Warning: This is another report on the boringly accurate nature of the Tikka T3 rifle. Paper and steel pictures with small groups will follow.

Bullet #1: 87 VMax. 600 Yard Gong.

Two Groups on steel. Group #1 is at the 2 o'clock position. Yes, thats two of the three almost on top of each other. When Group #2 at the 3 o'clock position only rang home two out of three, I knew it was time to adjust for wind.



Adjusted for wind and shot again. 600 Yard Gong.



Bullet #2: 95 BTip. 100 Yard Paper.



Load development for both consisted of choosing a book recipe, using virgin Winchester Brass, Fed 210 primers, and COAL's that I collected from posters here. If fit in the mag and chambered with ease, I went with it. The 87's went 2.71 and the 95s went 2.75.

I think Tikka's marketing slogan should be: "T3 - We make reloading really, really boring."

I like it! Very true too.

Tikka strikes again.

Love those tikka rifles

Too bad the bolt throw is twice the length of the cartridge.

What powder with the 95's?

IMR 4831.
42 gr
Fed 210
Winchester brass
2.75 COAL

Ringworm, I've seen you badmouth Remington and now Tikka. I'm curious as to what you prefer? I've tried finding that perfect factory action and accurate barrel and they all have their nuances.

I think he has a Steyr tattoo.

I've never killed anything and thought damn I wish I would have had a different action length.

I have T3's in .30-06 and .223...Accuracy just stupid for what was paid.The reloading is fun but no real load development or tinkering at all.Next week I will be getting a .243 ordered up cuz all the guys that have the .243 at my range seem way happy with em..50years old never thought I needed a .24cal cuz I'm a diehard .25cal shooter...GLAD they let me take some pokes farther than 100yds...ScottyO.

Don't know why, with the tikka being so good on all fronts, have they refused to make a proper SA?
Great rifles. Accurate, cheap...but long bolt throws and 2.75" cartridges? It's like the 110.
A pain.

So,

what rifle do you prefer?

If that bothers you, you need to take up a different hobby.

Obviously you've spent a lot of time with Tikkas there Ringpiece...... the bolt throw is still only 2.8" on the short actions.... thanks to the magic of that new fangled bolt stop thingy. Action length is still long.... but at about a 1/2 lb lighter than Rem/Win "short action rifles".... I don't see what the f'n gripe is about.

I also don't hear anybody all up in arms with their '06 in a Rem "long" action..... seems the bolt throw on one'a those babies is about a half inch too long.

Or how in the world can anybody run a .223 in a short action.... WAY too much bolt throw lengh there.... fhugking Chuck Knoblauch kinda overthrow....

Ag.....
I've shot a few 87s outta a T3 Lite .243.... it's about as good as it gets in a 1:10....

It was your reports of the 87s that had me trying them. Great suggestion!

It was introduced as an economy gun
you dummy

Ag, you think you might give up your Montanas for more T3s?

My 270 84L Montana has some real good juju from Brad. It was a successful mountain elk rifle for him. Its shown me that it has a great barrel, great trigger, and cycles right every time. I love the Montana stock.

As a light beat-em-up mountain rifle goes, if you have a clean Kimber that you are confident in, I don't think it gets much better. That Montana will stay.

I think the better question is... will I buy more Montana's or more T3s?

When its 2 for the price of 1 plus all the stupid good accuracy of the Tikka... realistically, my Montana buying days are probably over.

Boring is a word that comes to mind when I think of Tikka.

I love a boring rifle.

Save the drama for the hunt.

What powder with the 87s? I have a similar Sako A7 that's not grouping nearly as well as your Tikka.

Actually the tikka t3 has the shortest bolt throw of any long action made because the trigger group is located tight against the magazine. For instance.......a Remington 700 short action is relatively close to the same bolt throw as a long action T3 because the trigger group is a mile from the magazine.


Just saying






Shod

IMR 4831: 44gr
Fed 210
Winchester Brass
COAL 2.710

I'm not sure that 44gr of 4831 is the ideal powder and charge. The results at 100 yards were good enough to know it would shoot, but wouldn't win any 100 yard group contests.

I quickly took it out to 600 without messing any more at 100. Too many times I've been caught up with the paper at 100 yards. From now on - with all my hunting rifles - if its dancing around the same one inch square, I'm taking it long. If the holes touch, even better, but I'm not going to obsess over it with a hunting rifle shot from field positions.

I have a feeling it might even be a a little better with a grain less. I'll try next time, or even see what 4350 will do. I'll post back here with any changes.

I shot 4350 (IMR and H) behind a lot of the 87/90s in my Tikka .243.... but it ran best with 87s and IMR 4064.... I believe that's the load I'm shooting in the video where the wind is ripping....

Yeah Tikkas take the fun out of tinkering. A couple weeks ago I bought a SS T3 in 30-06 that was too much gun for the original owner, he only shot 14 rds through it since new. I loaded up some 155 gr Scenars with H4350. Had 5 each of 59,59.5, and 60 gr loads and went to the range this morning. First 5 shots below.....load development complete! If I hadn't shanked that one shot , it would be the sickest group I have ever shot! I've got a Mule Deer tag for southern Utah this year, hopefully the Scenars work!....grin

Great shooting.

I'm seeing in my latest Cabela's flyer that its $40 off the T3 Lite coming up. Go get em...

Bolt throw? Good one........

with the 87gr, re15 or IMR 4064 are tough to beat, dime sized groups in my tikka. Only thing I did was lighten the trigger.

A check list of one tweak, is hardly a list......

I have to confess that I too tweaked mine.....I'm guilty of two full turns of the trigger weight adjustment screw with an Allen wrench!

I'm guilty of the same trigger adjustment. Maybe we should start a club.

Tikka Shooters Anonymous

Damn Tikka trigger tweakers.....

my p.o.s. [bleep] t3 .243 wont shoot 1 hole w/factory generic 80 grainers; only slight less then .5" ; splurged and tried the 95 grain fusions for a couple of bucks more..same results, with a random .3" ; guess i will have to live with it or start reloading ,

Yep, time to start reloading. Can't live with half moa shooters out of a light hunting rifle

Apparently I got a lemon.Dagnammit
My 270 Winchester Superlight will only do
.80 with Hornady Whitetail 130 grain factory ammo
and .75 with Federal Fusion 130 grain Factory ammo
For 3 shots at a hundred yards using Leupold VX1 3-9x40.

I am guilty of guilty of tweaking my trigger by filing the head of the adjustment screw so it would back out farther and get a one and a half pound trigger pull.

Overachiever....

The Fed Fusions are good stuff. Very accurate for a box of cheaper stuff.

With all these poor results I don't know if I can recommend these guns any more.