Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Tikka T3X Lite?

What's the general consensus on the Tikka T3X Lite rifles? I just picked up one in 7mm Rem Mag, with the 24" barrel and removeable brake. Brake will definitely be helpful for working up a load, but will coming off for any trips to the woods. Rifle feels pretty solid, and balances well with the longer barrel. I'll probably end up mounting a Sightron SII Big Sky 3-12x, and will work up a load with 140-150gr BTSP's.

It's the Glock 19 of bolt-action rifles. No upgrades required to shoot well out of the box.

Also, it's Lite in name only. With a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40, my 308 and 30-06 were ~8 pounds.

Differences between the T3 and T3x are not worth getting excited about. Price is a good tie-breaker.

Balance is good. Stocks are 22-24 ounces, with slightly heavier barrels than you’d expect.


Okie John

Strange, most of mine are right around 7 pounds:


Even the wood stocked models. That Leupold must be a pig. Not sure if the OP's is factory with the 24" tube and brake? A factory 7mm Rem mag with the 24.3" barrel should weigh around 6.5 pounds without scope. Also surprised the op has been here since '06, but is asking about the Tikka T3x???

Have 4 of them and have been using them since 2009 , they are great rifles in my opinion.

My brother picked up a T3X Lite a couple years ago in 30-06. Seems he said it weighs right about 7 lbs without the scope. I had a chance to shoot it a bit and I was pleasantly surprised at how accurate it was right out of the box with factory ammo. 1" groups with Coreloks was a breeze and a couple groups were much smaller than that. Plastic stock seemed a bit flexy, but had a good feel to it and didn't hinder the accuracy IMO...

I have owned 15 of these to date and I always keep one or two around for rainy hunting days. For the money they are the best overall IMO but there are dozens of threads on this site with the same 4 or 5 guys touting them as the best rifle ever made, a simple search will reveal these threads with more reading than you will want but its the same people in every thread saying the same thing so just read one or two and you will get the gest of it..Good luck...Hb

Tikka, huh? I’ve heard of those.




P

I formed my love of rifles a long time ago, so I have certain “tastes” in rifles. For instance, a “real” rifle has controlled round feed, and a 3 position safety. When I see a Tikka T3 I want to throw up a little in my mouth. But the truth of the matter is a T3 might just be one of the finest hunting rifles ever devised, and is probably more reliable in crap weather than my M70’s and Kimber MT’s. I know for sure they’ll shoot better out of the box than either. So, while I have no plans to buy one since my rifle purchasing days have pretty well ended, anyone without my prejudices that asks me what to buy for a hunting rifle here in Montana, I tell them get a Tikka T3 in 270 or 6.5 CM.

I’ve never owned or fired a Tikka, but I’ve seen all the glowing reviews. My only fault with the T3x lite is the detachable magazine. I prefer a blind mag, and those Tikka mags are expensive!

2023 is 20 years that I have been using Tikka T3s. I remember having a whole bunch of guys (who never heard of Tikka) badmouthing it at a police sniper school when I showed up one year with a heavy barrel t3 Varmint in .308. Until they saw the way it shot, over and over. Plus how smooth and totally reliable it was and the mags that always worked. Far better than the R700s. Those same mags are still in service today. That barrel is toast, but it took around 10K to get there. That barrel continued to give excellent performance all the way to the end.









Had Brockman's put on a new factory take-off Tikka CTR barrel in 6.5 cm, so now that same action is back in service. Incredibly smooth gun.

Glocks have magazines with polymer construction as well. Nobody gives a second thought to using one of those for mags 50K or more rounds. Those "plastic" Tikka mags are really quite durable and I have used mine in conditions over 100 degrees to -20 and -30 degrees and had no problem. They simply work.

Heard a lot about how well they shoot out of the box, never owned one yet, I kind of prefer Rem 700 and Win 70 which never gave me any problems and they also shot well for me, I could always work up at least couple of loads that will shoot .5 inch, but to each his own.

Tikka bottom “metal” and mags are fhuqking Dog Schit,except in CTR or an AICS conversion,none of which is “subjective”. Hint………..

I love the pics and story Mackay. My buddy has an old stainless T3 Varmint model chambered in 308w. His dad gave it to him last year. It hadn't been fired at all by his dad, so he wanted to scope it and take it to the range. I told him expect the sob to be a shooter. He's local SWAT, so he shoots very well. The rifles his department gave him are 2 old Rem 700's that look like old M24's with old 10x Leupolds with mil dot reticle and m1 turrets on top. He asked how the Tikka would do compared to those rifles and I told him it wouldn't even be close. Well, that day that we took his dads old rifle out, he shot a nice 3 shot cloverleaf. He then asked If I'd shoot it, "to see what it could really do". Here's the 5 shot group it laid down:


That is the target on the backer board. Usually I'll take it home and write on it, with the date, temp, and load data. But since it was shot with his rifle, we just left it there. His app that measures groups said it was in the .1's I believe.

Now, my buddy got me all interested in the 308w and I had to dust my old stainless T3 lite off and work up a load with it. I was not expecting it to shoot as well as the heavy barreled varmint, but was happy with the results from the lightweight rifle.



The newer T3x are upgraded T3's, and are great rifles. Every one that I've owned has shot exceptionally well. I like Brad's post because I'm a pretty die hard model 70 guy, but I can admit the Tikka's are damn good. I've never had one with extraction issues like I've had with other pushfeed models. The Tikka's are smooth and reliable, and they shoot well. But I thought everyone here knew that.

Love ‘em. I’m on my third, having used one for a custom project.

What type of mounts are you using. My 308 is 7 lbs even with a Burris FF-II 3-9X40. The 24" barreled 6.5CM is 7.5 lbs with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40

Only thing I have against the Tikkas are the goofy Metric screws, arrrgh! ha They sure do shoot well though!

That scope was a 30mm Leupold VX-R 3-9x40, which weighed 15.6 ounces. It was in Leupold PRW rings, which weighed 5-6 ounces IIRC. I also had a rail on the rifle but I can't remember whether it was steel or aluminum. Probably steel.

Ounces turned into pounds pretty quickly on that one...


Okie John

Tikkas shoot okay, I guess.





This load:







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I’m a little ashamed to admit, but I’ve never owned a Tikka. For some reason, most of the LGS’s here don’t carry them. I have been thinking it’s time to try one out. Bass Pro has them on sale right now, and there’s a $75 mail in rebate on top of that. A .270 Superlite looks really appealing.

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