I have had an Ithaca LSA 65 in 30-06 since 1976. It was made by Tikka in Finland, and the Tikka M65 is a higher luster nicer wood cousin of it. Both resemble the older Sako's. An older friend of mine that had BIG money invested in rifles saw mine and called it a little Sako. When I told him it was an Ithaca, he said, well it was made by Sako tools, then. Before I ever shot it, he told me it was likely going to be a good shooter because, though the outside said Ithaca, it was a Tikka in it's heart.
It has always been a great shooter -- the main reason other than a pretty good barrel is that the trigger is real sweet. It now belongs to my wife, and after 32 years and likely 3,500 rounds downrange, it still shoots really well. She shot a 1" group with some hand loaded Winchester 150 gr PP just day before yesterday. Still no flies on the old girl -- the rifle either.
Last year, I found a Tikka M65 that was bought new in 1978 and never fired. I got a decent deal on it, sight unseen, and was thrilled with it's accuracy -- same sweet trigger, same good components. It seems to like 168 TSX's and H414, but I recently shot a pretty decent group with 180 Partitions and H4831sc, and Partitions have never shot real well in any of my rifles.
As far as the rings go, back in the day, I believe they said Sako rings fit them. Problem was, Where I was I couldn't find the rings, and so I put Weaver bases and rings on it, and recently, I couldn't find the old style Sako rings, and the newer Tikka rings don't work, so I went with weaver bases and Burris rings. Raises the scope a little, but not seriously.
Enjoy your rifle. I'm betting it will shoot real good for a hunter.
