Tikka 280ai build. Help choose a barrel

Beeman said:
Thank you. Should give the OP an idea for his weight goal. I’d think the tikka action will be lighter than my Defiance. If he goes with a #2 or #3 contour steel barrel and a lighter optic than NF, it could make for a very light rifle. Maybe to light for longer range work. But would be a dream to carry.
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Good looking rifle!

I'm a fan of light rifles as I do a lot of hiking. My Kimber Hunter was 6lb 1oz, scoped that I just sold. I'm leaning towards a #3 steel and upgrading to a carbon stock of some kind. Optic will be a Leupold VX5 3-15. Might try a bi-pod for the first time as well.
 
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Gday
Did I hear bipod 😇
I love those things as quick easy & incredibly accurate in hunting situations once you work them for me my real good range accuracy is under 300 @ 400 I start to get a little wavy & need to setup more for better accuracy ( usually something like a hat , coat under the butt is enough & still pretty quick) @500 onwards well use to be as I basically don’t take these shots anymore I used to set up & paid a lot of attention to rest structure eg a foam bed roll laid out under bipod legs so a soft ground or hard rock would give the same resistance on the moment the shot was sent

On bipods today my
Favourite is the Harris pivot one but some good looking ones on the market I’ve just got no need to buy for the sake of it as mine do what I need
Rubber feet are a better option than hard feet & a bipod that can load up is one I like as some positions it’s better suited for greater accuracy
Bipod length is variable for me as I’ve got one that extends to around 3feet but in all reality these days I don’t use that as I can’t hunt that terrain anymore
Most a upto 12 inches is usually all I need today

Speed of setup is just like a rifle that has a good pbr it takes the guess work out of most ranges
just see it & shoot it

Cheers
 
@spokenfly, if you don’t necessarily want to buy a full rifle to serve as a donor, you can purchase Tikka receivers stripped down and go from there. I have gotten three from J&A Outdoors. Two are for dedicated builds, and the third is a switchbarrel.
All the previous barrel suggestions are great. I don’t recall seeing Benchmark, though. Consider them, too. Fwiw, I bought one from @BFD (although he might argue I swindled, rather than bought 🤣) that he never got around to using from and took it to my local smith for modification. The smith said it was the straightest barrel he has ever turned…including Bartleins. Should get it back soon and will truly find out how poor of a shooter I am!
I have a McGowen that shoots well enough for me. Second order I placed with them got all screwed up in the verification process. Nothing matched between order email and verification email, and the guy at McGowen wanted to argue with me…even when the emails I received from him clearly indicated that he was wrong. I finally got so frustrated I asked for my money back and vowed to never deal with them again. They’re great for budget builds, but based on my experience and other internet reports, be advised headaches are perhaps more common than other barrel makers.
And yes, please keep us in the loop. I am excited about your build!
 
aratliff said:
All the previous barrel suggestions are great. I don’t recall seeing Benchmark, though. Consider them, too. Fwiw, I bought one from @BFD (although he might argue I swindled, rather than bought 🤣) that he never got around to using from and took it to my local smith for modification. The smith said it was the straightest barrel he has ever turned…including Bartleins.
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Daggum Pirate!
 
Thanks for the ideas @aratliff . I considered the J&A Outdoors actions, but I was able to get a full 30-06 T3x stainless for $770 after a rebate from Eurooptic which is actually cheaper than just the action. I don't know if there is a market for stock barrels and stocks, but I could possibly make a little more money selling those as well.

Ive seen all the horror stories online about McGowen, though it also seems they shoot well enough. I admit I am considering them regardless. Oregon Mountain Rifles also has a pretty tempting pricepoint for a carbon barrel. I also like the look and idea of their titanium bolts, lugs, etc.

Going with a prefit really limits options. My gunsmith kinda steered me towards the pre-fit option since they are so quick and cheap to install. I'm not sure what it costs to install a blank, but I'm guessing $400? Might be worth the extra money in labor costs to just buy a blank from a proven brand than take a bit of a risk on a less trusty pre-fit company.
 
So I've discovered I can get a pretty good discount on Proof barrels. Thinking the 22" Sendero Light option would be a happy medium between weight, length, and maneuverability. The 22" sendero light is 5 oz lighter than the 24" Sendero but the real advantage I feel comes in the length. 22" is where I feel a barrel begins to not be obnoxiously long.
Headed to the gunsmith today to ensure he can fit the Proof to a Tikka action, and for how much $$$.
 
Expert Voice?

Please report back what your smith says. Mine doesn’t like proof barrels. I didn’t ask how many he has worked on, so it might just be he got an outlier. Said he turned one and the harmonics were terrible.
I’m no smith, not even a backyard machinist, so don’t shoot the messenger.
Considering a Proof for a future 7mm-08 tube.
 
spokenfly said:
Headed to the gunsmith today to ensure he can fit the Proof to a Tikka action, and for how much $$$.
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Tikka's are very easy to work with and have standard 16 pitch tenon threads rather than metric.
aratliff said:
Please report back what your smith says. Mine doesn’t like proof barrels.
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I have had very good luck with Proof barrels and wouldn't hesitate to recommend one. Bartlein carbon barrels are excellent as well.

JM2C
 
@aratliff , Guidefitter.

From what the smith tells me, the shank size is smaller on Tikkas (1.13") versus the more common 1.20". Proof offers a barrel with the 1.13" shank but it is 24" and a 8.4 twist. This should still allow me to run the 160 SH and the mid weights in 7mm. Smith quoted $660 to chamber and fit barrel. An extra $220 for muzzle threading and brake. Even with the Proof discount, that puts it at a pretty spendy proposition. I suppose that's the price you pay when shopping for good components!
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence, @Mountainman. I’ll add it back to my wishlist.

@spokenfly, I am familiar with that one, too. Been a while since I have partaken, and my mil laptop has turned into a brick, so it will be a couple weeks before I can re-activate that account.
That does sound very expensive for chambering work! And an EXTRA $220 for muzzle threads? Yikes!
Does he realize that you would be providing the barrel?
 
As luck would have it, i just took my parts to the smith today. $650.00 for chambering, threading for brake & bedding stock. Is your smith providing your brake? That's at least about $100 more?
My cost will go up somewhat if he has to "blueprint" the new Weatherby 307 action🤷
 
Ah. When I dropped off barrel, it needed cut from large shank to small savage and headspaced to the action I left. Maybe a plunge or two with reamer. And muzzle threads. Was told normal barrel work was $400, but since mine was pre-chambered, it would not be that much.
That was not shop owner, though, so we’ll see. Last I spoke to them, he was waiting on paint, since I am tricking out this build. Will check on this tomorrow.
 
Fwiw for comparison, reducing tenon from large shank to small shank, shoulder/re-plunging chamber for headspacing, muzzle threads, and cerakoating barrel and a few other small parts brought of a total of $400.
Heading to pick it up soon. Since it is going to be colder than a mother-in-law’s kiss all week, I’ll get it assembled at some point and share pics in a separate thread.
 
gltaylor said:
As luck would have it, i just took my parts to the smith today. $650.00 for chambering, threading for brake & bedding stock. Is your smith providing your brake? That's at least about $100 more?
My cost will go up somewhat if he has to "blueprint" the new Weatherby 307 action🤷
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Did you get possession of your 307 action then?
 
aratliff said:
Fwiw for comparison, reducing tenon from large shank to small shank, shoulder/re-plunging chamber for headspacing, muzzle threads, and cerakoating barrel and a few other small parts brought of a total of $400.
Heading to pick it up soon. Since it is going to be colder than a mother-in-law’s kiss all week, I’ll get it assembled at some point and share pics in a separate thread.
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I might have told you this story already, but that was the barrel I chambered in my chambering class. It took me 45 minutes to index the barrel in the lathe to a concentricity of .0002. I'm sure a smith can shave that time down to less than half, but they still need to charge for that time spent because it's meticulous. The chambering portion will be the same time frame for anyone operating the lathe. Doing it right, one only wants to remove .025-.030 of metal per reamer plunge. I was told this keeps the chamber smoother or some good benefit. Seeing "roll pins" as the metal migrates out of the barrel means the speed and pressure of the reamer is ideal. I had them rolling the whole time! I want to say that took another 45 mins. My instructor said, a guy doing it right, and not rushing things could fully chamber, thread, muzzle thread, cross hatch the chamber with sand paper, total work done per barrel 3.5-4hrs. Two barrels a day at $350-400 a barrel for full service like that.

Ask them when you pick it up, what they meant by saying it's the straightest barrel they ever saw. The concentricity of the chamber, or just the straightness of the blank. I'd like to pat myself on the back if it's the chamber! :ROFLMAO:
 
Mountainman said:
Did you get possession of your 307 action then?
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Yes! Finally!
Instead of a little over a month, it was 4 1/2 mos!
Oh well, at least it's finally coming together!
It looked nice. They also left plenty of steel in it (not cut down, thinned, drilled out like some of the new "lightweights").
Looking forward to it being finished and trying my first 30" barrel🤪.
It's gonna be a 26 Sherman Mag. A 300 PRC Imp necked down to 6.5. Zoom Zoom!
 
BFD said:
Ask them when you pick it up, what they meant by saying it's the straightest barrel they ever saw. The concentricity of the chamber, or just the straightness of the blank. I'd like to pat myself on the back if it's the chamber! :ROFLMAO:
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Just now seeing this. I did not connect those dots, but it makes sense now. As far as I am concerned, that is a BFD chambered rifle!

Didn’t have to ask. Smith asked again which barrel it was and said even at 30”, there was zero run out on the blank. (Hopefully the bore is concentric 🤣).

Hope the 162s I sent are some consolation for unknowingly swindling you out of a straight tube!
 
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@spokenfly, if you’re not dead set on a prefit, I’d go with a Proof carbon blank and have it chambered by T&C Fisher. He’s said to do phenomenal work. I currently have my second Proof, both of which have been prefits, and I’m not looking for anything else. I wish Proof offered the 280 in a prefit.
 
Good to hear. I found out about T&C from Sniper’s Hide. Nothing but positive feedback, and reasonable turnaround times and pricing. Lots of feedback that the chambering jobs were just perfect, and that barrels he’s chambered have been absolute tack drivers. He can also source blanks for you. Seems like a man at the top of his craft. If I ever have to have barrel work done, it’s most likely going to him.
 
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