How accurate is your Tikka T3 6.5x55 rifle? Will these rifle shoot 120, 130 or 140 grain bullets best?

I have a Tikka T3 stainless in 30-06 that is a tack driver and I'm extremely pleased with it to say the least.

I would like to buy another T3 stainless and the 6.5x55 really sounds like a unique and good choice.

If not a 6.5x55, how about one in 308 Win.

I don't have one but a friend had a T3 Hunter in 6.5 a couple years ago...one of the most accurate factory barreled rifles I've ever seen. Three shot groups with hunting bullets were quite often under 1/2"..hardly ever more than 3/4". I had a Sako 75 in 6.5 Swede that was the same with 130 Accubonds and 140 AMax's...
Get one, it'll probably out shoot your 30-06.

I kick myself twice every morning for letting two of them get by me, at ridiculously reasonable prices. I'm guessing a Tikka chambered for the Swede would shoot awfully good, and I've seen some photos of groups that other campfire members have shot and posted that seem to back up that guess.

Here is one of the targets from my 6.5 T3 lite. It likes 47.0 grns of rel22 under 140 partitions or accubonds, different seating depths of course.

Dixie Rebel,

I have a T3 in .308. The cartridge choice was influenced somewhat by recoil concerns, as my alternative choice was a 30-06. The stock pad is scalloped; thus a replacement pad will alter the LOP. a bit.

The rifle is sub m.o.a., & is not fussy about load or bullet weight. It behaves very much like my Rem. 700 in 6.5x55. Put together any number of loads, & they all seem to shoot well.

I've never seen a T3 in 6.5x55 in person, only on the internet. I recently read somewhere that Beretta will no longer import them into the U.S. I'm going to Dallas for Thanksgiving, & will stop by the Beretta Showroom to verify this rumor.

We do a late season wilderness area meat hunt for cow elk, & spend much of our time on skiis & snowshoes. No motorized vehicles are allowed. The hunt has a definite Scandinavian flavor to it, which would make a T3 in 6.5 a perfect choice.

Jim

I have also been told that Beretta is not importing the 6.5 anymore. So I'd say if you want one you may want to find out what the suppliers have left. As of last week anyway there was a T3 wood/blue in 6.5 at my local shop so there are at least a few left floating around.

My T3 Hunter in the Swede shoots most loads into very small groups @ 100yds. It shoots the Hornady 129gr Interlocks into tiny groups w/45gr. of Rel 22 which I could probably go more if I wanted. Great gun and cartridge in my opinion. My distributor still has the Tikka's in 6.5 x55 available.

I have only shot one group through mine so far. At 200 yards is was around 1.5" with factory Norma 120gr NBT ammo. So it is well under MOA and will probably be a soild half MOA guns with handloads.

great

wonder what would happen if the 6,5x55 barrel got punched out to 6.5-284 on a t3 might as well use that long action all the way. I wish we would get the 6.5-284 or 6.5x55 in a varmint model.

I have two T3's in 6.5x55 and a Serengeti in 6.5x284. From my limited experience with those rifles and calibers, the 6.5x284 does not offer much more velocity with hunting length (22-24") barrels and modern actions. The 6.5x284's the competitors use are sporting 30-34" barrels I believe. That's where the bulk of the velocity advantage comes from, it seems to me.

Here's about as good as mine will do. It does like my load for 100's the best as it has shot several tight clusters with those. Others are quite good too. Now that I have put the stainless in walnut and bedded it, I need to do a little more load developement. Still shoots .5 moa, but not any one holers, after the stock change. In any event, it will still hunt quite well.

100 BT


120 TSX


129 Hdy


130AB

140 Hdy

This is really amazing considering factory ammo and 8x scope...

Nice shooting, group, AND, stock color.

My 6.5x55 T3 is my poorest shooting tikka, just over 600 rounds through it pretty much all of those rounds ahooting groups @100yds with a large variety of handloads, it averages 1"-2" groups, some smaller some larger. It is extremely long throated, My other T3's shoot much better than it does.

Both of mine are long-throated, too. Have you tried seating deeper? Mine likes to jump to the lands, even more than it would have to anyway with the long throat.

I have a Tikka T3 lite ss/syn that I have loaded one load for and it shoots extremely well. Lapua brass, Fed primers, 130 gr. Scirocco II's, and H4350. It's best to date was about .250 and I have come close to that several times since. I would say mine would shoot on average about .500 all day long ! My go to for accuracy right out of the safe !

On a side note: I shot it in a cross wind 2 years ago getting ready for deer season and it put 5 in a .450 group. With the wind blowing I was even shocked !

Kev


I will try and post some pics this weekend !

Sako builds Tikka and Sako rifle barrels on the same assembly line, so you get the benefit of a Sako barrel on your Tikka. The only Tikka I have owned was a M595 Battue in .308 Win, and it is a shooter too.

jim

Tikka T3 lite stainless 6.5x55, one of my favorite rifles. Easy to get 3/4" groups and hovers just at 1/2" with its favorite loads. One of the best out of the box rifles I've ever had, no tinkering, no bedding to fix ............ just pulled it out of the box, lightened the trigger a little and went shooting. Great rifle for the price.

Mine has shown good accuracy with 120's, 125's, 130's and 140's. They do have long throats, the jump to the rifling is long but doesn't seem to matter, just load them out as long as the magazine will allow and gradually seat them deeper until you find the accuracy you want.

Just used a 130 accubond to shoot a cow elk, worked perfectly.

I have a Hunter, here are some groups from my first range trip






I didn't do anything special here, 129 gr Hornady spirepoints, all the same COL out of the manual, fed 210m primers and WW brass.

I don't have any Tikka's in 6.5x55 but my Dad and I both have Sako 75's in 6.5x55. They both shoot really well. We both use Lapua brass and CCI BR-2's. With 139gr Scenars and N560 they will both shoot five shot groups under 0.3 inch @ 100 yrds. I have one five shot group from my rifle that's under 0.2 inches. Not bad for a walnut stocked hunting rifle w/ a 10x scope! For a hunting load we both shoot 130gr Swift Scirocco's w/ N560. Both guns will run under a half of an inch with that combo and it works great on game!

My Tikka will hang or beat the accuracy of my customs. Pretty disheartening!

I picked up a almost new Tikka Hunter 6.5x55 this fall. Off a bag of cat litter on the hood on my car, I sighted in my new Nikon Prostaff 3x9- 40 scope at 100 yards. I was shooting 2 inch groups. After I felt sighted in--just for fun--I paced off 200 yards and tried 3 more shots--I could've covered the holes with a quarter. This is with a hot barrel, new gun, factory (Hornady 139g) ammo. I was amazed. A week later, needless to say, this gun dropped it's first deer in its tracks. I'll buy another Tikka 6.5x55 for my wife or son one day--when I find one for sale.

Mine will put three into an inch at 200 if I use the sandbags properly... This was using the first load I threw together - 46.5 gr RL22 and 140 gr Partitions.

In the past, I used this powder charge as a mil spec equivalent for my old Swedish Mausers but with Hornady SPs or Remington bulk 140 PSPs instead of the NPs. Loaded some left over Core-Lokts with the same charge and they grouped about 2" at 200 yds. Lots of free bore but everything seems concentric enough that it doesn't matter.

The only factory load I tried was Federal Fusion 140's which were going about1.5" - 1.75" at 200.

The gun is more accurate than I am.

My Tikka 6.5 with any cup & core bullet is deadly accurate. When I try to shoot the Barnes or Hornady mono copper bullets accuracy is non existent. My much less expensive Savage 6.5 shoots the mono copper bullets into tiny little groups. GO figure.

About like this :



And that is with an unstable wood stock:

NEVER heard of groups going from 2inches at 100 yards to being able to cover with a quarter at 200. That must be some majical bullet.

It is not uncommon for 6.5 rifles to shoot tighter groups at 200 than 100. The bullets are long for their weight & tend to settle down & better stabilize better at longer range.