Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3 Bad Weather Operation

I've never had a problem with em and was just curious how others have faired with the Tikka in snow, sleet, rain, freezing, muddy type conditions. Ya they shoot good but that doesn't mean much if it doesn't go bang when it matters most

Oh Formidilosus.

You're not going to have any problems with it, but Form can go into detail about some of the conditions he's seen them operate in.

Going to go out on a limb and say they are better then most push feeds

The Canadians chose it to arm their Arctic troops for a reason.

They are excellent in those conditions. Besides seeing them used side by side with most others, several foreign militaries have tested them in sleet/snow/dust with the only rifles beating them in reliability being AI.


If they replaced the custom Stiller’s and Surgeons with Tikka based rifles tomorrow.... it would be an upgrade.

I've been using a Tikka T3 as a backup rifle for years now. In an average season I spend 60 plus days in the field and it always works no matter what the weather is doing.

Being made in Finland, I am sure they are designed to work in cold rough wet weather....

You would think so, but that's not always the case. When I was AD Air Force, the Air Force was buying Visala weather instruments from Finland as they were Arctic tested. The first year they were put in at Alaska Long Range Radar Sites, most of them failed, and the AF contractor had to reverse engineer them to get them to work properly. The were Arctic tested alright, just not arctic tested by any body of water. Granted weather instruments are not rifles, but just because items are made in Finland doesn't mean they can stand harsh winter climates. I have faith in my Tikka, but it's do to reading actual user posts about them and not just what the company itself has published.

We usually have at least one Tikka in our elk camp. Some of the hunts have been in heavy snows and also -30*. No problems with the Tikkas. BTW, learn how to field strip the bolt just in case of a fluke incident of freeze up.
They are as easy as a Model 70.

I havnt had any issues in harsh wet conditions here in AK. Freezing ice, snow, wind, mich and water. Never seen a tikka skip a beat here.

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