Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3x Lite .223 vs 22-250 (1-8) vs Ruger American

Question is the title - what are your thoughts on Tikka vs Ruger American in .223 & .22-250 specifically. I don’t know the mag dims for either rifle and don’t want to go with a CTR due to weight but fully understand that I’m choosing a mag with less COAL opportunities by not going CTR.

Looking to shoot the 77 LRX or similar.

I've got a Tikka T3x chambered in .277 Wolverine and a Ruger American Ranch in 6.5 Grendel.

Had both Cerakoted and the stocks hydro dipped in camo. These are hunting rigs and I use portable tree climber stands. They are abused and used. Both are accurate and function fine.

The Tikka is much more refined. Not even close.

I had a Tikka T3X in 22-250 with the 1-8" twist. The magazine allowed for longer overall length than the average SA.

I just picked up a standard Tikka in 22/250 and 1:8" twist. I chose it over the Ruger Predator (which the same store also had that day) for the faster twist as I have a big bunch of 75 gr Hornady HPBTs to use. I borrowed a Ruger in 223 which was a good gun but I think the Tikka is much nicer (as it should be for the price). I like the Ruger better compared to most the others in its price range but the Tikka is my pick of the two.

I have only a hundred rounds through my Tikka but have found a pair of loads that seem pretty good as is. I'll have to do a bit of tweaking once my skills get to the point the tweaking will be apparent. This bullet seems to have found a home in this gun.

Great choice. The Tikka is the better gun.

I have both rifles in 1/8" twist.
Both wear SWFA 3X9's in solid mounts.

Accuracy is a push with anything 60gr and lighter - BUT, my Tikka T3X SL is throwing any bullet longer than my 60gr Vmax sideways!! They're sideways at 25 yards and three feet off target at 100 yards.....

I'm baffled by that performance and emails to Beretta regarding same have gone unanswered.

I "was" going to sell the Ruger after I got the Tikka settled in, but now I plan to keep it.
The Tikka is a much nicer rifle - and cost quite a bit more - but it's not living up to the hype.

Dude I would test the twist with a cleaning rod. Bet you got a 12

This. The mags that came with my 8 twist 22-250 will hold 6.5 Manbun rounds with room to spare.

I do have some 77 LRXs to try just because I'm at altitude >5300ft but think they'll need at least a 7" or a 6.5" twist. The 77's are long at 1.176 inch.

On my 8 twist .223 I'm now playing with Mt. Tactical mags which run 2.636 inch as opposed to 2.308 on the stock mags.

Thanks Fellas! Great info

I tried to check it with the cleaning rod and a tight patch - I wasn't very successful and need to try again. It says 8" right on the barrel... I have a river float trip very soon and the Tikka will have to wait until I return.

Mt. Tactical quit making the .223 magazines - they had some feed issues. But, they told me that they're working on the new replacements designed to eliminate that problem. I was told that they'd be out in Jan/Feb some time, but I still haven't seen them on their web site.

I need to add that the Ruger American I have is the old rotary magazine model.

I reconfigured the magazine and gained some room - it eats 68gr BTHP's seated properly without any issues now. I can load 6 down if I want to - but usually just stick with 5.

I tried to improve the stock trigger by cutting and then replacing the trigger spring and getting rid of the blade. That was an improvement, but I wanted better. I replaced the trigger with a Timney and that got me the results I was looking for.

I had to swap out the trigger spring in the Tikka to get the trigger I wanted, too.

I was also able to get a compact stock for it - a simple bolt on option for when I start letting the grandkids shoot it. Reason enough to keep it right there.

It's a great truck gun and very rugged - a bargain for it's price.

News to me on them quitting .223 mags. I bought 3 Gen 2 four rounders last fall and they work great.

I just visited their web site and didn't find any Gen2 magazines offered for the .223.
They do offer SA magazines for the .308 class.

In my email discussion with them I was told that they have stopped production of the .223 mag's to address a feeding issue (case heads not coming up high enough for the bolt to pick up every time reliably) I was also told to check back in a month or so and they should be offered by then. One of our 24hr friends told me that he has had problems with the 3rd or 4th round being skipped over, rather than stripping off the mag properly.

If someone needs one of their magazines for the .223, an email inquirery might clear that up.

I've had large multiples of each although significantly more Tikkas. They have all been exceptionally accurate, so much so that I often wonder why I even own anything other than a Ruger American based on price to effectiveness alone. Being honest though, the Tikka, in my opinion, is a much, much nicer rifle than the Ruger or, as Chrome stated above, the Tikka is much more refined.

I have both, 8 twist, both accurate. I like the Ruger 223, cause it will take AR magazines.

The Ruger is a darn good rifle for the money, the Tikka is a better rifle. If you do decide on Ruger get one that takes AR magazines.

It’s not sounding like I can shoot the 77gr in either platform despite the 1-8 - anyone confirm or deny same?

the tikka is performing like that due to the twist of the barrel. i don't think tikka ever made the sl in a 8 twist barrel in 22-250. now the regular non fluted lite is an 8 twist.
Big Ed

Big Ed,

It's a Tikka T3X SL I bought at Sportsmans Warehouse. It's advertised as a 1/8" twist and even says 8" on the barrel and it's a .223, not a 22/250.

I have a trip in front of me to address, when I return I'll verify the twist rate the best I can and then call Berreta USA and see what they have to say.

I bought this rifle to sling heavies at steel plates and not happy to apparently be stuck with lighter bullet weights....

I've shot ALOT of 73gr Bergers thru my 8 twist superlite with the best 5 shot group being 0.175. The gun stabilizes the 80gr matchking as well as the 80.5gr Berger fullbore. Thy old guys at my local factory gun matches shoot the 77gr matchking weekly in their 8 twist Tikka's.

I have the American Lightweight in 223, 1-8 twist, rotary magazine & shoot Nosler 70 gr. RDF's over 24.0 gr. of Varget. Shoots just about one holer's all day long. My problem is the magazine OAL for the bullets used only allows one round in the magazine at a time. I contacted the Ruger factory about this issue and they recommended that I only use factory ammo & not handloads. NOT the answer I was looking for, so they were no help at all. Is there an after market magazine out there that has a longer OAL that accepts more than one round?