Tikka Lite Stocks

[willowbank]

Hi Chaps,

I have two Tikka Lites in .270 and .243 and am not that keen on the hollowness of the stocks, has anyone ever pumped one full of some sort of expanding material to make them feel a little more solid.
I have to say I do miss the weight at the rear end and the hollow stock must surely affect the recoil absorption?

all the best,

Willowbank.

 

[Selous]

Best answer is to replace them with something from PSE Composites!

 

[Dama Dama 6.5]

Try and get a hold of the new tikka t3x stocks, they are a big improvement over the t3 stocks, the odd one comes up for sale now and again

 

[Benji53]

Staffordshire synthetic stocks did my t3 varmint expensive but great service

 

[Southern]

You could spray in some expanding firm urethane packing foam, but that would be pretty permanent, unless you push in the plastic material to form a bag liner. Then you can trim that flush and put the recoil pad back on. See video of Instapak, or similar packing foam.

A simple thing is to cut with sharp knife, some upholstery foam rubber, to sort of fit the stock, then push that in there.

 

[Selous]

I am pretty sure Nathan Foster has suggestions in his book regarding stiffening Tikka stocks, might be worth a look. My recollection is that getting the material to bond to the oily polymer is an issue

 

[Yorric]

I have stiffened the front end of my Tikka M595 stock by filling it. I didn't want to increase weight too much so I filled the spaces between the webs with bits of cut up carry mat leaving about 5mm to fill with Devcon. When the Devcon was set, I sanded it back to ensure adequate space for the barrel to free float. To make the front stud mount as strong as possible I filled the void behind that with a solid plug of epoxy putty. It has worked well & the forend is now very rigid & "dead sounding when knocked".
I'm still playing with the but stock (Just added a Kydex adjustable cheek piece etc) so not decided yet if & how to fill it, but will probably use expanding foam cast in so it sticks to the inside surface. - I certainly don't want it loose in there. - That would defeat the object of the exercise.

Ian

p.s. I had no problem with the epoxy adhering to the stock - I did roughen the surface & degreased it with alcohol tho'.

 

[Sika98k]

Slightly off topic but do people trim back the two lugs approximately 2/3rds of the way down the barrel channel to fully free float the barrel?

is it worth doing ?

 

[308tikka]

I have Nathan Foster's kit for my T3 lite in 308 but havent got round to it. To be honest I havent noticed a need as it groups so well. If I rebarrel it, perhaps I will.

 

[Barkingsnake]

Hi Chaps,

I have two Tikka Lites in .270 and .243 and am not that keen on the hollowness of the stocks, has anyone ever pumped one full of some sort of expanding material to make them feel a little more solid.
I have to say I do miss the weight at the rear end and the hollow stock must surely affect the recoil absorption?

all the best,

Willowbank.

I have used epoxy resin with success in the past. You can get it from the likes of eBay in litre bottles with hardner.
Perhaps mix with plastic spheres or lead shot to change the density. I've done the former in a Savage stock and the latter to bring up the weight in an F-Class stock.
Just be careful with the mix and pour...