Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka/Sako - tough backcountry rifle

They make the T3 sporter in 260 and 6.5x55 with a 24" barrel. I have a 260 for sale, but it has the threaded 20" barrel.

I was on the range this morning shooting one of each (along with some other rifles): a Tikka in 270 and a Montana in 308. Both shot just fine. The Tikka a little tighter from slung, sitting than the Montana, but not by much. I was holding both inside 4" at 200 regularly. From the bench, both were shooting MOA or better before I started practicing field positions. I'd have no qualms carrying either rifle, and prefer the Montana when it's steep. It's not often that I've had to shoot off-hand, and never at distance. I find a rest of some kind, or use a bipod.

Both are great rifles.

My buddy was looking to get a rifle. He held my tikka and went out and bought one. Put on a vortex viper on it in DNZ one piece.
He sent me this when he went out mid week to shoot. T3 Lite stainless 30/06 at 200 yards from bench. No need to spend more $$

I see a "pattern" here in addition to what the targets show.

What's that big whoop ?

I wish I had never sold my Tikka T3 Stainless in 270. It was a tackdriver and would have done everything I needed from a big game rifle. Instead I sold it and have gun through multiple rifles since.

Whenever someone wants to get into hunting I tell them to get a Tikka, a great scope and to not worry about rifles after that. Put the money towards hunts and quality gear.

Get a stainless Ruger 77, either MKII or Hawkeye.

Out of your choices, T3 vs 85, I'd just get the Tikka.

Never owned an 85 but recently fiddled with one, and have owned a few T3. The 85 was well made, but I didn't care for the extra weight or fancy features like Total Control Latch, or special safety. I'd rather have the Tikkler... simpler, lighter, less expensive, and plenty accurate.

I have owned three Tikkas, and all were good shooters. I sold one, like a fool. I still have the 243 Whitetail Hunter and M695 30-06. The only thing they need out of the box is a trigger job - no glass bedding, no barrel floating. I'm thinking about another T-3 I saw in a local shop in 6.5x55 Swede. I have pre-64 Model 70s, Model 7s, Model 700s, FN Mausers,and Savages, but for a great shooting rifle out of the box my vote is Tikka. I forgot Sakos. I have had Sakos which were stinkers.

I'd have to keep them trashy things out in the shed...

I have owned a fair number of rifles from various manufactures and am also a trained M24 sniper system armorer, as well as M110 SASS armorer. That said, it has been my observation and experience that the bone stock Tikkas are exceedingly accurate, and boringly reliable. On average they are substantially more accurate than most the Remingtons I have dealt with.

Here is a pic of one of my .308 Tikkas with hunting (versus match) bullets.




The odds of getting a bone stock Remington of recent manufacture to shoot into the .1s is exceedingly low.

I have yet to have a stock barreled T3 that I cannot get to shoot into the .5s or better.

Grab a T3 in the cartridge of your choice, buy a great piece of glass.Mount the glass into some Talley lightweights, add a good sling and never look back.

Personally when I envisioned my ideal all-around, general purpose rifle, I knew starting with a T3 would be a no brainer.

I had the .308 lite stainless T3 trimmed back to 20"s, added a light and compact 2-10x Nightforce, in Talleys and added a VTAC 2 point sling.

The thing shoots 165 grain HPBT Game Kings into tiny little clusters, in spite of the very light weight of the rifle package. It also absolutely LOVES 155 grain Lapua Scenars too.

I could not ask for a better all around lightweight, general purpose gun. From ground squirrels, to coyotes, to mule deer and elk, it has proven to be a deadly little package that is a true joy to carry.





BTW, though some bitch about the composite mags, I find them to be lightweight and dead nuts reliable, much like a Glock magazine. I usually carry one 5 rounder in the gun, and a spare 3 round or 5 round mag in my pack.

The 20" Tikka .308 would be the very last hunting rifle I would ever part with.

Mac, great groups there.. May have to check one of t these out.. Last thing I need is another rifle....

Mackay Senior is an elk killing machine with his stock Tikka too.




The kiddo is also a fan. Here she is with her first deer from last fall. Though this gun is not stock. Lilja barrelled T3 in 6mm Remington.


She made a perfect 197 yard shot on a doe on opening morning.




She was ringing steel out a fair ways with it the week prior to the hunt, so just under 200 yards was a chip shot.

She does not know it yet, but she is getting a T3 .308 for her birthday next month. Barrel will be trimmed to 20"s, then braked, so recoil should be negligible for her scrawny frame.

I already have a cut down wood stock for her (bought here on the fire) that has been being used on the 6mm Remington. With a good piece of glass, it will be all the rifle she will likely ever need for hunting in the west.

Thanks,


I will not say I could do that on average, (planets may have been aligned just right) but there is no question it will shoot tiny groups and exceed my capabilities. Makes me look like a better shooter then I really am.

I used to have a heavy barreled .223 Tikka Varmint. But I sold it when I discovered that my 8 twist T3 Lite barreled .223 was just as accurate. Awesome shooting little gun.

Fellow Campfire member RJM now has it, as we did some horse trading. The only reason I traded out of it was due to almost always grabbing an AR for song dogs. It just wasn't getting shot like it should.

Coyotes hated it though. I had a crazy long string of 1 shot kills with that little thing.

Some tight groups! Thanks for posting
I just got my teenage daughter a T3 in 223 (1:10) that will be passed down to the little ones when they get bigger.
Haven't shot it yet, so we shall see. but I thought about trimming off 2" to make it a 20"

Love those tikka rifles

That Tikka that is being built to the Canadian Ranger's specs looks like an extremely nice rifle.

If they ever offered those in the states, I would bet they would sell a boatload of them. Basically similar to a Ruger Scout rifle, but with a sub MOA accuracy guarantee, a the smoothness typical of Tikka rifles.

Mac,

What's the reason for the different colored Magazine bottoms (blue vs. red).

Jerry

I'll bet it is just where they came from. Cheaper than dirt had some pretty cheap a while back that had the red bottoms.