[jt1911man]

I have had the most luck with:

90gr. Sierra Blitzking over 55gr of IMR4831
100gr. Sierra Matchking over 53.5gr of IMR4831
100gr. Nosler BalisticTip over 53.5gr of IMR4831

All with standard COALs from the reloading manuals.  Using Nosler brass, neck sizing only.  Seating bullets with a Forster Ultra-Micrometer seating die.  If I use my Hornady concentricity gauge at the end of a loading session, I can shoot one hole groups on a good day.

Usually 1/2 MOA on good days, still less than 1 MOA on bad days.  But of course, I did a lot of work to the rifle to get it there: better scope base, better stock, and bedded action.

[jt1911man]

I have only used the 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip on deer (since it is designed for it).  It's lightning.

Regarding bedding…  I used the same old standard procedure everybody does, except with the tikka, you need to use a very thin line of superglue to hold the recoil lug into the action slot.  Once that dries make sure the gaps between the lug and the action on the sides are filled at an angle with putty.  I stole some of my kid's play-doh.  Regardless, the recoil lug got locked in to the bedding job, but that was ok, since I used an aftermarket steel recoil lug that I purchased from this site's sponsors.  It turned out to be a very clean and easy job.  The superglue only serves to ensure that when you put the action and lug down into the wet epoxy, it stays in the correct place.

I used a dremel prior to laying in the wet epoxy to ensure I would have a thick enough layer of epoxy around the action and the recoil lug.

You will hear naysayers say you cannot bed tikka T3's.  I have done two now, with perfect success.  You just need a spare lug, so you may as well get a steel aftermarket lug for each stock you do.

[jt1911man]

I really like the DNZ 1 piece mount/rings due to the fact that they bolt to the action, instead of clamping on the action's rails.  The T3 Lite in 25-06 produces some pretty considerable recoil.  Another thing that may help your shooting is a Limbsaver recoil pad.  At one point I put that on the factory synthetic stock and it really reduced my “shooter's fatigue”.

Regarding loads: I have three pet loads using Sierra's 90gr BlitzKing, their 100gr MatchKing, and Nosler's 100gr Hunting Ballistic Tip.  All shoot half MOA with my bedded stock.  All three loads are loaded with IMR4831 at the high end of the Hodgdon's online tables.  I have not tried any 117gr bullets.

[jt1911man]

Last January I bought a T3 stainless in 25-06.  Started off great, but groups quickly went downhill, with lots of vertical stringing.  I removed the factory scope rings that I was using and found that the ring that has the recoil lug in it was the culprit.  The hole in the ring that the lug sits in was egg-holed badly, and the lug was bent at a considerable angle.  I had those rings torqued down tight, and this happened anyway. 

I immediately replaced the factory rings with a one-piece DNZ mount.  That brought my groups down to just within 1 MOA.  Then I built my own laminate stock and bedded the action. Ever since, I have a phenomenal 1/2 MOA rifle that I have used to tie first in one varmint competition I competed in.

[jt1911man]

Hi
  are you going to do all the mods in one go ?, or one at a time , if you do them all at once you might never know exactly what was wrong !

UPDATE:  I went to the range with the just the new DNZ scope mount, steel lug, and recoil pad in.  My groups with the 80gr Barnes TTSX was .5″ and the 90gr Sierra Blitzkings were .75″.  I believe it was the scope mounts that made the difference.  Still proceeding with the stock project next week.

[jt1911man]

That's impossible, as the “webbing” is recessed under the barrel channel. That “webbing” you refer to is for strength. It may have been making contact somewhere, but it wasn't there.

Sounds like a bedding issue. Did you take the barreled action out and sand a little off the sides of the stock up by the barrel shank? Easy fix, and works wonders.

Actually, it is possible, its just a difference between what the two of us are considering the webbing.  Apparently you are thinking about the x-patterned ridges only, I am also including the lateral ridge of webbing that runs between the two x's.  It's all a matter of perspective taking.  I did sand all areas of contact for the whole length of the barrel, and the last time I shot the rifle (and still experienced these problems), it was with the barrel completely free-floated.

Since then, and since I made my original post in this thread, I removed the scope and the factory rings, finding that the small pin on the bottom of one of the rings (the one that sits in the hole on top of the receiver like a recoil lug) has actually started to egg-hole the aluminum hole it sits in, in the ring, and it is now sitting a a slight angle.  This indicates that no matter how tight I thought I had tightened my scope rings to the receiver, they still moved.  So I ordered a DNZ scope mount and a limbsaver recoil pad to a. provide a more rigid scope mount, and b. help mitigate some of the recoil (though I'm not really sure if reducing felt recoil on my shoulder will also soften the blow for the scope; it should soften the resistance to recoil for the whole gun, though).

Also, since my original post I measured the width of the recoil lug versus the width of the slot it sits in on the action.  The aluminum recoil lug measured .006″ less than the slot in the action, and the lug already has some significant-looking imprinting on it from the action.  Placing the lug in the slot by hand, there was very noticeable slop, or movement allowed in that space.  Therefore I went ahead and ordered the steel replacement lug from the host site last night (and I already received a shipping notice for it).

I also have a pepper laminate blank on the way from Boyds.  I'm going to give stock-making a shot.  I'll update with pics as I go along.  Hopefully I get a chance to do some shooting with the current and upcoming updates to the lug and scope mount to see if either of those were the culprits.

-Josh

[jt1911man]

I am having similar issues with my SS Tikka T3 lite, 25-06.  My groups are approximately 2″ (with mostly vertical stringing).  Sometimes I can put a pair of shots right next to each other, but mostly the shots just dance up and down the paper in a 2″ tall, 1/2″ wide column.  I reload and have tried numerous combinations of bullets and powder.

I recently free floated the barrel in the synthetic stock, because the stock's plastic webbing in the forearm was making contact with the barrel in several spots.  It makes absolutely no sense that Tikka engineers would design it that way unless they knew there were significant issues with the plastic stock that needed to be compensated for in that way. 

I am using the factory scope rings, but I have them thoroughly torqued down and am using a proven scope. 

My current line of thought is to put a DNZ scope mount and to build a beefier wood laminate stock for it.  Regardless I am disappointed in the rifle's performance, but absolutely love the feel of the action and trigger.  So much so that I would rather just order a new Shilen barrel for it (maybe with a heavier profile) than mess with another make/model.

-Josh

By the way… am I the only one that has a nearly impossible time reading the verification letters when I try to post on this forum?