Help Tikka SS owners? noisy bolt slide

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Just bought a Tikka t3 superlite 6.5 creedmoor in stainless. First thing I noticed is the bolt is noisy. I have a 270 wsm blued model and the bolt is almost silent. This SS model has some noise to the slide. looking over the gun I noticed the slide rails seemed to be grooved some. picture attached. It this normal for The SS models? I trying to figure if I got a problem or if this is just something that's common in the Stainless models.

 

[Pharmseller]

It looks all fuct up. The bolt is on the wrong side.




P

 

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

It's a left hand gun.my question is what the slide rails look like on other stainless models

 

[Marbles]

How do the bolt lugs look?

 

[Wapiti1]

That is normal. Those are marks from broaching the raceway with an older tool. I’ve seen them glass smooth all the way to “how did QC miss this”. It isn’t a stainless issue, per se, but is more common on stainless due to how it machines verse CrMo.

Stainless isn’t as hard as chrome moly and tends to gall, which is what those marks are. You can see if you zoom in that the marks are matte from bead blasting indicating they left the factory that way.

You can smooth up the rails with stones or 320 paper and a little oil. Or leave it alone and shoot it. It’ll smooth up over time.

Jeremy

 

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

How do the bolt lugs look?

The bolt looks good. in fact I put it in the blued gun, and it was silent.

broaching the raceway with an older tool

I had stopped at scheels yesterday and looked over a few stainless model's which all have the same marks. Between you post and seeing the other guns I feel more comfortable about it. I will oil it up and see how it is after break in. Thanks this is great info if was just the feedback I was looking for. I didn't want to shoot the gun if this was not normal. not for safety reasons but I sure I couldn't return it if it was fired.

 

[Fatcamp]

Cycle it 1000 times while watching TV, it'll smooth out.

 

[Marbles]

The bolt looks good. in fact I put it in the blued gun, and it was silent.

I had not noticed the bead blasting in the groove, which confirms it is not galling, but with galling it happens to both surfaces, which is why I asked about the bolt.

Nerd alert, keep reading at your own risk.

You could try working some grease into the rales such as:
Battle Born (rated to -75)
M-pro 7 (rated to -40)
XF-7 (rated to -30)
Tetra (rated to -100, but toxic)

From personal use, M-pro 7 and XF-7 do not collect dust. I've just started using the Battle Born for the lower temp rating. I left the Tetra alone as it is toxic. As the Battle Born contains PTFE, it is toxic if burned off, I don't anticipate getting my bolt action above 572 degrees F. If that was a concern, XF-7 would be the better choice.

I personally like the feel of my Tikkas better when the lugs are greased rather than dry.