Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3X Lite?

I have owned 6 Tikka T3, T3x and CTR rifles in 223,243, 6.5 CM, 7mm-08 and 308. ALL without exception were extremely accurate (1/2" groups) with handloads, often shooting as good or better groups than my Sako's which cost 2-2.5 times as much.

People often complain about the plastic on Tikka's. There are many aftermarket parts available for Tikka's including bottom metal, metal bolt shrouds, steel barrel lugs, stocks, bolts, scope bases etc. While aftermarket parts may make the rifle more astatically pleasing my experience is adding some or all of the aftermarket parts does nothing to enhance Tikka's accuracy.

Bottom line, I like them and will always have several Tikka's in my gun safe.

Miguel-

Do indeed try that superlite. Don't believe you'll regret for a second. I bought one here on the Fire and it really shoots!!! Good luck!

I have two Tikka's T3 lite's 1 is a204 Ruger and the other is a 6.5CM, both are excellent shooters, would buy another Tikka again

Go forth and kill a boatload of critters with that 7mm rem mag! I have 6 or 7 tikkas now and have been using them consistently for the last 15yrs. You can upgrade parts down the road if you wish, but in stock form those guns are pretty dang good. My oldest is a T3 lite stainless in 270 win that has worn just about every aftermarket stock available, but sits in a T3x takeoff, which I find just as good as 90% of the aftermarket options.

I have 5 Tikka T3x Lite's. I have set up as many or more for friends and family. They are hands down the best shooting (out of the box) rifle on the market today. I also think they are the best bang for your buck. I no longer reload. My Tikkas shoot factory ammo as well as my Rem 700's and Win M -70 do with my best worked up reloads. The 700's and m-70's are great rifles. But the accuracy of the Tikka T3x Lite can not be denied.

I’ve owned three T3X Lites. A 223, a 7mm-08, and the current 6.5 Creedmoor. They all shot extremely well out of the box. I’ll own the 6.5 CM when I die unless somebody steals it. With the 6.5 CM, I had no need or use for the other two, so they got traded for other needs or wants.

I have plenty, more than I use. I love them. They are accurate out of the box and they have great build quality and tight tolerances. I think they would be great for rounds like the 6mm and 284 etc because they can be set up in the long action configuration and run long heavy bullets, or just use the 6.5 creedmoor mag in the short action configuration and get a little more room. I use a 300 win mag for elk hunting, I have a fast twist, 24'" barrel Superlight that I had converted to a 6.5 Weatherby RPM. I have a 1:8 22-250 and .223 that both shoot lights out. I have a .243 I want to rechamber to 6mm, but it shoots so good, its a shame to mess with it. I could go on and on.

I just grabbed a new t3x lite stainless 308, 22.4” barrel, was 6 lb 2.5 oz out of the box.

Swapped out the grip for pistol grip +0.5 oz
Swapped out bottom plastic for High Desert aluminum bottom metal +1.0 oz
Area 419 rail skimmed to 0-moa +3.0 oz
Swapped 3 round mag for 5 round +0.5 oz
Cut barrel to 20” -3.5 oz
1” weaver detach top mount low rings (2.5 oz) or Henneberger 30mm 3.5 rings (3.0 oz)

Those rings on that rail are lowest you can find and will have bottom of scope tube same height as Talley x-lows which give best cheek alignment to factory stock imo but more robust than talley. And actually it’s the 1” that gives best alignment imo as the 30mm tube naturally adds about 2.3mm to get up to center of eyebox. Going this low with a 3-9x40 on the rail meant I had to angle shave the front and rear of rail to clear objectives and eyeboxes, file and sharpie to rescue but I’m happy and it can wear my long eye relief Leupold 1” stuff, a vx5hd 1.5-5, a 3-9x40 accupoint etc. The easy button is Talley x-low if you want to line up like that but expense of robustness. I like idea of the two clamping style rings guys go on about but they are all too tall so you look for stock solutions to get that comb up or live with it.

I’m one of those guys that can’t get low enough, too much old short iron sights and maybe waterfowl when young I dunno? But I don’t like lifting to find the view or try to just come down into it, I want natural alignment when it’s go time for snap shooting if needed.

Hope that helps in your set up ideas. For pics Instagram 65grendelhunters

Super helpful. Thanks.


Okie John

I too have found The least expensive or simplest accuracy mods for a Tikka T3 are, swapping to bottom metal for rigidity, a new lower weight trigger spring,

and swapping to the vertical grip.

After so called breakin Ive found the groups to tighten up after about 100 rounds so when cleaning after that I use a friends borescope to take a peek just to make sure I'm getting all the copper out.

So yes very happy with mine.

This has to be the best, most objective review I've ever heard lol. Awesome.


How do you guys find the 308 Win version? Seems to be a lot lighter than the 6.5 CM to hold. They a bit more of a handful to shoot well? StinkyCoyote's addition of the bottom metal, rail, extended mag etc does add a bit of heft tho

After reading many posts on this forum, I concluded that a T3x Lite 30-06 was worth adding to my battery. Now I have 3 of them. And a .223. And a T1x .22. Oh, well. 🫤

The 308 is just like any other. I don't notice any difference in weight between it, the 300WSM, 22-250, 7MM08 or 6.5 Creedmoor. Weird that it would feel any lighter to you???

Think I am just weird, BSA. Could be it was all in my head.

Nice look with the Bell and Carlson there.

Snazzy.

Putting a limbsaver on my 308 helped with recoil some. But it's not bad.

Sharp looking rifle. Has the limbsaver changed the length of pull or feel of shouldering the rifle?

I shoot mainly M70 or M77 rifles, CRF, 3-position safety. I also have a Tikka T3X in 6.5CM set up for a thermal hunting rig. The removable 5-rd box mags are simple in the dark and easy to carry spares and the continuous receiver top with a Pic rail is great for mounting the heavy thermal optics.

The T3x is probably the most accurate rifle I own and the least finicky with various ammo. I'm wondering if part of what makes Tikka rifles so accurate is the continuous top of the receiver. It seems like this might make an action stiffer than the full cut-out you see on other rifles. Obviously barrels also matter, but I wonder how much of an impact the action design plays. The continuous receiver top and narrower opening stinks for hand loading rounds directly into the action, but with a removable box mag, that's not a concern.

I'm not familiar with all the other actions out there, but are there any others with a continuous receiver top?

Most benchrest, Palma, and F-class actions have solid tops. Hall, Panda, and Barnard come to mind but I’m sure there are others.


Okie John

They're very good but awhile back one froze up solid while attempting to take a bison. It turned into literally an club. I have more reliable rifle makes but Tikka shoots well enough.