removing rifle stock?

session savage

I am planning to make my own stock (just for ****s n giggles) as my tikka dont really fit me.
Had planned on taking off the existing stock to see what kind of inletting work i had to do. Anyway a friend recons removing the stock will knock it off zero but i cant see why. i mean the scope is attatched to the rifle action not the stock.
Anyone know if he is right.

Tackleberrywho

session savage wrote: »

I am planning to make my own stock (just for ****s n giggles) as my tikka dont really fit me.
Had planned on taking off the existing stock to see what kind of inletting work i had to do. Anyway a friend recons removing the stock will knock it off zero but i cant see why. i mean the scope is attatched to the rifle action not the stock.
Anyone know if he is right.

If you loosen the stock and do not tighten exactly the same you will not be aligning the rifle correctly with your eye and it will give you the optical illusion that scope is off.

Have a look at http://www.pse-composites.com/tikka-t3-stock.html

session savage

Thanks Tack, that makes some sense alright.

Just saw a few pages online saying Tikka's couldnt be bedded because of the recoil lug.... oh well, I may just make a new stock for my CZ .22 instead.... that would be easier.

FISMA

session savage wrote: »

I am planning to make my own stock (just for ****s n giggles) as my tikka dont really fit me.
Had planned on taking off the existing stock to see what kind of inletting work i had to do. Anyway a friend recons removing the stock will knock it off zero but i cant see why. i mean the scope is attatched to the rifle action not the stock.
Anyone know if he is right.

Session,
It depends on just how picky you are on zero.

If tomorrow were opening day and you were going to take the stock off, I would say :eek: NO!

After zeroing for hunting, I do nothing to the rifle but find a nice soft cushion for it to rest on.

In taking off the stock chances are the scope could get a bump. I think that's where the concern is.

Would you consider dropping the stock before a competition? Probably not. However, if you're just shooting a bit of paper for fun, you'll more than likely be fine.

Cass

It will throw off your zero, but not by any more than an inch or two, and nearly always vertically.

The reason being is the action screws that hold the stock to the action. These are preset at a certain torque setting. hence the reason why you should remember the setting when taking them off. A quick home remedy if you don't have a torque wrench is to put a small piece of maskig tape touching the edge of the screw hole. Put a mark on the tape and the screw in a straight line. Screw out the screw remembering the amount of full turns it takes to remove it. Write it down. Do the same for each screw. When you are finished your work, you replace the screws turing them the amountof turns you did when removing them and making sure the marks on the screw heads line up with the mark on the tape. This is only good is you are removing and replacing the original stock.

This is also why glass and pillar bedding is such a gift. My target rifle has glass and pillar bedding. The pillars/bedding only allow the stock to be tightened to X amount so i can remove my stock without having to remember torque settings or mark anything. Do what i want and simply screw back in the action screws until they will not screw anymore and the zero never changes. There is no need to "ring" of the screws with pressure just until they bite nicely.

As said above though the difference in zero is small at 100 yards. It should also only be vertical. Never horizontal. An example would be a while ago a ald i know wanted his Karsten cheek piece mounted onto his rifle. I was at the range so decided to do it there. I removed the action screws, done all the work and remounted the stock. I tightened up the action screws to more than the original setting as they felt a bit loose. When i fired the rifle the POI was 1.5" lower. Reason was i had tightened the action into the stock a bit more than was previously set, so in essence i "pulled" the action down/into the stock and his POI changed. 5 clicks up and he was back on zero.

Its also funny to think that the torque settings on your action screws can effect accuracy. For example my Savage (pre-customisation) had the action screws at their factory settings. When i mounted my Karsten the zero changed when i remounted the stock. When i got home i decided o check the web for how important these settings were. I was on the Savage rifle forum, and some of the Team Savage guys were discussing torque settings (old thread). I went to the range armed with these various ettings and a torque wrench. At 100 yards i could see the groups open and tighten from slightly to alot depending on the settings. I finally settled on 15, 20, 30 for the three screws always starting with the one closest to the trigger and working towards the muzzle.

Groups went form a ragged one hole to a neat one hole group. To verify i set the torque on the screws at 35, 15,10 and the group opened up to over 0.5" with each hole individually recognisable. Needless to say i returned them to the other settings.

zeissman

session savage wrote: »

Thanks Tack, that makes some sense alright.

Just saw a few pages online saying Tikka's couldnt be bedded because of the recoil lug.... oh well, I may just make a new stock for my CZ .22 instead.... that would be easier.

You should be able to inlet a stock for a tikka.
I bought a uninlet thumbhole stock from boyds recently,
these stocks come fully shaped on the outside but dont have the action or barrel channel cut out.
A mate of mine inlet it for my sako 85 and made a great job of it.
He fitted two alloy plates into the stock where the action screws and recoil lug go. Its a perfect fit and shoots great.

It wasn't me!

Torque affects the way the rifle vibrates, which will influence mean point of impact and also group size. So if you're removing the stock, you're changing the tension between the rifle and the stock (potentially) each time and so altering how it'll shoot and to where. The differences might be subtle, and in a hunting gun a few shots to check will be grand, but target shooters will play with different combinations to try and achieve the best setting.