Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anybody tried a Tikka 6.5x55?

Just checking to see if anyone here has checked one out at the range? I am assuming they are about as accurate as typical for a Tikka. So, any reports out there?

Haven't tried that one, but I've never seen a tikka that wasn't a serious shooter, and the Swede is a pretty accurate round typically. Wish I had the cash to give you a range report.

Read many user reports getting at or SUB 1/2" at 100 yds....I have no doubt. Using Lapua brass, right powders, and good bullets, the round and rifle are up to it

Not mine, but my buddy shot this 5 round group with his Tikka Varmint in 6.5x55:

I'm very happy with my T3 6.5x55, mine is blue/walnut with a Swarovski 3x9X36mm AV on top of it. It does shoot tight groups, very tight groups; I'm using Lapua Brass, thrives on RL-22 with 140 gr. bullets and H4350 with lighter weights. I love it's light weight, remarkable accuracy and it just flattens stuff with no recoil...what's not to like. I've had it since 2004 and it goes hunting very frequently, it's become my favorite deer rifle.
You could do much, much worse than a T3 in 6.5x55; a spare mag was a bit expensive but it's not like you'll need a dozen of them.

my wife's t3 lite will put 3 in the same ragged hole at 100 yards w/ federal blue box 140 factory loads.

it will shoot anything into 3/4-1" at 100 yards.

it aint pretty, but i buy guns to use.

plus she's tough on guns

hopefully i'll be posting pictures of her dead elk this fall that she kills with it

I have had a Tikka T3 in a 6.5x55 for 5 years. I started out reloading and shooting 140 grn Nosler Partitions over RL-22 around 2700 fps. Accurate and put a few 200lb bucks down with no more than 10 steps or less. Then I tried the 120 grn. Barnes TSX over RL-19 and got about 3000 fps. I smacked a 250 lb. Mule deer at 150 yards and he took one step. Just jello in the engine room. This caliber is very accurate and hunter not bench shooter that I am I have shot 3/4" groups @ 100yds as a matter of sighting in. You don't have to push this caliber to be effective. I shot a medium sized buck with a hornady 140 grn standard load which is probably going about 2600pfs and same results, bang 2 steps flop. You can shoot that load for a wife or young one and have very little recoil, or load to modern spec's and have a very accurate and enjoyable to shoot firearm. It also groups well at 200yds. and 300 yds. The Swedes new this caliber really cuts the wind. I am totally pleased with this caliber and use it for my prairie and longer shot hunts. The only caliber I would think is a like performer in this class is a 7mm-08 also a very nice rifle. Buckfever1

A quote: I have to admit I took a liking to the Tikka M595 Continental. It's a handsome and well-made rifle with a slick action. Accuracy was very good, as seems to be a trait of Tikka rifles. This can be seen in the fact the 1999 British Long-Range Benchrest Championship was won by a Tikka Continental in 6.5x55. Group size was an almost unbelievable 10 rounds into 4.4 inches at 1,000 yards. Anyone looking for an accurate out-of-the-box varmint rifle would do well to consider a Tikka.

When the words Tikka and Swede come up, I post this for folks.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_49/ai_95680073/pg_3/?tag=content;col1

My T3 in 6.5x55 is one of the best shooting hunting rifles I own. The rifle loves VV560 and 125 Nosler Partitions in Lapua brass. Topped with a 1 3/4-5 VX3 Leupold, it is a dream to carry while hunting deer in the brush around here.

I have very much been thinking about buying one of these. Glad to hear your good reports and I have shot the Tikkas in other calibers and liked them. Howa now chambers their 1500 in 6.5. Anyone tried one? I was thinking about one of them too and I think a sand colored stock would look neat. Everyone of the Howas I have shot were accurate also. They are a little cheaper than the Tikkas, but not much. I do like the wood stocked Tikka.

Wow Snow Dog...just saw your target! Wow!

BT, spoke to Howa at their SHOT show booth in 2009, they said the 6.5x55 did indeed have their twist rate corrected on newer models, BUT they could never get good accuracy in either.

I am just passing on what they said but they advised me it's NOT a good shooter in that caliber which is strange, Howa's normally shoot well, and the Swede is NORMALLY always a great round for accuracy.

Could be the ammo tested, is all I can assume. Wish Howa made their affordable rifles in 260, especially a heavy bbl but they said they were not going to do any.

SO, based on Howa's own advice, I'd simply avoid them, and I might add I have not heard any great reports on that combo by owners, they simply have not impressed their owners - those that I have heard about. Go Tikka IMHO for an affordable tack driver.

I would love to try one - if you can convince Beretta to import the left-hand 6.5x55 in to this country! But I guess that we lefties aren't important enough so we get stuck with the usual 308/270/30-06/243. Maybe Beretta will one day wake up and at least let us special order one of the guns that Tikka already makes for the rest of the world - but I doubt it.

I have NO idea why they do not OFFER ALL models to US consumers...must be that the Swede is more popular in Europe, but ironically the 260 is mfg. IIRC and offered in Canada, but not here. Strange.

The 6.5 is not offered in their USA catalog. However I see quite a few show up on GB to make it interesting. Its still hard to justify when the .270Win keeps making cloverleafs.

I have nothing against the 270, or the 30-06, or any of the other calibers offered in left-hand Tikkas. I just get upset when the guns are made by Tikka in 6.5x55, 338 Federal, 8x57, and several other good calibers, but Beretta won't import them. I realize that these might not be the most popular calibers in the US. but at least give me a chance to special order one! Or do like Remington does, and every year bring one caliber in as a special edition. They could even announce the caliber at the SHOT Show and take reservations so they would know exactly how many to bring in each year.
I wonder how hard it would be to fly to Finland(or anyplace else in Europe)and pick up one or two Tikkas in the calibers I wanted and have them shipped back to the U.S.? Anyone want to tackle that question?
Didn't mean to hijack the posting into a complaint about the lack of left-hand rifles - sorry!

Happy Father's Day to All!

I picked up a Tikka T3 Lite SS 6.5x55 on Wednesday (my first Tikka...wanted to see what all the fuss was about) and put a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 in Leupold mounts on it. She weighs in at 7 lbs 8.6 ounces. Not Melvin light, but a comfortable weight to tote nonetheless. Trigger breaks at 3 1/4 lbs.

I was up early this morning to beat the heat and eventual wind to see what she could do. I turned to H4350 and Rel 19 for powders. Fed 210 caps. Nosler 120 gr BT's. 48 grs of H4350 gave me an average of 2,906 FPS and a 3-shot group just a few thousandths over 1". 50.5 grs of Rel 19 just broke 2,900 fps and resulted in a nice isosceles triangle figured 0.850" 3-shot group. Shooting range was about 110 yds.

In my 20+ years of numerous, and sorted rifle affairs, this little darl'in has been the easiest & quickest to please with the least amount of effort. Looks like a keeper.

Yept..I've got a couple....here's my first one outta the box

on paper....just wished big game tags were easier to in Utah

use it more often...

Just started working with mine. My first load with 43 grains of N150 behind a 100 grain ballistic tip will shoot one hole groups similar to the target posted earlier. Working on the 120tsx and have gotten some one inch groups. Hopeing to tweak those down to 1/2 inch. Pretty neat when you think 1 inch groups are not small enough. Very low recoil, can't wait to shoot something besides a target with it.

I'd like to have one rechambered to 6.5/280AI!!

Tikka- Just think, now you can hunt for a full 3 days during general rifle in many areas...