit

proofresearch.com

Nah I was bugging him about doing some other work besides just the barrel and I brought it up. He talked me out of it before and was pretty "yeah, sure if you want to give me money" about it this time.

Seems like the consensus is against it in any case. I was ambivalent and I see the logic behind skipping it.