[altos]

Good day,

I recently acquired a Tikka Master Sporter, used. The previous owner appears to have done some "diddling". On the inside of the stock, around the two main bolts holding the action in the stock, is adhesive-like gasket material. Also, dabbed in about 10 locations as well as around the gasket material, is a soft, pliable, black'ish putty.

Do these rifles come with ANYTHING vaguely resembling this or is this just
some wierd attempt at... jeeeezzzzz... I don't know what. My first opinion
was just to remove anything that didn't look factory applied, which means,
everything. Just thought I would ask, just in case...

Any insights appreciated.

Thanks,

[Gewehr98]

Usually, folks use fiberglass or epoxy. Bedding the action into the stock decreases shot-to-shot variations in accuracy when done properly. It's not a bad thing, although I wonder about the non-hardening putty.

[beerslurpy]

Mines a synthetic stock Master Hunter (think thats the same gun) but I never encountered any putty. The gun consisted of metal and fiberglass only.

I never had any accuracy problems whatsoever. The gun shot sub inch groups out of the box. I found accuracy was better (more consistent) when I let the gun cool a bit between shots but it wasnt a bull barrel model, so no complaints there.

[altos]

The putty does baffle me. It is almost as if the previous owner thought...
that contact was required, didn't know about (or how to) bed a rifle and
used something like a fliexible, black caulking compound. He even put it
underneath the barrel (between the stock and barrel) about 3 inches from
the receiver... not much of it there; a patch about 3/4" by 3 inches. Strange...

other comments sincerely welcome.

enjoy,

[Mike Hull]

I've not heard of any other Tikka owners mentioning this phenomena.

Why not give the importer a call and ask, but my guess is that you should just remove the gunk.

If you feel that it will serve accuracy, then have the receiver glass bedded by a pro, if you're not experienced in that sort of thing.

[Gewehr98]

http://www.imt.net/~mele/images/sporter.jpg

Then it is by no means the same rifle as yours.

I'd clean out the putty, because it's a half-assed attempt at stabilizing things. Then I'd do a proper glass bedding job. Acraglas Gel, Devcon Marine Epoxy, etc.

(Jealous, because the 595 Master Sporters have all but dried up these days...)

[altos]

that's the rifle.... no adjustment for angle of the shoulder pad (I think the one you have might have it)... but other than that, it's it.

In a bit of disgust but with a light heart as well...my screwdriver, Q-tips, dental picks, small brushes and other assorted implements of removal all joined in the fray, along with the usual Hoppes, isopropyl, paint thinner, etc.

I think I found "the reason" and it's very strange. The previous owner replaced the two large screws (flat head) holding the receiver to the stock using allen head cap screws. But... the screws were too long. So he shimmed on top of the trigger guard, the bottom of the trigger guard and between the stock and the receiver. Shimmmmmmed everywhere. All to compensate for screws that were too long.

After the putty and junk and miscellaneous wedges, spacers and gawd knows what else, I used "Mr. Benchgrinder" on the cap screws and, through the mysteries of modern science, the thing goes together with no shims, no gummy goop, no... anything. Just like it is supposed to. Amazin'...

Thanks for the replies !