Feasible to rebarrel?

[TNBuck2]

So I’ve got an older Tikka T3 in 7mm08. I’d like to try some longer range shooting with it and think a heavier profile barrel would work better for extended range sessions. The barrel gets so hot after only a few 3-shot groups.

Would it be feasible to get a prefit barrel installed and drop the factory plastic stock for something more substantial?

Don’t think I’m up for trying this myself after reading many threads about how tight the factory barrels are torqued.

Any suggestions on who I might use to swap out the barrel?

 

[ShtrRdy]

Yeah, that's a good idea. Check out Fisher T&C

Fisher T and C

www.fishertandc.com

 

[R_A_W]

https://www.bugholes.com/articles.asp?ID=83

TN

 

[Rob01]

Get with Josh from PVA who is @bohem on this site and he can easily get you set up with a barrel in your desired length and contour. You probably could do it yourself but if you don’t feel comfortable then just send it to him.

Prefit Barrels with Osprey blanks

patriotvalleyarms.com

 

[Baron23]

Uh. OP mentioned “pre-fit” and I don’t believe that Sako/Tikka are pre-fit suitable and the smith would need the action in hand. Correct me if I’m wrong, guys

But the three outfits mentioned above can do a great job spinning a barrel as can one of my favs, @AccuSol-ERN at Altus or his own shop.

 

[Maurygold]

https://www.bugholes.com/articles.asp?ID=83

TN

ANYONE but these people.

Suggested smiths.
LRI
Altus
SAC

 

[Rob01]

Uh. OP mentioned “pre-fit” and I don’t believe that Sako/Tikka are pre-fit suitable and the smith would need the action in hand. Correct me if I’m wrong, guys

PVA lists both shouldered prefits and barrel nut prefits for the Tikka T3. I thought that was why people recommended them because you can use a prefit on them.

 

[CStroud]

Tikkas can take prefits. Proof makes and sells a ton of them along with other smiths.

 

[CStroud]

ANYONE but these people.

LRI
Altus
SAC

I would disagree with you on Altus. They’ve built me 4 rifles and everything went smoothly, and all of them shot very well. Haven’t had a rifle built by the other two so I can’t comment on them.

 

[4g64loser]

PVA lists both shouldered prefits and barrel nut prefits for the Tikka T3. I thought that was why people recommended them because you can use a prefit on them.

Josh does indeed make prefits shouldered and nut types for t3s. OP should call PVA up and discuss the job. They can handle it.

 

[BenE]

PVA lists both shouldered prefits and barrel nut prefits for the Tikka T3. I thought that was why people recommended them because you can use a prefit on them.

I’ve measured every Tikka that has been through the shop for a remove/re-barrel and they hold a tighter tolerance than some custom actions it almost comical, Sako’s too just a smaller sample size

 

[TNBuck2]

Uh. OP mentioned “pre-fit” and I don’t believe that Sako/Tikka are pre-fit suitable and the smith would need the action in hand. Correct me if I’m wrong, guys

But the three outfits mentioned above can do a great job spinning a barrel as can one of my favs, @AccuSol-ERN at Altus or his own shop.

Maybe “prefit” wasn’t the right term. I’m interested in someone removing the factory barrel from my Tikka T3 and installing heavier contour barrel. Tikka guarantees 1moa accuracy with their factory barrels. I’d like something that could beat that with hand loads and would let me shoot at the long range matches at my local range.

 

[trob]

I spun my first tikka prefit on recently, a proof, and it was perfect. Piece of cake

 

[Maurygold]

I would disagree with you on Altus. They’ve built me 4 rifles and everything went smoothly, and all of them shot very well. Haven’t had a rifle built by the other two so I can’t comment on them.

I fixed it. It was poorly worded. Altus is great - Greg at bugholes can play in traffic

 

[wind gypsy]

Most anyone that would spin up a custom barrel or made to order pre-fit can also remove your factory barrel and spin on the new one. The thing is there's no reason to limit yourself to a "pre-fit" if you're going to send your barreled action in. So basically any gunsmith youd want to chamber a new barrel for you could take care of it.

"Pre-fits" are usually priced based on a gunsmith not having to fit the barrel to your action and most pre-fit places will charge an additional fee to remove the factory barrel and install new barrel. I've sent factory tikka barreled actions to 4 different gunsmiths to chamber/fit new barrels and not one of them charged me to remove factory barrel and install their newly chambered barrel. Thats to say, price savings for a pre-fit might not be significant once that is taken into account.

Manzella was the latest to do a tikka barrel for me and I'd recommend him without hesitation. He does want to measure tikka actions for the first barrel he chambers for one which is no skin off your back if you want the barrel removed anyway.

 

[Rob01]

Most anyone that would spin up a custom barrel or made to order pre-fit can also remove your factory barrel and spin on the new one. The thing is there's no reason to limit yourself to a "pre-fit" if you're going to send your barreled action in. So basically any gunsmith youd want to chamber a new barrel for you could take care of it.

"Pre-fits" are usually priced based on a gunsmith not having to fit the barrel to your action and most pre-fit places will charge an additional fee to remove the factory barrel and install new barrel. I've sent factory tikka barreled actions to 4 different gunsmiths to chamber/fit new barrels and not one of them charged me to remove factory barrel and install their newly chambered barrel. Thats to say, price savings for a pre-fit might not be significant once that is taken into account.

Manzella was the latest to do a tikka barrel for me and I'd recommend him without hesitation. He does want to measure tikka actions for the first barrel he chambers for one which is no skin off your back if you want the barrel removed anyway.

That’s because they just took their prefit and screwed it on. lol Prefits for actions that accept them are not a shortcut for anything except having to pay shipping both ways and wait for a smith to screw a barrel on for you. With the quality companies who do them you aren’t giving up accuracy at all.

 

[wind gypsy]

That’s because they just took their prefit and screwed it on. lol

I'm not sure what you're referring to? That they didn't charge me to remove factory barrel and install new barrel? Not sure if PVA charges for that but PBB and others do. It's extra work so no reason they shouldn't charge for it.

Prefits for actions that accept them are not a shortcut for anything except having to pay shipping both ways and wait for a smith to screw a barrel on for you. With the quality companies who do them you aren’t giving up accuracy at all.

I never said they were a shortcut. I'm just trying to point out that if a guy is going to need the smith to remove factory barrel and install replacement, there is zero reason to limit their search to pre-fits because whoever is going to do the work will need his action in hand anyway. There is no benefit to a barrel being a "pre-fit" in this case.

 

[Rob01]

I'm not sure what you're referring to? That they didn't charge me to remove factory barrel and install new barrel? Not sure if PVA charges for that but PBB and others do. It's extra work so no reason they shouldn't charge for it.

I never said they were a shortcut. I'm just trying to point out that if a guy is going to need the smith to remove factory barrel and install replacement, there is zero reason to limit their search to pre-fits because whoever is going to do the work will need his action in hand anyway. There is no benefit to a barrel being a "pre-fit" in this case.

I was referring to thinking that there was any special fitting done by sending the barreled action to the smith to get a barrel screwed on an action that can take a prefit. They will probably just run the barrel as they would a prefit in the CNC and then just screw it on themselves. Same thing he can do at home.

You did kind of infer the smith you send the action to is doing something more than screwing on the new one. If you send it to someone who isn’t doing prefits then you will be in line to have them install yours after others already in the shop. It’s not the 90s and smiths aren’t hand fitting barrels to actions that take prefits like back then to factory actions. If he did go that route then he better tell them to not touch the action or threads at all so he doesn’t take his option for a prefit away down the road.

He would be better off spending the money it would cost to send the barreled action to a smith on an action wrench and barrel vise and do it himself at home with a prefit. But if he wants first done by a smith to not have to worry about any issues arising from the factory barrel being on tight I get it but after that there is no reason.

 

[wind gypsy]

I was referring to thinking that there was any special fitting done by sending the barreled action to the smith to get a barrel screwed on an action that can take a prefit. They will probably just run the barrel as they would a prefit in the CNC and then just screw it on themselves. Same thing he can do at home.

You did kind of infer the smith you send the action to is doing something more than screwing on the new one.

Most notably, the thing they are doing that is "more" is taking off a notoriously tight factory tikka barrel without dinging up the action or barrel as many newbs do their first try at doing it by themselves. 3 of the 4 Smiths i referenced before had the job done in less than 6 weeks so not really longer than a made to order pre-fit in most cases. I've got a local guy that'll have it done in 1 week now. Manzella CNCs barrels but he still wanted a tikka action to measure first to make sure it's perfect, probably not necessary to get in spec headspace. The other minor thing that doesn't matter to me but might to some - timing the engraving. Tikkas aren't timed the same.

He would be better off spending the money it would cost to send the barreled action to a smith on an action wrench and barrel vise and do it himself at home with a prefit. But if he wants first done by a smith to not have to worry about any issues arising from the factory barrel being on tight I get it but after that there is no reason.

For lots of guys, they aren't going to be spinning many barrels on/off in the future to where the $200+ for barrel vice, action wrench, external action wrench (to break free factory barrel) doesn't really benefit them if they can let someone else who's not going to ding up their action handle it. I avoided needing that equipment for quite a while until it made sense. I can have a Benchmark or ACE blank "fitted" by a smith for $800 or less so most of the prefits i'd actually want aren't much of a savings.

Got off topic a bit here but generally i agree that pre-fit is an easy route to go. Just wanted to make sure a guy that wants to send his rifle in to have a barrel removed is aware that there isn't a real reason to limit himself to "pre-fits" for that application.

 

[LuvDog]

If you're going to send it off, then you don't need to limit yourself to prefits. Get any barrel blank in any contour and work with a smith to chamber it.

But, I will say that Tikka's take prefits very well. I had 2 and had installed a couple of shouldered prefits and they shot great.

Since you want a heavier contour, then I'd also suggest an after market chassis or stock, because opening up the channel on the factory stock isn't hard, but there is really not advantage to keeping it. Get something adjustable. I really like my XLR Envy Pro.