Tikka Threading Questions

[Boltgun]

To give the rest of the story, I went with 9/16x24 and an adapter to 5/8. It's been great and shoots like a laser!

 

[SloppyJ]

Part of the reason I bought my DD wolfhunter is that it comes standard with both a 1/2" and 5/8" end cap. But that's the same situation for any can that's HUB compatible. Planning on a 18" Tikka .243 rechambered to an AI. That should work perfectly. I've heard a lot of good things about Kampfield so that's where it's going to get the work done.

Side note but related to tikka barrel thickness, what's the difference in the OD of the T3 Lite and T3 superlite barrels? Can you flute a lite barrel? The only lefty .243 is available as a lite model which works out best so I can chop it, thread it, and flute it (if possible) without having to deal with the existing flutes.

 

[VuduDoc]

What's the difference in the OD of the T3 Lite and T3 superlite barrels?

I believe they are the same contour.

Can you flute a lite barrel?

Yes you can. Personally, I'd leave a ~3"+ buffer of no flutes towards the muzzle just to err on the side of caution in not causing any "belling" of the muzzle. That's also why some people think its sketchy to put a certain thread diameter on thinner profile barrels.

 

[Andouille]

I believe they are the same contour.


Yes you can. Personally, I'd leave a ~3"+ buffer of no flutes towards the muzzle just to err on the side of caution in not causing any "belling" of the muzzle. That's also why some people think its sketchy to put a certain thread diameter on thinner profile barrels.

3" is about the length of the straight section ahead of the flutes, so that would mean no shortening on a Tikka superlight barrel. I have a 300 WSM Tikka barrel cut about 1/4" ahead of the flutes it shoots great with a load near max pressure. The thread adapter screws on smoothly and the crown looks normal, so no apparent belling has occurred. Keep in mind that the greatest pressure is just ahead of the chamber and decreases with distance, so the muzzle doesn't get near the 64,000 psi max SAAMI chamber. Also, pressure drops dramatically right at the crown where gasses expand radially, so I can imagine that any "belling" force exerted is safe on the threaded crown where wall thickness thinnest. Others have posted about barrels cut within the flutes that shoot great, but typically smaller calibers.

Consider That factory Weatherby's 300 mag rifles have very slim crowns of under 0.600" and yet the still thread the ends 1/2-28. That's a lot of powder and a very thin profile and wall thickness at the threads. Belling isn't as much of a concern as just straight up damaging the threads with a long suppressor acting as a long lever on the end of the barrel.

 

[swavescatter]

Tikka T3X Ember chopped to 18" well into the flutes. Banish 1/2x28 adapter.

Cry about it.

 

[Thinkingman]

I just got my two T3 barrels back from Kampfeld.
5/8x24 and they look fantastic.
Edit: Both cut to 20".... One was a 22" 7-08 and the other was a 24" 300WSM.
I will see how they shoot this weekend.