Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 30-06 in Africa

i have been reading much more about Tikka bolt action rifles today and i am not taking that Tikka to Africa . i plan on just selling this Tikka rifle so my Remington 700 7 mm mag. will now go with me to Africa and use 160 gr. Nosler Partitions . glad i found out the problems. Pete53

Steve,

That'll work fine.

Good hunting,
John

thank you,Pete53

What have you read about Tikka rifles that scares you so much?

Same thoughts as PeeDeeRiver…What concerns are you reading about with Tikkas? Are the actions too smooth or the rifles too accurate? I’ve never had a Tikka issue with my .260 nor have I heard of any from friends.

some of the bolt faces have cracked ,maybe its a small problem ? but i don`t want it to happen to me on a trip. i seen a couple pictures showing this too. look around on the internet you will find the problem , also on the fire here there is a post about it. when i spend $15,000.00 for a trip i don`t need a rifle problem that far away . if your interested i have a real nice Tikka Laminated stock,S.S. that has been glass bedded with a mounted picatinny base for sale 30-06 , been 10 cartridges shot thru this rifle. i will taking a Remington 700 , sorry i am no expert on this Tikka problem ,Pete53

24 hr. campfire under gunsmithing

Thread with over 20 replies or 25 views
>>Tikka T3 bolt woes <<

Well, next to the 30-06, the 7mm Rem mag is a favorite of mine. The 160 gr Nosler Partitions should serve you well.

Best of luck!

Guy

Excellent choice. I like the 06 but like the 7mmRM more better.

From your original post:
"so you guys that have hunted over in Africa for plains game animals am i wrong to use a very accurate 30-06 Tikka S.S. Laminated stock , 3lb. trigger that i have glass bedded and shoots 5 shots under an inch at 100 yds. very easy ? thank you,Pete53"

From your most recent post:
"when i spend $15,000.00 for a trip i don`t need a rifle problem that far away . if your interested i have a real nice Tikka Laminated stock,S.S. that has been glass bedded with a mounted picatinny base for sale 30-06 , been 10 cartridges shot thru this rifle."

Kind of wondering
1) how you got your rifle sighted in correctly, and determined that it will shoot five shots under an inch at 100 yards very easy, with the expenditure of only 10 cartridges.
2) why you would have even considered taking a rifle with only 10 shots through it to Africa.
3) how you could switch from the Tikka to a Rem 700, with all the horror stories on the internet about Rem 700 bolt handles falling off and extractor/ejector failures (which are probably no more realistic than the Tikka bolt cracking stories). Google Remington 700 failures and see. BTW, I'd have no concerns with either rifle.

But whichever of the two you choose will work fine. I'm sure you will ensure your PH has a backup rifle available if you have a failure with whatever you decide to take.
Best of luck on the trip.
Rex

i have my own rifle range with bench rest equipment used on a cement bench ,been a precision handloader bench rest shooter 40 some years , FTR i shoot in the Master division . with over 45 years of wisdom will let you know how a rifle shoots. this Remington 700 - 7mag i am taking has a lot of accurizing work done to this rifle probably shot it 30 times or more its a good shooter. do i like Remington rifles some but i won`t take by favorite rifles out of the lower 48.when i read these stories on Tikkas problems i decided i won`t use that rifle its for sale. > groups under an inch are very easy to do if you have some ability to reload and know how to handle a rifle off a good bench on many rifles. my other thing is if that hunting rifle shoots 1inch or less i feel i am done messing with that rifle to hunt with ,recoil is no fun anymore . i have some very good target rifles like my 22 BR, 6 BR`s ,257 and 6.5 Creedmoors these are much more fun to shoot all day long with no recoil , sometimes I shoot 2`s and 3`s with different loads and bullets that is much more fun.

i looked back at my reloading book records i did make a mistake the Tikka 30-06 i shot only 1 - 5 shot group and it was under 1 inch but i would bet it would do even better if i shot it more . but this rifle really shoots easy 4 were 5/8 inch 5th one made it under an inch yet. this rifle took only 4 shots to site in .

Hell, back in the late '80's a good friend of mine took a 21 day safari to Zim. and shot 20+ head of plains game including eland plus a leopard all with his model 70 .30-06. He borrowed the ph's .375 to shoot his giraffe as there was a game scout on the hunt.

I went over to SA in April for my first Safari. I took a Tikka T3 Lite SS in .30-06 and used 180 Partitions to kill Warthog, Blesbok, Eland, Blue Wildebeest, and Nyala. I also took a TC Icon in .300 Win Mag and shot 200 Partitions to kill a Zebra and an Impala. Both rifles performed perfectly. One of the guys in my group was having troubles with his .375 holding zero once we got there, we are assuming something went awry with the baggage handlers at the numerous airports we visited. Anyway, the PH has a Tikka T3 Lite .30-06 shooting 180 TTSX loads that he used for a client camp rifle for plains game. My buddy used that rifle for 6-7 plains game animals including Kudu and Blue Wildebeest and had no troubles. The PH said that that particular Tikka has killed thousands of head of game, and he is a big big fan of Tikkas, Barnes TTSX and Swift A-Frame bullets, and Leupold VX5HD scopes. I can’t argue against his plains game choices for gear.

As far as your trip, the .30-06 obviously works great for plains game, as would your 7RM with 160 Partitions if you go that route. Honestly, I’d rather use a Tikka than a 700, but to each their own…

pete53
“ i won`t take by favorite rifles out of the lower 48 “…then why have them?

Pure silliness not to take your “favorite”.
R

30-03 is one of the best choices for a safari trip

maybe so , but there is no way i am taking my favorite rifle a custom Ruger #1 , just to many memories and years used. besides this Remington 700 i am taking isn`t a normal rifle anymore either.

Had never used an -06 in Africa until the trip a couple of weeks ago. It happened that after finishing the planned part of the hunt, we had several days left and visited a place where there were a couple of particularly interesting mature common duiker rams.

The choice of rifle was limited to either one of my 2 DGRs loaded with solids
or the Nengasha camp rifle, a well used Interarms Mark X 30-06. Dry firing the rifle confirmed my PH’s observation that the trigger was terrible. A quick disassembly showed us the problem and we quickly fixed it.


On the way out of camp we stopped at the range and confirmed zero with the available ammo


After a couple of days of looking we found a very nice ram, harvested at exactly 100 yds.


Fortune smiled on us - the longer horn measured 5”. A very fitting end to a hunt for tuskless elephants closing with a very good example of one of the Tiny Ten.

glad for all ,this trip will be my only African hunt so yes i will be taking a Remington 700 - 7 mag. that has been accurize , that does shoot very well and my hand loads with 160 Nosler Partitions . i have not use factory ammo in any of my big game rifles now for at least 45 years rather that`s good or bad. i appreciate everyone`s suggestions ! good luck hunting to all this fall ,Pete53

pete53,

A great part of the hunt IMHO is using a rifle which has become an old reliable friend. When the ammo used is hand loaded one at a time, the experience moves to an even higher plane.

The best of luck and good fortune on your safari.