Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Drank the Tikka kool-aid --- Again!

As I have posted here before I have a love/hate relationship with Tikka T-3's.
I love the way they shoot with no muss or fuss, just scope them and they shoot great.
I hate them because they have no soul, they just leave me cold when I look at them.

A local store had a sale going today with stainless/synthetic T-3's for just a tad over $600. I just happened to have some spare money burning a hole in my wallet so a 223 came home with me.

I had a Redfield Revolution 4-12 laying on the shelf so I installed and bore-sighted it. The first shot was right on for elevation and 12 clicks left of point of aim. I clicked over - shot a a 4 shot confirmation group, which was nearly identical to this one, I then chose a new aim point and shot this 3 shot group. Yes, I know it needs a click left to be perfect but it will probably work.

I have owned at least four T-3's and have always ended up selling them - it looks like I am going to have to keep this one.

But the love/hate thing is still going on - this rifle is making my others look bad because it is so boring. No triggers to have to replace or hours trying to get the factory trigger right, no bedding necessary. Boring!!!

Oh yeah - it is an 8 twist and the group was shot with 40 gr Nosler BT's loaded for another of my 223's - absolutely no load development whatever.

drover

I almost got over my last one, you could of kept this to your self....... I just hate it when they don't need something,

Get a walnut stock to go with that stainless. I bet you keep it.

I don't know what it is, but they sure do something right.

I was thinking the same thing but the way it is shooting I am scared to touch anything on it.



It sure makes me wonder why other manufacturers seem to have so many problems with their rifles and why so many things have to be done to them to get them to even come close to shooting to the equal of an untouched Tikka.
I have owned enough Tikka's to know that this one is not any real exception since the others have shot at, or near, this level out of the box also. This one just came in so easily it surprised me.

drover

Looking at that group, it should be a lot more love than hate.

Load development in a tikka consists of putting ammo in hit....

It needs an EDGE.

Yes, it makes you wonder why every other rifle manufacturer cannot seem to do this.

I think most of the reason they shoot well is a good trigger and a flat bottomed action that has the recoil lug fitting into the action, and not the other way around.

I bought my first Tikka about 20 years ago, it was a 595 Continental Varminter (chambered in 223 of course). I won so many factory class varmint matches with it that it was almost unfair to use it. In a moment of stupidity I accepted when someone offered me so much for it that I couldn't turn it down - bad mistake on my part.

Since then I have owned two 595 Hunters chambered in 243 and they also shot nice cloverleafs. But they went because the 10 twist would not stabilize 105 A-Max's.

I have owned two T-3's in 223, both shot nearly as good as this new one but it did take a bit of load development for them. I also owned two T-3's in 204 but really could not warm up to the caliber.

I have a pile of 50 gr V-Max on my bench and a couple of pounds of TAC so I figure I would give them both a try. I picked a top-end load out of the manual, did not experiment with seating depth or any other load development.

This group is 20 shots (the squares are one-inch), the group includes some scope adjustments. The two furthest left hits are my first two shots. I clicked right 3 clicks and shot the large group on the right. I did not mean to shoot quite so many into it but I got fascinated watching the hole only grow slightly and just kept shooting. I finally clicked back to the left and finished with the three shot upside down cloverleaf just above the intersection of the lines.

I bought this one on a whim but it has the potential to be a keeper.

I think that they are the best off the shelf rifle offered today. No question. I only have one wooden stocked Tikka left in my collection. I prefer the synthetic stocked versions, but that's me.

WRT their performance, it's hard to argue with how they shoot. I remember when Tikkas were first coming into the US in larger quantities. Lots of people poo-pooed them, but few people actually used or shot them. Their quality and performance won the day.

My only regret is selling a 595 in 6.5x55. I just never used it. Of the Tikkas, my two faves are a 222 T3 and a hvy barreled 308 that I used for informal shoots at my old club.

I could never warm up to Remington or Winchester bolts. I suppose it was because there were so many inexpensive, but finely built Euro rifles available when I was a teenager. So much work had to be done to the Remchesters, compared to the rifles from the other side of the Atlantic.

Probably not a view of firearms that would win many friends on a US gunboard.

I think it has something to do with how the barrels are made and chambered, but that's just a guess.

Did Tikka ever offer a walnut stocked rifle in .220 swift or .22-250 or .243? I'm not a fan of the plastic stocked rifles myself, but I'm a sucker for finely grained walnut.

If you are referring to the T-3 then yes. They are available in 22/250 and 243, I do not know if they chamber the 220 Swift.
If you are referring to the earlier Tikkas, 595 and 695 models, the majority of them were wood stocked.

As far as the average T-3 wood stocks I have seen I am not sure I would refer to them as "finely grained". Most of the ones I have seen have been more a standard grade walnut with very little figure. Although my first T-3 was a wood stock with outstanding fiddleback in it, I have never seen another T-3 stock as nicely figured as it was. I definitely won the wood lottery with it.

drover

antelope sniper,

The bedding system in the Tikkas definitely helps, but you're right about the barrels. They're hammer-forged, and have been for a long time, the reason European hammer-forged barrels shot much better than most made in America: It isn't just turning on a machine and pushing steel through. Instead there's still considerable technique involved, and since hammer-forging was developed in Europe they've had longer to work on it.

I found out when visiting the Tikka/Sako factory last fall that the same barrels are used on both rifles--and the heavy-contour barrels are all lapped to very close interior tolerances. Which is why Tikkas have a reputation of shooting just about as well as Sakos, which have always had a very good accuracy reputation, especially the heavy-barrel models.

I really wish we could see more of their offerings in the varmint weight barrel!

Yes, this is something that I've been telling people in Canada for years. I guess that makes me a gun snob.
I believe that because we had more firearms coming from Europe than you folks did, and at cheaper pries, that we got spoiled.

One thing's for sure, people don't like being told, for example, that their factory Remington isn't as well made as a factory Tikka.

You would be surprised at the number of people that do not believe me when I tell them that when the barrels are made, they could end up on either a Sako or a Tikka. They come from a single facility. Bad barrels are not used. There are no seconds, so seconds do not end up as Tikkas, as others have insisted. That's just so much BS.

I have a hvy barreled 308 that I shot for several years in regional shoots. You get spoiled with it. As much as I like my Ruger American, the Tikka eats it alive. It also chews up all the other factory barreled offerings from Savage, Remington and the rest in factory class.

I also believe that the assembly and the craftsmanship generally is better than anything I've seen that's made in North America. That makes me a snob.

I think you'll find the reason Tikkas shoot so well is a combination of those factors. The tradesmen and their technique, the bedding, the barrel and more attention to detail.

drover is absolutely correct about the Tikka's. From box to range after adding a scope. Do not stop for incense, lit candles, Acraglas or any Houdini-like tricks.
They simply are amazing for in large part, to what Mule Deer & Steve Redgewell wrote just above.

It would be interesting if Tikka would introduce a 7x57 in the Hunter model.

bigwhoop,

One of the other things learned while visiting Finland was that Tikka ONLY makes rifles when they receive specific orders. They don't just crank a bunch out and keep 'em in stock, waiting for some retailer to buy some.

Which is why many variations are possible. My latest is a .260, a T3 Lite what was part of a special run from Whittaker Guns in Kentucky last year. As I recall, Whittaker ordered 100 of the rifles to their specifications, and has done this more than once. If some shooters want 7x57's, they could probably be done as part of an order.