Anticipating the launch of the Backlite chassis I bought my first T3x in 6.5 PRC. Not being familiar with the Tikka proprietary dovetail mounting I started putting on a Leupold 20 MOA rail that is for the T3x this afternoon. Much to my dismay the screws provided do not work in the 4 appropriate taps but work nicely in the center tap of the fore and aft mounting points. I can only assume that the receiver is tapped in metric vs SAE. I remember that I had read somewhere that the early T3x rifles were like that but that had been fixed or am I mistaken?
I can only assume it’s metric but haven’t checked. The dovetail is woefully outdated. Would love to see them update to integral picatinny but I’m not holding my breath.
After additional research the thread pattern was indeed changed in 2004 to SAE on all their receivers. The plug screws that they use in the taps are made of plastic and apparently leave some residue in the threads when removed which at times will mildly impede the normal installment of the mounting screws. Duh, go figure. Now, to shift gears a little, Jim, what colors do the Backlite chassis come in? I’m good with one in black or gray.
I clean threads on pic rail mounts and action screws on new rifles. I have a T3x superlight 6.5prc great rifle.