Head scratching time

plonker

Well-Known Member
Evening all,just picked up a new tikka t3 lite in 308.Made up a dummy round to sammi spec and tried to chamber the round but the bolt would not close:oops: so set the seating die in a turn and tried again,still no closing the bolt,carried on adjusting depth but no joy.Pulled the bullet 150sp and full length resized the case.Tried just the case this time and no joy again.
Case length is fine and looked in the chamber but can't see an obvious obstruction.
Anyone had this before or can offer any ideas as to what's going on?
Thanks all
rather confused dave
Just closed the bolt with some effort and as you can see in the photo it has polished an area where it is printed 308win,there is also brass colour left on the face of the bolt?
something is wrong.
 
Last edited:
Evening all,just picked up a new tikka t3 lite in 308.Made up a dummy round to sammi spec and tried to chamber the round but the bolt would not close:oops: so set the seating die in a turn and tried again,still no closing the bolt,carried on adjusting depth but no joy.Pulled the bullet 150sp and full length resized the case.Tried just the case this time and no joy again.
Case length is fine and looked in the chamber but can't see an obvious obstruction.
Anyone had this before or can offer any ideas as to what's going on?
Thanks all
rather confused dave

This problem with Tikka's has come up before. The chambers do seem to be tight compared to other makes.

With USA dies all the once-fired cases I use for mine need resizing right down, with the FLRSZ die hard up against the shellholder. There's no footling about with quarter turns to get a nip fit. It seems to be all or nothing, but this does make life easier in a way.
 
I have a motto, New gun new brass, fired brass from one chamber seldom chambers in another, even after F/L sizing.
This is becuse the portion of brass called the web just infront of the extractor groove is never sized due to the thickness of the top of the shell holder and the radius on the die mouth.
The only way to overcome this is to use small base dies.

Ian.
 
This problem with Tikka's has come up before. The chambers do seem to be tight compared to other makes.

With USA dies all the once-fired cases I use for mine need resizing right down, with the FLRSZ die hard up against the shellholder. There's no footling about with quarter turns to get a nip fit. It seems to be all or nothing, but this does make life easier in a way.
BINGO,sat the die tight to the ram and resized but still nothing,gave it a extra little nip and bingo chambered sweet as a whistle
Never had this problem with my two other tikkas.
thanks
Dave
 
I have a motto, New gun new brass, fired brass from one chamber seldom chambers in another, even after F/L sizing.
This is becuse the portion of brass called the web just infront of the extractor groove is never sized due to the thickness of the top of the shell holder and the radius on the die mouth.
The only way to overcome this is to use small base dies.

Ian.
Brass was only once fired so assumed it hadn't stretched too much.Problem solved now.
dave
 
I use all sorts of once-fired, and have never needed to resort to special dies. Small-base dies are good for AR15 actions which don't have the camming power or extraction force of a bolt-action.

Sometimes switching to another make of shellholder in the press does the trick. There are minor differences between them, and dies are designed to match up with shellholders of the same brand. This is the cheapest solution to try first. :D
 
It would appear as mentioned in another thread that the difference between SAMMI and CIP in the cartridge specifications ARE THE problem.
 
Back
Top