Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Those Darn Tikkas!

I sold a T3 Lite SS 243 back around Christmas, it was my first Tikka. It shot anything I put in it into 3/4"! A guy wanted it for his wife, and hey, it was Christmas. Besides, Two surgeries ruined my planned guided coyote hunt in Nevada, Ouch! Anyway, I bought another, a blued Tikka T3x Lite in .243, new this time. I lightened the trigger down to 2#, screwed it back together at the recommended torque ( calls for 44 Inch pds, but I have a Fat Wrench, set it at 45#), put Leupold 2pc bases on ( I use the Std 2 pc bases on all my rifles, makes my "often" scope switching around easier.) I put a new Burris FFII 3x9 on it and went to the range. I had a box of Federal Blue Box 100 factory loads. After bore sighting, it dialed right in. Yep, 3/4" easy cheesy. I'm impressed! I don't mind spending money tweaking a rifle I like, but it sure is nice to get a great shooting one "right out of the box"!

That's 2 for me, and I shot my Son In Laws Tikka T3Lite ( he had just bought it) awhile back in 7mm Rem Mag. He just had some HSM with 168 Berger factory loads. Bingo, 1/2 to 3/4"!! So that's "three", and he tells me a mutual friend of ours 338 Federal Tikka T3 Lite does the same thing...so that's four, right out of the box. That's just amazing to me! So, for a "hunting rifle", jeepers, they are a great choice!

Funny how they do that.

For sure Jim. That is why a lot of us always recommend them. Mine have all been excellent.. I'm starting to reach for them more and more now. My little 7mm08 is kind of my favorite, even for elk hunting. They are just so light and well balanced that it makes the choice that much easier. Great scope choice too. That's what I run on a lot of my hunting rifles. Really hard to beat that combo. I run DD's for mounts, but dang near the same set-up you describe.

Local Sportmans has a 300 WSM that hasn't sold in about a month. Tempting, but holding out for a .308 or '06.

My 260 rem (1:8) is boringingly accurate. Definitely what I use to verify a questionable scope.

I recently sold a T3X Lite in .308 Win. I liked the rifle, but didn’t love it. Biggest problem was it would shoot groups 1/2 MOA then it would be 2 MOA. There was also a calcium carbonate precipitate that would form around the barrel/action junction.

A friend wanted it for a family member, so I let it go. I’m wanting another and I’m on a waiting list for a SuperLite. I kept my aluminum bottom metal from Mt Tactical, spare magazines, and scope rail.

drop point:

Quick question: When you say, “Biggest problem was it would shoot groups 1/2 MOA then it would be 2 MOA.”

Do you mean that it would go back and forth in group size on different range trips OR it went front 1/2 to 2 and then never return to 1/2?

Wow, you got through a post without the same ol’ target/rifle pics.

Impressive.

If was inconsistent. One trip out I may get it to shoot two or three 1/2 MOA groups in a row. Next trip out it would shoot lots of flyers. I believe it was because of the plastic stock.

I picked up a TAC A1 about 3 yrs ago, .6 out of the box with one brand of factory ammo, picked up a T3X Westerner last year, same thing. First handloads in both had .6 grps in the pressure tests. Makes it maybe a bit too easy to work with. Simple trigger adjustment, doesn't get much easier, put a Yo Dave spring in the TAC, yessssir, that worked, probably have to do the T3X as well I guess, as a hunting gun it is pretty damned good with the factory trigger spring though.
Maybe the only beef with either is the price of the CTR/TAC mags and the plastic mag on the T3X, but, that's a minor issue really, they both work well.

Tikka rifles are hard to beat for an accurate hunting tool. The ergo's of the stock are not my favorite and Im not a fan of the recoil lug and plastic trigger guard but I always keep a .300 Win Superlite in my safe for a rainy day hunting rifle.....Good hunting...Hb

Keep following me around. You might learn something, if you aren't too stupid to comprehend.

Love my hunter in 300 win. Shoots hornady sst in about 3/4". Love the the sleek action, used the leupold std two piece base and rings and has a leupold xv3i 3.5-10×40 on it. Would definitely recommend tikka to anyone.

I have been A Rem 700 fan my whole life. I needed a light rifle for the kids. I bought a Tikka S.S.T3x Lite in 6.5 Creed. First shots out of the box with factory ammo it shot .5" groups consistently. after shooting several types of ammo through it, it really likes 130gr ELD-M's and the groups have tightened up. Since then I have sent the Rem 700's down the road. I have replaced them with Tikka S.S.T3x Lite's. I have 5 of them now and they all shoot .5 moa or better. I must have gotten lucky with one of them. It shoots bug holes at every range session. They are the best shooting (out of the box gun) that is available today. I know they have some plastic parts on them. But they Dam sure shoot. You can get metal bottom metal, mag's and bolt shrouds from https://www.mountaintactical.com/ You can also buy them with wood and Laminate stocks If you don't like the Tupperware look. Add a Reduced pull weight trigger spring from CZNUT here in the classified's and you can put together one hell of rifle.

Being a tall man with big hands, I'm surprised how well it fits me! Can't wait to unzip a coyote with some 75gr Vmax!!

my worst grouping tikka will shoot 3 into 3/4"@100yds most will to .5" or better for a 3 shot group100 yds. the Fins definitely know how to build an accurate rifle thats fo sho.
Big Ed

Ya, if I ever have the desire to learn how to post the same pics ad nauseam looking for validation I’ll look you up.

I have one or two Tikkas.

Okay, maybe 5 or 6.

They’re all I buy these days.

Fantastic trigger, great stock, amazingly accurate, boringly easy to load for, relatively inexpensive.





P

Another Tikka fan here. I own 4 of them in various cals.

One of the biggest mistakes I've made when it comes to rifles was selling a T3 SS 243 a few years back. That stock rifle was super consistent and would shoot 1/2" 3 shot groups or smaller with 5 different bullet weights and powder loads. A couple of those loads with different bullets/powders would shoot to the same POI. Without a doubt it was the most accurate 243 that I or friends have owned.

The other ones in my safe aren't going anywhere.

When I started hunting 20 years ago.. well 19 years actually, I had the option of buying a Tikka T3 SS in 6,5x55 from a local dealer... he actually quite adamantly recommended it!!
I bought an Rem 700 in 308 instead... and regretted it ever since!

That Tikka T3 could have been the only hunting rifle I ever needed... instead I bought a [bleep] Rem 700 with off centered drilled scope mounts. Luckily the store took it back...
Fcuk if Remington can't even drill their scope mounts inline, what else might be wrong with them.
That started me down the road of "finding the perfect rifle".... one that has cost me ALOT of money during the years.


Now I have a 223 and 308 T3 Stainless as my main hunting rifles... both in McMillan stocks, with walnut stocks as backup, if I ever go there....The rest have become project/safe filler rifles... as I dont use them as much anymore.



Tikka T3... is actually a Sako TRG-22, slimmed down to Hunting rifle weight.


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I have a Tikka Forest in the original 6.5 (x55 Swede). If it weren't for the shooter, it would likely put 3 in the same hole.
From a techie standpoint, there's a characteristic about cold hammer forged barrels I think many miss. The CHF process not only produces highly repeatable rifling characteristics but also puts residual stresses in the barrel which drives up the natural frequency and makes for a stiffer barrel, less whip from the concussion.