Morning,

I haven’t posted here in a while but figured I could use some THF wisdom.

I have a Tikka T3 Hunter that is shooting all over the place. I haven’t used the gun in a few years since my daughter was born and deer hunting went on the back burner. The rifle was initially sighted in with privi 150 grain 308 ammo however I never had the opportunity to take a deer. I remember the Privi groupings being okay but not great. Last weekend I went to the range and I just couldn’t get the rifle to group well for the life of me. I started with 145 monarch FMJ’s which I got 1-2 inch groups. Then when I switched to my hunting ammo at 100 yards with 165 grain fusions I’d get a 2 inch 2 shot group but then on the third shot would end up 8 inches away. The rifle was all over the place and I got pretty frustrated. I have a Savage in 270 that’s a tack driver. I’m just looking for suggestions on why else I can check before sending the rifle back to Baretta. I called customer service and they told me to check the actions screws and make sure they were torqued to 30 inch/pounds. I checked the screws and sure enough they were a bit loose. I’m going to give it a good cleaning and take it back to the range with different types of ammo. Hopefully the rifle just didn’t like the ammo. Scope is a sig whiskey 5 with a DNZ mount. Torque on the mount is per DNZ recommendations. I had the whiskey 5 on another rifle and it shot well so I do t think the scope is the issue.


I was able to snag two boxes of 150 grain hornady soft points...I hope my rifle likes them.

Specs T3 hunter with a wood stock
Ammo was 165 grain federal fusions
145 grain FMJ’s shot well
11 twist

Am I missing anything else? Any suggestions are appreciated!

If the action screws were loose that can be significant. I would look at switching to another known good scope next if that wasn’t the problem.

I happen to be in the Houston area. I'm no expert but I do like 308 and tikkas alot so maybe I can lend you hand. For example, if you suspect your scope maybe an issue I can certainly lend you one at one of the ranges in town to test out. Let me know.

Check all mounting hardware on the scope, clean it foul it and see what it will do.

Not saying it is the fusion at all as many have great luck with it, but i bought two boxes of 95 grain fusion to shoot in my 243 when it was new and it shot horribly probably 3-6 inch groups or worse. Reloaded the brass with 100 grain sierras and never shot another group over 2 inches.

Since the action screws are all tightened down, I would suggest that you remove the scope, rings, and bases and reassemble them using the proper torque settings for the bases and rings. If you still have problems, I would think that the scope is the culprit and needs to be replaced. Even with factory ammo, the shots should not fly that far apart; it may not group tightly, but an 8 inch flyer points to something in the mechanics, not the ammunition.

This, start from scratch. Also check the bore for dirt robbers and the crown. And switch the scope after all that if you’re still not good.

^^^ This and this.

you got the only ONE which does not shoot 1 hole groups.

If none of the above work, I'm sure Tikka will fix it, maybe not in time for deer season though

get you some good ammo too

Just to clarify I checked the actions screws after I got home and they were loose. Tightened them to 30 inch/pound...hoping that was the culprit. Didn’t think loose action screw could cause that much of an issue.

Go more, I'd say go up to at least 35-40 in-lbs. The walnut on the Tikka's is hard wood. I do 40 in-lbs on my Tikka wood stock and that 270 can shoot well.
And a loose action screw most certainly can and will affect the performance.

It sounds like something is loose or broken. Throwing a bullet 8" away from the group sounds like scope/rings/mount issue. I had a Tikka that shot a nice group but threw a shot 6" away on the 3rd or 4th shot. So I shot a few more and it was like the whole group moved 6". The group was okay but just magically moved 6". I took a break and look at the gun closely and realized the scope had slid in the rings about .5".

All the above, good advice. I see your front rest in the pic. Don't know if that is the position it is in while shooting, but if it is, slide it back to the recoil lug if you can.

If the rifle was being stored where the temperature and/or humidity varied greatly over time (such as inside a safe kept in a garage), I could see the screws working loose from repeated expansion and contraction of the wood stock. I would not be surprised if the problem goes away now that you've tightened them.

A good coat of wax will help protect wood stocks from changing humidity levels.

Speaking from several bad experiences over the years, I’m thinking the scope is the problem. I’d swap it out first thing.

Loose action screws are the screws that will cause the greatest issues.

30 in/lbs is too conservative. 65 in/lbs is where I put em.

That's a bold move, cotton. Honestly I did 65 in-lbs when doing your technique for free floating our wooden tikka and remember thinking I could feel a slight bit of compression but nothing to make me worry about the wood. I was also impressed Tikka took the effort to install metallic pillars into their plastic bottom metal.

I arbitrarily chose 40 in-lbs and works so far but 30 is just too low.

Loose action screws are bad.

Agree with the start from scratch approach. Check scope base screws, scope ring screws, and check the bore for major carbon fouling. I had a Tikka that wouldn't shoot once and a THFer (Judd I think) suggested carbon buildup at the neck of the chamber. Sure enough that was it. Get the screws tight, get that thing clean as a whistle and then ignore the first 10 rounds if they're not great. Let it get fouled in with the same powder/bullet all 10-15 shots and then start measuring groups.

I'd bet a dr pepper that the action screws are the culprit but you'll still get better results if you make sure it's good and clean and all other screws are tight too. The only other thing that will cause something that erratic is a broken scope, so that's worth switching if none of the above works. If you do all that and it still doesn't shoot right, it's either ammo related or shooter related. The odds of it being rifle related are somewhere between zero just barely higher than zero.

IMHO, replacing the scope equates to replacing the battery just because a car doesn’t start, in which case the problem might be something as simple as a bad ground. Check the simplest things first that are quick, easy, and carry no cost.

Doing other things to hopefully fix the problem and avoid buying another scope is probably the best approach. When I suggested trying a new scope, I was really talking about using an ‘extra’ scope or borrowing one, or as I recently did, taking one off another rifle.

I’m thinking it’s the scope because I have trouble thinking that loose action screws could cause an 8” flyer. Heck, I have trouble thinking a Tikka could throw an 8” flyer for any reason.

Loose acrion screws, an 8" flier is a small one. I've seen them go more than a foot from point of aim.

I sure hope the OP will come back and tell us what fixed the problem.

Let’s have a small bet for funsies, with Monopoly money, say $20 of not real money. I’ll bet it’s the scope. Who’s in?

Haha I appreciate the help y’all. The scope is a 1k scope (current price for it, not what I paid) so I hope it’s not the problem.

I’m meeting up with Korean Redneck on Friday and I’ll give you an update.

Loose ring/mounts included in scope issue?

Because the rifle had been stored for "a few years", my money is on loose action screws. While I can't see a $1,000 scope going bad from sitting idle for that period of time, I can see screws holding a wood stock loosening up from repeated changes in temperature and humidity.