Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3x Lite 6.5 Creedmoor's..

I have one waiting for you per our PM. It's on my desk. Shoot me an email and we'll go from there. darrikwhittakerguns.com

Thank you sir

I now know why you guys are sold on Darrik and Whittakers. Thank you Darrik.

I just helped my friend Dave set up and reload for his brand new blued Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor. Dave is not a brand new shooter but it had been 30 or so years ago when he had the time and location to do so. He retired and moved down to the Mountains of NC about a year ago.

His 1st "retirement rifle" was a .223 Savage Axis with the scope package "deal". That package had multiple issues. It has been shipped back to Savage for repair. He shot some of my better quality rifles and discovered how much more fun it is to shoot accurate guns with well tuned triggers....

After he became motivated to spend more than Savage Axis money and started talking about an interest in longer range shooting I told him about the deposit I had put down on a 6.5 Creedmore (close to 3 Months ago). I checked and all the stainless guns had been spoken for but there were 2 of the blued Tikkas left. Dave places his order, I think 8 days ago and we get to start shooting it this afternoon....

OK I admit I'm a tad envious of his MUCH shorter wait time... but I get to see the enthusiasm of a novice shooter getting great results right out of the box. Dave had never reloaded ammo before so I walked him though the steps and the 3rd load he put together shot 0.560" @ 100 yards.... We ran out of daylight but he plans to be back in the morning to continue load development.

So, the stainless guns are going to start shipping any day now... right? I'm starting to feel like a little kid staring up the chimney looking for Santa

Thank you John for a great day yesterday shooting my new blued Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor. I am glad to now be apart of this forum and look forward to participating on it.
What a beautiful gun and extremely accurate right out of the box. I thoroughly enjoyed reloading my own rounds yesterday to begin the hone in process for accuracy..... as you said after the 3rd round of reloading we are getting close with a 0.560 group at a 100 yards. I was having so much fun I was ready to install lights on the range for night shooting! LOL
I am looking forward to continued shooting today and trying the next 5 loads that I prepared last night with your instructions. I will be sure to share the results here after the range shooting today of what we have shot so far and the results.

I would like to give a special THANK YOU to Eric, Darrick and Cody @ Whittaker Guns. They have been so helpful with the purchase of my new blued Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor. They were spot on with the recommendations for a good scope, rings and rail. I was so impressed that when they said they were going to do something they did it. From the sale and their recommendations, to the correct rings and rail for the my Vortex scope, and the shipping and arrival of the gun as they stated has made me a big fan of Whittaker Guns. So very nice to see this kind of customer service!

Dave

Starsplitter, welcome aboard sir! I will be watching for your thread on load development. Looks like I will be getting the same rifle you have. Good luck and good shooting.

Seconds on welcoming you to the Fire, Star. Sounds like you made a wise choice in rifle and friend. What bullet and powder are you working with? You must be very particular to state you are "getting close" with a .560 group. I would be ecstatic! Trying to be patient, Bruce

Starspliiter has another hobby involving optics:

http://www.blueridge-observatory.net/

I knew he would soon be upgrading from the "package deal" scope he started with.... I think it took less than a Month

Thank you for the welcome!

Hi Bruce (Leadminer)....Yesterday was day #2 shooting the my new blued Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor. I have readied and shot ~9 different load combinations so far and here is the load I managed to get a 0.400 grouping yesterday for my best so far and multiple groups under 0.596.
Note: this was in 20 mph left to right cross wind yesterday and cold! So much for the sunny 55 deg forecast. Cloudy and very windy with 42 deg is what we got!

Seems like so far the gun really likes the following which produced the 0.400 groupings....

New Brass
140gr Sierra bullet
40.5gr IMR4350
overall length ~2.825 with the 140gr bullet NOTE: My chamber measures MAX 2.842.

We experimented with Reloader 17 and a 120gr bullet but not as good results.
Next on the agenda is to try more of the IMR4350 with a 129 match grade bullet and also Reloader 17 with the 140 gr Sierra bullet now that we found some data for it to reload.

I will be out of town until Sunday night at a Star Party in Tennessee since I am into Astrophotography as well but I will be back it on Monday morning for sure to keep the testing going. There are many more combinations to try and I will let you all know how it goes.

Thank you to John (2ndwind) for all the support and knowledge getting me going in the right direction and teaching me reloading. He has created a monster now!!
I hope his Stainless version come in next week....I am unfortunately making my friend John feel real bad since he has not got his gun yet. But he is getting some quick fixes shooting mine until his comes in! LOL

Dave (Starsplitter)

Nice! John isn't the only one waiting for the SS model. Keep shooting for the stars.

"Thank you to John (2ndwind) for all the support and knowledge getting me going in the right direction and teaching me reloading. He has created a monster now!!"


Dave's wife is going to stop speaking to me..... after only the 2nd range session, Dave announces he is going to buy a more advanced rangefinder than my old one.... Maybe she will not see next Month's credit card statement....

It does look like this rifle is going to be a shooter

Starsplitter/2ndwind.......what ring and base setup did you go with?

http://www.vortexoptics.com/product...riflescope-dead-hold-bdc-reticle/reticle

6.5x20 Vortex Viper with

DEAD-HOLD BDC RETICLE

Vortex rings on a Picatinny rail base

"Dave's wife is going to stop speaking to me..... after only the 2nd range session, Dave announces he is going to buy a more advanced rangefinder than my old one.... Maybe she will not see next Month's credit card statement...."

Yes, I have a small secret stash of gun hobby $$ to help fund the ranger finder, ammo, powder, brass, new case, better cleaning kit, and more misc things I need to get!!
Then I can spend a little on the credit card statement! LOL...Addicting hobby for sure.

Sent my Savage Axis 223 back to the factory yesterday. Will not see that for 1 month. They are going to replace the entire bolt assembly and re serial it to the gun. So unnerving having it not fire every other round and sometimes many in a row did not fire.
I must admit the 223 is fun to shoot too and it is very accurate! Got lucky and got a really good barrel on my Savage. Should have got a better scope though!

John, maybe we will need to upgrade that scope a little on my Savage too! Instead of one click equaling a random amount .....get a new scope that 1 click equal 1/4 " !!! Imagine that.

SWFA in 30mm Modified Talley Lows



Leupold M8 6x42 in 1" Modified Talley Mediums



Leupold M8 6x42 in 1" Modified Talley Lows

Ah yes, the " small secret stash of gun hobby $$ " planning stage already... Welcome into the fold grasshopper.

Just remember, it goes full circle pretty quick.

Anybody else shot their's yet?

Hello, everyone. Figured I should join and contribute to the 6.5 support group.

I purchased the last pre-order blued rifle. I have ammunition, a DNZ mount, a new VX3, and a five round magazine waiting.

Would be really nice to get my new rifle before deer season.

Welcome to the Fire, Keeptrying. Hope the rifle turns out to be all that you dreamed.