Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Got a new toy... Any T3 Lite Stainless shooters here?

I managed to pull off a decent trade to get rid of the God forsaken Salvage 16 LWH. New gun is a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless in 243. My only concern with it would be the 1/10 twist not doing well with 100 grainers. What is y'alls experience with this gun bullet wise and accuracy wise? Ive never really been able to find much bad on these guns. It has a nice solid feel and I am looking forward to breaking it in.

No one shoots a Tikka, much less a .243.






P

I bought one for my boy. An excellent shooter. .75 inch groups with 95 grain nosler ballistic tips. 41 grains of H4350. He shot 2 deer with it this fall.A pretty deadly combo.

Pharm, you really should add a grin or smiley
Just sayin.

Jerry

D D

My T 3 Lite is a 270 W. Fantastic rifle for 14 seasons.

I believe every 243 W I've had - had 1--10 twist. They all shot 100 grainers quite well.

I'd be surprised if you DONT just load it & shoot it then sight in.

"Break in" is UNnecessary with Tikkas. I might add, it's also a waste of components.

Jerry

Thanks for the info so far guys... I forgot to ask... Are the factory rings any good or should I try something else? Everything else I have has Talleys.

T3's work. Rings work too. Mine did. Good stuff!

My OEM rings worked for the first season or so, but the screws stripped out and I swapped them out for Warne Maximas. Everything I own with the exception of rimfires have Warne rings.

Same here. My T 3 is in it's 14th Season, OEM rings & screws.

********************Don't OVERtighten**********************


Jerry

My T3 Lite SS 6.5x55 is one of the most accurate rifles I own. I have yet to shoot a group larger than an inch with it. The worst so far was .8" and change.

I would can the rings and not worry about the 10 twist...

A 1-10 twist is plenty for just about any 100-grain 6mm bullet on the market.

The rings will work fine if you replace the soft screws. Most hardware stores carry some that will fit.

I haven't done any testing to confirm but the stainless screws seem a lot tougher than the blued screws on the tikkas I've had.


Trystan

Read this:

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=565553&highlight=mods

Go to Whittaker guns and order the milled Talleys.







P

Thank you MD. Bear in mind, my Tikka is a SS BUT the Factory rings are in their 14th Season w/NO problems
whatsoever.

This idea (sorry factory rings) seems like a couple other PREJUDICES floating around on the 'fire' that won't die.

Jerry

Exactly. Farmer tight is not required on rings. I normally don't remove my bases or swap scopes too often and haven't had problems with anything stripping out.

I own a T3 Lite SS in a 30/06; and it is the lightest 30/06 I have owned or shot. It is the most accurate rifle I own (and I own many brands and actions ); and has an odd 1:11 twist barrel. It's not finicky and puts 150 to 180gr bullets within a couple of inches of each other at 100 yards. I was concerned about the light weight versus recoil, but the composite stock absorbs it pretty well. Non-the-less, I installed a "Limb Saver" recoil pad and a Burris scope that is heavier than my usual Leupolds. As others here have said, 1:10 is the normal twist for the .243, which will shoot just about all the bullets available for that caliber save the overly long Berger and Sierra match bullets (107gr). I initially considered other brands of scope mounts than the factory, but after 12 years of use I have not found the need to replace them or one single screw. Congrats on a great acquisition!

First time to the range and sighted the scope in with some 95 gr sst's with 41.5 of IMR 4350 and got a .4 group with the last 3 of them. Moved on to a ladder charge of 4 batches of 100 gr btsp's with 4451 and the worst group I got was just over an inch. The 41 gr group was smaller than the SST group and velocity averaged 2870. Yep Im gonna love this gun LoL I havent even messed with seating depth charge tweaking or primer changes and am already happy with the groups.

No but I want one of the 1in 8 Tikkas in 22-250

Then you go out and buy one!

You are living during a period of time when Tikkas are king!

Will Winchesters, Remingtons or Rugers ever re-ascend? Maybe, but you cannot go wrong with a T3 in 22-250. And really, who wants to wait?