# Tikka T3 Bolt Stop Mod



## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

I'm a huge fan of Tikka T3 rifles - butter smooth actions and they just seem to flat out shoot. I do have one gripe with Tikka, and that's the magazine length. They tend to limit OAL quite a bit and this was pretty apparent the first time I loaded the magazine with factory 308 win 168 Gr. Amax ammo. The rounds barely fit!

As most of you probably know, the T3/T3x lines actions are all the same length, but the bolt stop is different lengths, leading to "long" or "short" actions. You can buy a replacement bolt stop to convert a short action to long action and then pick up a long action mag. The replacement bolt stops aren't cheap at $40, so I decided to take some time with my dremel and hand files. The modification only took about 30 minutes. Now I can take full advantage of the long action mag and seat bullets much closer to the rifling. 

Will it make a huge difference? Maybe, maybe not. At least it was a fun project!


In the photos, you'll see the "short" action mag (L) with a factory round of Hornady 168 gr Amax. The same round is loaded in the "long" action mag (R)

**The red arrow shows where I had to begin removing material from the bolt stop.


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