Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Great Deal on a Tikka Varmint Rifle

I bought a 222 Rem Tikka Varmint today. Technically, not new. Used. 50 rounds through the barrel. $1100 CDN. New, they are $1400. So I saved $340 for the sake of a few rounds fired. It's immaculate. It compliments my 222 T3 Lite. I have to stop buying this stuff. It was just too good to pass up.

I wish the Varmint model was available in a LH configuration.

"I have to stop buying this stuff."

Heresy!!!

You'd think that there are enough LH shooters to make a run of them a couple of times a year. I guess the bean counters don't see it.



For years, I've been saying that I will stop, or at least cut back. It isn't happening.



I put a box together of some bullets that I want to try. It includes several bulk deals I've bought over the years. This is what I took off my bullet shelves to try in the Tikka. I discovered that I have over 2,000 Rem bulk bullets - mostly 50 gr. PSPs, but also 45 SP and 55 gr PSPs. Remington doesn't sell them as components bullets anymore.

Winchester still sells 46 gr HPs and 50 gr. PSPs, but they aren't the bargain they used to be. These are Canadian dollars, but Win 46HPs are $28/100 ($21.50US/100). Win 50PSPs are $25/100 ($19.25US/100). A quick look at Midway shows the 50 PSPs selling for $15US/100.

When I started reloading, I bought up any Win or Rem bulk offerings, as well as anything lying around on gun show tables. You can still find deals, but they are harder to sniff out.

You have a lot of shooting to do.

It’s a .222 or a .223?

Yes, I do. It's a 222.

The rifle arrived yesterday. I won't be doing much with it until the end of next month. Currently, I am working with a 30-303 and have been hunting.

T3 SS Varmint 222 ?

C O O L ..........way cool..........

Let’s just start making this a thing for every manufacturer while we’re at it.

Looks like a sweet rig. I bet it’ll shoot.

I'm all in.

There have to be surveys kicking around somewhere that indicate the number of left handed shooters in the States. The bean counters for the companies would have access to that. They can sniff money walking with the wind on a mountain slope.
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I was at the range today with my 222 T3 Lite and a 223 Axis. The Axis will soon be a 6x45mm. I talked about swapping out the new barrel in a thread we had about Boyd AT-ONE stocks. The stock and trigger have been replaced. The T3 Lite shot rings around the Axis. Mind you, I was shooting factory 55 gr. 223 vs reloaded 40 gr. Hornady VMaxes from the 222.



The only thing that's gotta go with the T3 Lite is the scope. I got a Nitrex 3-10 several years ago at a trade show. It was on the shelf in my workshop for a few years before I put it on the T3 Lite. Yuck. Like looking through a room full of cigarette smoke. I think I'll put a 2-7 Burris on it. In the wind and rain, the little Tikka still shot 3/4 inches at 100 yd, but I've come to expect no less from these Finnish lasers.



I have no qualms about keeping the T3 Lite stock. Same with the T3 Varmint. No need to fix anything that doesn't need fixing. For the T3 Varmint, I just ordered a Bushnell Elite 6-24x50 Tactical SF with mildots. It's got a 30mm tube. Great price for Canada $599 ($457 US).



I was the only one at the range again today for the first hour. About 11, a guy showed up with a 223 Tikka Varmint. I told him the only thing better than his 223 was a T3 Varmint chambered in 222. We had a few laughs, punched some holes in our targets and left happy. Despitfine day. the cold rain and wind, it was a

SWEET!

That's what I said!

I played with that scope a lot, helping a friend develop loads for his 308. It's rugged, has nice, clear glass and, just as important, has repeatable adjustments. It didn't get muddy at 24x which surprised me. I told him that if I ever replaced the 6.5-20 on my HB 308, that would be my choice. We had to put a 20MOA base on his rifle because this scope does not have the adjustments to reach out beyond 600 yd without help, but for the Tikka 222 Varmint, it will work perfectly with std a 0 MOA base.

But then I got thinking about the baby Tikka and that crappy Nitrex scope. I took it off, went up to my office, and ordered a Burris 2-7x35mm. It's got good glass and is properly proportioned for the baby T3. It will look elegant with the 2-7.

For crisp, clear images, Burris and Nikon lenses work for me. The LOW Bushnells do as well.

I believe for the dollars spent, Burris Fullfield II scopes are hard to beat.

I agree. It should be here sometime next week.

The Elite 6-24 arrived today. I will install it later today. Still waiting on the Burris 2-7x35mm for the T3 Lite.



We got a few inches of snow over night. Range on Monday or Tuesday.

Has anyone tried this ammunition? It's expensive. $34 CDN ($26US) a box. They use Sako ammunition to test every Sako and Tikka rifle before it leaves the factory. I haven't seen it around much. Kind of surprised to see it at Canadian Tire. CT is a general store of sorts that started out seeling automobile tires and gre into tools, batteries, oil, sporting goods, etc.

I have one of the Tikka heavy barrel guns in .222 Rem. Got it a few years ago for about $660 if memory serves me correctly. Presently it has a cheap 6-18x scope which I paid either $100 or $110 for. The gun prefers 40 grain V-Max bullets. It is almost as accurate as the Browning heavy barrel .223 it replaced.

Jim

Steve, Nice setup, but why the tall bases and rings - that scope is really high.

drover

Yes, the Tikka rifles were cheaper until importation changed. We used to get them sent here directly from Europe. Now, they are imported into the US and we get them from down south. A result of that was a 15 - 20% price increase. Then you have to add the exchange rate - 25 to 35%. All of a sudden, my Tikkas went up at least 50%.

I have a 308 Varmint that I bought new eight or nine years ago for $750. Its $1400 now. My T3 Lites were all $500 to $600. Now they are $950. They are still bargains, but not nearly as cheap as just a few years ago.
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I was at the range again today. Another quiet session. I helped a fellow who had just bought a Savage Arms 10FCP-SR Tactical Bolt-Action Rifle and Cabelas Covenant scope. $1100 - $1250 all in. It's the first time that I've seen one up close. It looks clunky. That is, the bolt handle and scope mount don't quite seem right for the rifle. Still, if it shoots, I can get past the looks.

It was my good deed. He did not know how to zero the scope. He put a target up at 100 yd., but wasn't hitting anything. He shot off a box of ammunition at 100 yd and didn't hit the paper once. He couldn't understand why, and wanted to send it back to Cabelas. He thought something was wrong.

He told me it was boresighted, and thought it should be on paper. I explained that it isn't always the case, and suggested that he should try at 25 yd .It was obvious he didn't know what to do, so I gave him a hand. His rifle was shooting too far to the right. In the order of 10 inches or so. I got it hitting the bull and told him he will have to get it set up for 100 yd. He now knows how to walk the crosshairs over to the bullet holes.

My own shooting was fun. The Tikka likes 40 gr. VMaxes, just like my other 222s. It also likes my homemade 52 grainers. It does not like my 60 gr.bullets made from 22 LR cases.The 40s and the 52s grouped from .5 to .75 inch at 100yd. The 60s sprayed 1.75 inches. No surprise of course. The Bushnell scope is a sweetheart.

The scope looks higher than it is. I used medium rings. It's 0.55 inches off the barrel. We shoot informal silhouette matches and it's easier with the higher scope. It's actually a compromise. If I was doing that seriously, the scope would be different and mounted higher. We shoot plates from 40 to 100 yd. We used to have pigs, chickens, etc., but they got chewed up, so we just put up steel plates now. We also don't bother with removing or installing scopes. Some guys shoot with scopes. Other guys - the serious ones - prefer iron sights.

Thanks, that makes sense now. I shot silhouette for a lot of years and used high mounts for that also.

Nice looking outfit. I have been shooting Tikka's for 20 or so years now - 595's in 223 and 243. I have now gone to the T-3's, it took me quite a while to come around to the T-3's but with the way they perform I have come to love them. I had a 595 Continental Varminter in 223 that I used for our local bench-rest style meat shoots, it was so accurate that when I entered a match with it no one else would bother to enter.

drover