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Tikka T3 Rechamber
Hey everyone, first time poster here. I've looked around quite a bit but I can't seem to find a definitive answer to my question. First, a little background. I have a Tikka T3 lite in .308 and I just ordered an MDT Tac21 chassis. The chassis I bought was actually a clearance chassis because it had some paint blemishes, but seeing as it was the only clearance chassis they had, I was limited to their long action chassis. It seems to me that since Tikka t3 rifles are all long action, the action housing would fit, but the magazines may not feed correctly since they will need to be modified because their long action magazines aren't designed for .308. Now onto my dilemma.
If I end up being unhappy with any potential feed issues I would like to rechamber the rifle from .308 to a long action caliber. I'm leaning toward 30-06 because from what I've seen they're very similar. If I'm understanding this correctly, rechambering a Tikka T3 from .308 to 30-06 would only require a new barrel and a bolt stop. Is this correct? Is there anything else I would need to change to utilize a 30-06 cartridge? Is there a better cartridge for the long range target shooting I'm building for that wouldn't break the bank?
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4 Replies
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Considering you'd be going from a .308 to a .30-06, you would only need to ream a new chamber in the existing barrel. They shoot the exact same bullets as they're both .30 Cal
In that case you would need to remove the existing barrel, set it back half a thread, cut the new chamber for .30-06 and put it back on. There's no getting around the need for the long bolt stop though.
I'd suggest just waiting and see after you get everything put together if you're going to have problems. I don't foresee much problem with the magazines really. The .308 is essentially a cut down .30-06, so they have basically the same outside dimensions, they're just a bit shorter.
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Thanks for the reply! I'm not going to start the process until I'm absolutely sure that I need to. I've read that the chamber for a .308 is slightly different and that a 30-06 rechamber wouldn't fully clean up the .308 chamber and and rounds fired would leave a bulging in the case. That's why I would just get a new barrel. I hope everything works out and I can keep it as is for a while, thanks again for the info!
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All you need to do is get a long action magazine for the 30-06 and then grind the bolt stop a little to allow the feeding from the mag. By doing that you can now load your bullets long to the lands and they fit the mag. I did this for my 7mm-08 and it has no issues with feeding and the bullets are touching the lands.
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Yup, it's as easy as that. I think some of the bolt stops are skeletonised, so are not so suitable for filing down. Check the back of yours to see if there's enough meat there to file some away. If not, Brownells have long and short bolt stops.
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