Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles First experience with Tikka

Step father is setting up a rifle for my little sister. Secured a Tikka superlite in 6.5cm. Have yet to mount up everything. Trigger is nice out of the box and action cycles very smooth. Got a set of talleys in medium height to pair with a Sightron Big Sky 3-12x42. Looking to use RL26 and Hornady 147 ELDMs.

My old Tikka did great with Alpha brass, BR2's and 46.5 RL26 seated on the lands with the 147's. Got 2775 FPS and it was as accurate as I can shoot with the 6x SS.

That'll be a nice setup though.

The plastic “bottom metal” seems cheap. Anyone replace theirs with an alloy?

Let us know how it does for you, once you assemble that big pile of parts and components.

Mountain tactical works great.

Did it come from a Sportsman's Warehouse? Wanting to know if they are still the only source for the Superlight.

Curious if you needed a drop tube to load that charge?

That’s exactly where sir.

They do seem cheap. They also feed very well and are reliable.

The mags work just fine. Some plastic mags and guns don't but there is no reason to change anything on the Tikka.

I do use a 4" drop tube for charging. I don't think it'll be too much trouble though. Alpha is thick brass.

I think he was asking about the bottom metal? I don't have an issue with any of the plastic bottom metal on my Tikka rifles, but I got a Mountain Tactical bottom metal for free (came off of another rifle I sold) and I am very happy with it. The only reason I suggested it. It fits great and also works very well with the factory mags. Looks good too. I'd personally just leave the plastic on there, especially if it is for a young kid (his "little" sister). If she falls on it and breaks it, they are cheap to replace..

I have that identical rifle
With Talley’s and 3-12 Nikon tactical.
I shoot 130 TGK with big game. 41.5 gr at 2880-2900fps. I like the flatter trajectory over the heavier pills. I don’t shoot past 600.
You’re going to love that rifle.
I also put limb saver on and a new vertical grip.

I have bought a couple of used ones on which the prior owner had spent the money replacing them. One is a Mountain Tactical and the other is a High Desert Rifle Works. I like them. They are both nice. To me, they are a complete waste of money. I don't know what one would have to do to break the factory bottom metal/plastic. I'm sure there is someone here who can post " me n a pard have broke dozens ofem" and I won't doubt them. However, they are pretty strong and pretty well protected when mounted and in use.

Thanks, my friend. You can call me Randy if you like. Can you give an actual measured weight of just the rifle? Sometimes factory specs are off a good bit ,was why I asked.

I think a lot of us have the identical rifle. I remember a friend asking if we could go to the range so he could shoot mine. He was in search of a good 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and I told him about the superlite. After shooting mine, we took a 60 mile drive to the nearest Cabela's. I told him he could buy the same rifle, but with a black stock for $100 less at Sportsman's. He said he wanted the camo stocked one from Cabela's and didn't mind paying the extra. Plus he had about $500 in cabela's points.. How the rifle shot was one of the deciding factors. Now when one of his buddies ask what rifle they should look at buying, he always suggests Tikka.. I'm like Dre, I mainly shoot lighter weight pills in mine. 140gr ELD's are about tops. My buddy is running the 127 LRX in his. I don't think he took it elk hunting last year, but he said that should drop an elk pretty easily. Someone asked about weight of these rifles. Mine was 6 pounds on the nose, after glass bedding.. I did remove a little material through the barrel channel though, so it is freefloating. A few small tricks make it shoot a little better than an out of the box rifle..

The only functional problem with the plastic BM that I have found is the thin sheet metal inside upon which the action screws engage. Don't over-torque the screws (40-45 in-lbs works well) or else you may collapse that metal sheet inward. I've seen it happen.

Is it really the parts fault if someone over torques the action screws?

The bottom plastic, magazine, etc....much ado about nothing.

No, but it may be something to be mindful of? I torque mine pretty good, but have never seen any issues as described..

I have 2 of them. One in 223 and one in 6.5x55. Nice and light and fairly accurate.