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Magnus Vassbotn

Hi.

Recently I've worked with two Tikka T3X's. None of them could be set lighter than 3-3,5 pounds. Still crisp and clean, but far from the 1,5-2 pounds we've come to take for granted in the older T3. I'm guessing this is a deliberate move from Tikka, in order to fit better into the US market. From what I hear, at least some states have a 3 pound minimum pull for factory rifles, or something like that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The first of these two rifles was returned to the dealer for other reasons. On the second one I figured I'd give the trigger a go. Those familiar with Tikka/ Sako triggers will know that the adjustment screw stops against the trigger attachment screw, defining the minimum possible setting. So I just filed down the length of the adjustment screw slightly, allowing it to be unscrewed further. I filed off about 1 mm/ 40 thou, which brought it down to about 600 grams/ 1,3 pounds when the adjustment screw was resting against the attachment screw. So a bit on the light side for rough hunting. I screwed the screw about 0,2 mm back in, and got the desired 750 grams/ 1,5 pounds, measured in the curve where the finger rests. But now the adjustment screw was a bit wiggly, as it did not have a whole lot of grip left. I piled on loctite, and it seems to hold well. The trigger passed all sorts of banging tests, but l will inspect it next time my buddy brings that rifle along. If the screw is loose, I will fix it with a drop of epoxy.

Anyway, as this seems to be the new trigger pull of the Tikkas, this will probably become standard procedure. Next time I will start at 0,5 mm/ 20 thou, and take 0,1-0,2 mm at a time, until I achieve the desired pull, while the adjustment screw is firmly secured against the attachment screw. In this case 0,8 mm would have been good, but I suspect this might vary slightly.

From what I can tell, the trigger unit is the same as the old T3. Though I did not compare side by side. If this is the case, they probably just changed the length of that screw (and/ or spring) in the first place, making this an ok fix. But if someone has more in depth knowledge on the subject, please share.



Cheers

Magnus