Boy, Am I Unlucky.

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Waywatcher

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Went shooting my new Tikka T3 for the third time last Sunday. It jammed twice in 35 rounds. :( (This brings the grand total to 85 rounds fired)

The rifle would extract spent brass from the chamber and then "attempt" to eject it but the brass would end up falling in the action. This made a doozy of a jam in the rifle; Tikkas have a small ejection port. The bolt & gun is clean.

I recreated the situation at home using empty cases. It happens when cycling the action fast or slow. It fails to eject once every 5-10 tries. My experiment was 5-jam-11-jam-6-jam-13-jam.

Going to call Beretta tomorrow, will see how that goes. I bought it locally from a good store, so I can go that route too. What do you think?

The reason I say I'm unlucky is that it seems that every gun I've bought lately is defective. Here's all the the guns I have bought in the last year:

1.) The above Tikka
2.) Ruger GP100--Cylinder scraped on barrel/forcing cone. Sent back to Ruger, got it back, problem still there. Sent it back again, problem appears fixed.
3.) Other Ruger GP100--Cylinder developed 'wobble' and would get closer and farther from barrel as it turned. Sent it back to Ruger and it seems fixed.
4.) Ruger LCR--Cylinder developed very excessive endplay. Local store replaced with new unit.

So if you guys are wondering where all the lemons are going, wonder no longer. :p

I just can't seem to catch a break!
 
My Armalite AR-10 would do that same thing. I bought it used, and suspect that was the reason it was traded in. I took it back to the gun store, and even though there was no warranty on it, they sent it to Armalite for me and footed the bill for repair and shipping! That is why they get a lot of my business now.

When it came back, I asked what they had done to fix it, but there was nothing specific on the repair ticket to tell what the problem was. Whatever they did, it runs like a top now.
 
Just trade the thing for a Remington 700 and you won't have anything else to worry about. Unless you just like tinkering with that sort of stuff.
 
Just trade the thing for a Remington 700 and you won't have anything else to worry about. Unless you just like tinkering with that sort of stuff.
Click to expand...
Unless you are one of the ones where the bolt handle breaks off, or one of the ones whose discharges when you flip the safety off.
 
Waywatcher:

Remove the bolt and see how a shell fits in the face. See if the plunger is applying adequate force, or whether there may be something impeding its full motion, like metal filings or a burr. Press it in with a dowel, pencil eraser or something else that will cycle it fully.

Check the extractor to see how tightly it holds the cartridge rim against the bolt face. If the shell is held too loosely, it can fall out and won't eject at the proper angle, or may drop before ejection. Also, check it's movement to see if it holds the rim tightly against the opposite side of the recess when the cartridge is aligned with the bolt. Pull the cartridge to see how well it's retained by the extractor.

The bolt design is a good one; perhaps yours just needs a bit of tinkering or wearing-in.
 
Waywatcher,

There is a good chance there is nothing wrong with your rifle at all. This sounds like a classic case of brass hitting the windage turret on your scope and bouncing back into the receiver. I had this happen on a new Cooper when trying to mount a scope with target knobs in low mounts. Wouldn't reliably eject anything, not even in medium height rings. So the scope went away, and was replaced by a slimmer unit that doesn't interfere with the angle the brass ejects at.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

Here's some more info:

The scope is just a standard VX-1 with very low profile caps. I don't believe the brass is hitting it. Sometimes the brass doesn't even come outside the ejection port. (This was easy to see pulling the bolt slowly.) It just fell off the bolt after coming out of the chamber.

The brass seems to be in spec. I measured it in various locations, particularly the rim thickness and width. Also, it happens with multiple types of brass; LC and Remington.

The plunger on the bolt face seems fine. It takes some force to move it, but when it does move, it moves smoothly. I cleaned all around and under the extractor using Q-tips and pieces of paper & patches until it was perfectly clean. I can't see or feel any burrs or anything out of the ordinary. The extractor piece does also seem to be solidly against the bolt side; nothing is holding them apart.

If the shell is held too loosely, it can fall out and won't eject at the proper angle, or may drop before ejection.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling it is something with the extractor piece itself, based on my investigation as well.

I called Beretta this morning and they recommended taking it back to the dealer.
 
I brought it back to the store today; they're sending it in for warranty.

So I guess I am just out the money & the gun for 4-6 weeks. It just doesn't seem right. :(
 
Could it be design flaw or just a lemon done by disgruntled employees in this time of recession ?
 
Usually manufacturers repair them without specifying what the problem was. Just part of business coverup or screw ups ,
 
Well good luck and I hope things work out well :)

Let us know how it goes? Always need to know how MFGs treat their customers. THR members should be aware if they don't come through?
 
Thanks for the interest!

I will be sure to keep this thread updated.

From my research on the Google, when other folks had this problem, the Mfg. replaced the Extractor & Ejector. We'll see...
 
Not the first one I've heard of.

Ur the 4th person I know with Tikka problems. They seem to shoot almost as good as a Savage out of the box ;) but everyone I know has problems with em'.

You know, I finally got to shoot an LCR a couple of weekends ago. Fun little thing, but my bud had to send it back because gas was cutting the frame. I didn't get to see it before he sent it in.

I'm still thinking of the GP 100 if I can find the grips like they have on the SP 101, but after your problems, I may just get the SP 101. I just want it with a 6" pipe on it for the .327 Fed Mag.
 
Update:

Got the Rifle back today. Beretta said "cannot duplicate customer's complaint." Also "possibly the brass is hitting the scope."

In any case, the problem seems to have gone away. I ran 200 empty brass through it and they all ejected. I put on the scope base and ran another 25 brass; no problems. I put on a scope and ran another 100 brass through it; no problems.

Grand total: I ran 325 brass through it today with no problems.

I did switch scopes from then to now, from a Leupold VX-I to a Nikon Buckmaster. The Nikon seems nice.

Who knows? Maybe it just needed break-in? Maybe it was that Leupold VX-I?

I hope to take it to the range soon and fire live ammo and make sure everything still works; but for now I have to say it seems to have fixed itself...
 
Tikka Lite Stainless in .223.

Another Update:

Ran some more today and the problem was back. I don't know what is going on with this rifle, but there is something wrong. I brought it back to the store and it is getting shipped back to Beretta again. Hopefully this time they at least try to fix it. Last time the technician fired off 8 (eight) rounds and sent it back.

Will keep this updated, probably will be another month before I see this rifle back in my hands again. :mad: What a waste of time.

Not real happy with Beretta. I'll call them when I get a chance too. We'll see.
 
Another Update:

Ran some more today and the problem was back. I don't know what is going on with this rifle, but there is something wrong. I brought it back to the store and it is getting shipped back to Beretta again. Hopefully this time they at least try to fix it. Last time the technician fired off 8 (eight) rounds and sent it back.

Will keep this updated, probably will be another month before I see this rifle back in my hands again. What a waste of time.

Not real happy with Beretta. I'll call them when I get a chance too. We'll see.
Click to expand...

So, what did you want them to do? They fired 8 rounds and no failures occurred. Should they have fired 10? 20? 50? You said yourself that you fired 325 rounds without a failure after it came back to you. A problem that does not reveal itself can not be fixed.

What ammo are you using? Is this occurring with different brands of ammo or is this all with just one type?
 
Now I'm getting paranoid. I have a T-3 lite stainless in .308. I've only shot it a couple times, and less than a box at a time, but no glitches ( knock on space-age polymer).
But, I'm trying to get in touch with a freind about busting a few rounds this afternoon, and I'd planned on dragging the Tikka out. Fingers crossed !! :D
 
Thanks for the reply.

Sorry, I must not have been clear. I ran 5 pieces of empty brass through the gun 65 times. 5x65=325. No live fire there.

The brass always ejected, but not consistently; anywhere from 2 o'clock to 5 o'clock, sometimes spinning and sometimes "knuckleballing," or not spinning. Sometimes they rocketed out of there and sometimes they just hopped out. Every once in a while it tossed one at a funny upward angle too. The "healthiest" ejection appeared to be the ones that had a spin and ejected around 3 o'clock with a good amount of speed and distance. But, this is not my primary concern; my primary concern is when it drops the empty brass back in the chamber, even with no scope or mounts of any kind.

The 325 cycles were all done with LC brass. I have had jamming/ejection issues with: WCC brass, LC brass, R•P brass. Factory ammo and reloads, all .223, no 5.56mm.

It's not reliable, that's for certain. I'm peaved at the single digit amount of ammo to try to "duplicate the customer's complaint." In my opinion, if they were serious about fixing it, they would check for defective parts, like the extractor and ejector, or some other parts, instead of assuming that I am the problem. This time I sent it in with a letter explicitly stating the issue and symptoms.

Live & learn, I suppose.
 
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