I’ve been coached by this forum from the beginning, and I need help again. I can’t seem to dial in my Tikka TX3. I generally followed the instructions on this forum, but I can’t get the elevation to stick.
I have a brand new 6.5 prc. I chose the Norma 143 gr bondstrike. I can’t find the Sako that Jim recommends. I had a gunsmith mount the scope, so for now, I’m eliminating that as the cause. The scope is the VX-5 HD, 3X15.
My windage seems good. After I thought i was close, I shot a decent group (see circled in photo). So I lowered about 3 inches. I think I went down 12 clicks. My first shot was on the bull, then my 2nd and 3rd shot were close together, but now 3 inches low. So I’m yo-yoing high and low. This is all at 100 yards.
What am I doing wrong? I’m not an expert marksman, but I’m not a total newbie and am pretty confident that the first shot in the bull and the 2nd/3rd shots all felt good. Either I’m doing something wrong or something is wrong. Could this be the rifle, which I highly doubt, ammo, or is it operator error? I’m shooting slowly, and leaving ample time between groups (at least 10 min) to allow the barrel to cool
Suggestions/help is appreciated as to what to do next. Thanks!
I had issues with my daughters Tikka T3x in 270 Win. What i found was that the barrel was touching the stock, needed pillared and that I torqued the bottom metal screws to the recommended in/lbs. I don’t know if any of these apply to you but easy to check.
I’d make sure every thing is torqued down to spec. Trigger screw, bottom metal, scope rings, scope ring base, pic rail if you have it, muzzle brake, suppressor, etc. The stock touching barrel was mentioned. If all that’s good to go I’d switch out scopes just to try. If it improves then it’s the scope. Leupolds are good but ppl have had wandering zeroes with them I have heard. I personally have had a canted reticle in a mark 5hd. I sent it back and they fixed it. Their customer service was good. You could try different ammo too. Ultimately you could call/email Leupold if you think it’s the scope or tikka if you think it’s the rifle.
It’s frustrating to feel like you’re chasing your tail.
My recommendation would be to shoot four 5-shot groups without changing your dial at all. Let’s see what the dispersion of the rifle is and also see if we’re kicking out some random shots that could be throwing off the sighting in process.
Could be the scope jumping as well. Not likely with the Leupold, but I
had a Hawke sidewinder act similarly. Sent to Hawke they checked it
out and sent me a new scope.
When yourun into erratic tracking, which appears to be the case here, it’s time to suspect an issue with the scope.Try another scope and seeif that doesnt cure your problem.
Where they torqued correctly. Did the scope shift due to recoil?
Are the scope rings torqued equally?
Adjust parallax by moving the eye slightly behind the scope and eliminating apparent reticle movement.
As suggested above, check all of the screw torques. Put witness mark where current scope is setting and determine if it shifts on recoil. The 6.5 PRC doesn’t have that severe of recoil but would warrant checking. For the the Wheeler torque screwdriver is a must. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1026653438?pid=987352
Thank you for all of the replies. I took it to the gunsmith (highly respected in the community) who installed the scope. He checked everything. Scope, and all of the other things you guys mentioned are fine. It turns out, it’s the factory-installed porting at the end of the barrel. He says he sees that pretty often with these cheap ports that Tikka uses. We took that off, and it’s shooting much better!
